Brown defeated Republican Meg Whitman in the general election on November 2, Brown was elected to a fourth term as governor in He faced 14 challengers in the blanket primary on June 3 and received the highest number of votes, securing one of two available slots on the November 4 general election ballot.

The other nomination went to Republican Neel Kashkari , who finished a distant 35 percentage points behind the incumbent. Brown's political career began during the late s when he became active in both state and national politics through his efforts to organize migrant workers and anti-Vietnam War groups.

In , he beat out candidates for a position on the then-newly created Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees. The next year, he was elected California Secretary of State. Brown served one term before becoming governor of the state in During his tenure, he earned the moniker "Governor Moonbeam" from columnist Mike Royko. Brown remained active on the political scene between his stints in the governor's office. He was chair of the California Democratic Party from to , mayor of Oakland, CA , from to , and then came back in for a single term as state attorney general.

As attorney general, Brown brought suits against Standard Oil of California , International Telephone and Telegraph, Gulf Oil, and Mobil for violation of campaign-finance laws, often arguing in person before the California State Supreme Court and enforcing laws requiring members of the California State Legislature to disclose sources of campaign funds. In addition to Brown's state and local positions, his electoral history includes three unsuccessful runs for President of the United States - in , and - and one for U.

Senate in He also worked as an attorney for the firm of Tuttle and Taylor. He graduated from St. He later went on to study briefly in both Mexico and Latin America.

Brown returned to the United States and was admitted to the California State Bar, after having initially failed the bar exam. Both the radio program and Brown's political action organization, based in Oakland , were called We the People. His programs, usually featuring invited guests, generally explored alternative views on a wide range of social and political issues, from education and health care to spirituality and the death penalty. He strongly critiqued both the Democratic and Republican parties, often referring to himself as a "recovering politician.

Brown served two terms as governor from to He was elected to the office in and re-elected in Brown became the longest-serving governor in state history on October 15, , which fell during his third non-consecutive term in the office. A June analysis by The Business Journals ranked 45 governors based on the annual private sector growth rate in all 50 states using data from the U. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Brown was ranked number The five governors omitted from the analysis all assumed office in As governor, Brown was responsible for appointing judges to California state courts.

Appointed appellate judges stand for retention in the gubernatorial election following appointment; judges of the Superior Courts run for the seat in the next general election.

For an up-to-date list of all of Brown's appointees, see Judges appointed by Jerry Brown. The secretary of the California Senate reported that when Brown served his first two terms as governor between , he approved bills at a rate of 96 percent on average "and set a record in when he approved 98 percent of the bills that crossed his desk. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed bills at a rate of 27 percent. Under Brown, California had a Democratic trifecta, meaning the governor and both chambers of the state legislature were controlled by the Democratic Party.

This partisan alignment translated to a higher rate of bill approval in contrast with the experience of his Republican predecessor. Brown approved a number of changes regarding environmental agency policy during the fall of The "game" division was established in as an addition to the agency previously dedicated wholly to fishing.

First authored in , the bill was created to honor environmentalists, animal-rights activists as well as reflect "California's changing political and demographic landscape," as some sporting groups and agency leaders who felt underrepresented in the development process leading up to the official name change speculated. Other provisions included expanding the department's collection of fees beyond the money raised through hunting and fishing licenses and the department's law enforcement capabilities.

The same week, Brown approved a state ban on using hounds to hunt bears and other predators. The third change to earn Brown's signature that week, SB , would allow the department, which was rechristened January 1, , to raise money by contracting with nonprofit conservation groups "to manage state-owned lands and charge fees for using more of its properties.

Following the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, , in which members of the Islamic State ISIS killed at least people and wounded more than , reports surfaced showing that one of the terrorists responsible for the attacks in Paris may have come to France posing as a Syrian refugee. Brown had strong support for the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the state of California. He said:. In early , Brown expressed interest in running for Attorney General of California in the election.

On May 18, , he formally filed the necessary papers to begin his campaign for the nomination, including a sworn declaration with the statement "I meet the statutory and constitutional qualifications for this office including, but not limited to, citizenship, residency, and party affiliation, if required.

As the Attorney General of California , Brown brought suits against Standard Oil of California , International Telephone and Telegraph, Gulf Oil, and Mobil for violation of campaign-finance laws, often arguing in person before the California State Supreme Court , and enforcing laws requiring members of the California State Legislature to disclose sources of campaign funds.

The mission of the CFPPC is to investigate alleged violations of the Political Reform Act, impose penalties when appropriate, and assist state and local agencies in developing and enforcing conflict-of-interest codes. As attorney general, Brown declined to defend Proposition 8 , a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution that banned same-sex marriage.

Filing his own legal challenge against the amendment, Brown argued that, in his view, Proposition 8 "deprives people of the right to marry, an aspect of liberty that the Supreme Court has concluded is guaranteed by the California Constitution. On May 26, , the California State Supreme Court voted to uphold Proposition 8 on state constitutional grounds. Brown continued to oppose defending the law. In October , Brown was accused of re-writing the ballot title for the California Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act in a way that would be more advantageous to the interests of Mercury Insurance, the initiative's main sponsor.

