Secretary of State of California

The Secretary of State of California is the chief elections officer of that U.S. state. The Secretary of State is also responsible for the California State Archives, as well as chartering corporations. The Secretary of State is elected to four year terms, concurrent with the other constitutional officers of California, and is restricted by term limits to only two terms. The incumbent, Debra Bowen, took office on January 8, 2007. She was re-elected on November 2, 2010, and her second term will end on January 5, 2015.

# Name Took Office Left Office Party
1 William Van Voorhies 1849 1853 Democrat
2 James W. Denver 1853 1855 Democrat
3 Charles H. Hempstead 1855 1856 Democrat
4 David F. Douglass 1856 1858 American
5 Ferris Foreman 1858 1860 Democrat
6 Johnson Price 1860 1862 Lecompton Democrat
7 William H. Weeks 1862 1863 Republican
8 A. A. H. Tuttle 1863 1863 Republican
9 Benjamin B. Redding 1863 1867 Unionist Republican
10 Henry L. Nichols 1867 1871 Democrat
11 Drury Melone 1871 1875 Republican
12 Thomas Beck 1875 1880 Democrat
13 Daniel M. Burns 1880 1883 Republican
14 Thomas Larkin Thompson 1883 1887 Democrat
15 William C. Hendricks 1887 1891 Democrat
16 Edwin G. Waite 1891 1894 Republican
17 Albert Hart 1894 1895 Republican
18 Lewis H. Brown 1895 1899 Republican
19 Charles F. Curry 1899 1911 Republican
20 Frank C. Jordan 1911 1940 Republican
21 Paul Peek 1940 1943 Democrat
22 Frank M. Jordan 1943 1970 Republican
23 H. P. Sullivan (Acting) 1970 1971 Republican
24 Jerry Brown 1971 1975 Democrat
25 March Fong Eu 1975 1994 Democrat
26 Tony Miller (Acting) 1994 1995 Democrat
27 Bill Jones 1995 2003 Republican
28 Kevin Shelley 2003 2005 Democrat
29 Cathy Mitchell (Acting) 2005 2005 Democrat
30 Bruce McPherson 2005 2007 Republican
31 Debra Bowen 2007 present Democrat

Famous quotes containing the words secretary of state, secretary of, secretary, state and/or california:

    “The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
    —William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    “The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
    —William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    “The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
    —William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    “A state is not a state if it belongs to one man.”
    —Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)

    “This land is your land, this land is my land,
    From California to the New York Island.
    From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
    This land was made for you and me.”
    —Woody Guthrie (1912–1967)