Institute of Politics

Edmund G. Brown Jr., known as Jerry, was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. In 1970, Brown was elected California Secretary of State. He was then elected Governor in 1974 and reelected in 1978. Brown sought the 1992 Democratic Presidential nomination. During that campaign he refused to take contributions larger than $100 and used an "800" number to raise funds. Despite limited financial resources, Brown defeated Bill Clinton in Maine, Colorado, Vermont, Connecticut, Utah and Nevada during the 1992 Presidential primaries and was the only candidate other than Clinton to receive enough voter support to continue until the Democratic National Convention. In 1998, Brown ran for mayor of Oakland against 11 other candidates and won in the primary with 59% of the vote. In 2006, Jerry Brown was elected California's 31st Attorney General. In 2010 he was elected for his third gubernatorial term.