In early , Brown announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party and changed his party registration to "Decline To State. He won the general election contest in June and seven months later was sworn into office. During his tenure, Brown was able to get the approval of the electorate to convert Oakland 's weak mayor political structure the mayor as chairman of the city council and official greeter to a strong mayor structure the mayor as chief executive over the nonpolitical city manager and thus the various city departments and not a council member.

This strong mayor structure in many ways is similar to that of the nearby city of San Francisco. Other efforts including acquiring millions of dollars in state and federal funding to open two charter schools that are now among the top-ranked in Oakland. Brown was re-elected with over 60 percent of the vote in After briefly studying abroad, Brown returned to California and successfully ran for the chairmanship of the state's Democratic Party in , defeating Steve Westly.

Although he had expanded the party's donor base and enlarged its coffers during his tenure, he was criticized for not spending enough money on television advertisements, which many within the state party contributed for close Democratic losses in Brown abruptly resigned from the chairmanship in early and announced he would seek the United States Senate seat left open following the retirement of Democratic Senator Alan Cranston.

Brown would later drop out of the race in order to run for president. Upon election, Brown forgoed the governor's mansion, which he sold off in , and drove himself to work in a car from the state vehicle pool.

Brown highlighted environmental issues, reflected in his appointments to state positions. His selections included J. It was also in the course of his first governorship that he dissolved the fifteen member California Arts Commission and reorganized it into the California Arts Council CAC , raising its state funding 1, percent.

Brown proposed the establishment of a state space academy and the purchasing of a satellite that would be launched into orbit to provide emergency communications for the state. In , almost 15 years later, Royko would disavow the nickname, proclaiming Brown to be, in his words, just as serious as any other politician. He also obtained the repeal of the depletion allowance for the state's oil industry.

Critics argued that Brown's administration during his first term was partially responsible for the creation of the economic conditions that prompted state voters to heavily favor the passage of Proposition 13 in Specifically, he was said to have amassed a large surplus in state coffers instead of cutting taxes, leading to the Jarvis Gann initiative Proposition 13 which halted increases in property taxes for both homeowners and corporations that held onto their property.

The first time was in when he entered the race very late in the primary season as the focus of the movement shifted to stop the nomination of former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, who many within the Democratic Party felt was unelectable and lacked the record of success needed to garner popular appeal.

Brown argued that he had curbed the state's spending and balanced its budget while expanding services in the areas of welfare, employment, and consumer and environmental protection.

Brown proclaimed his belief that there would soon be a voter backlash against expansive and costly government policies. He won victories in Maryland , Nevada and his home state of California in the early primary ballot contests.

He also garnered the support of a majority of delegates from Louisiana , the only Southern state in the course of the primary campaign to favor either Carter or Governor of Alabama George Wallace. Although he missed the deadline in Oregon , which resulted in him campaigning as a write-in candidate, he finished a strong third behind both Carter and Senator Frank Church of Idaho.

In spite of these successes, he was unable to stall Carter's momentum, and his rival was nominated on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention.

Brown finished a distant third with roughly delegate votes. Brown ran for president a second time in Even with the high level of anticipation his candidacy amassed, particularly in light of his re-election victory in the state of California 's gubernatorial contest by 1.

Many believed this was largely due to the more prominent candidacy of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and the prestige his family name brought to the campaign. His promise to, in his words, "Protect the Earth, serve the people, and explore the universe," served as his slogan. The three main planks of his presidential campaign platform included a call for a constitutional convention to ratify the Balanced Budget Amendment, a promise to increase federal funds for the space program, and, in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, opposition to nuclear power.

Brown also made a number of unconventional proposals as well, such as calling for a sharp increase in federal funding for solar power research, endorsing the idea of mandatory non-military national service for the nation's youth, and promising to support a market-oriented system of universal health care. Support for his campaign among primary voters eroded as the campaign progressed.

Following his poor showing in the New Hampshire primary, in which he received ten percent of the vote, he announced that his candidacy hinged on a good showing in the Wisconsin primary. An attempt at filming a live, special effects-filled, thirty-minute commercial, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was unsuccessful and ultimately doomed his candidacy.

He walked away from the campaign after receiving twelve percent of the vote in the Wisconsin primary. Despite having entered the race earlier than his original attempt at the presidential office, his second effort resulted in Brown winning no primaries and receiving only one delegate at the Democratic National Convention. Brown declared his third campaign for the presidency on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Brown called for term limits for members of Congress, living wage laws and opposition to free-trade agreements such as NAFTA. Brown joined with economist and former Reagan adviser Arthur Laffer in drafting his tax proposal, which called for the replacement of the progressive income tax with a flat tax and a value-added tax, both at a fixed rate of thirteen percent.

Despite criticism from his opponents that his policy was regressive, it received the endorsement of media outlets such as The New York Times , The New Republic , and Forbes. Faced with a small campaign budget, Brown bucked conventional advertising practices, choosing instead to use an unusual fundraising techniques, such as a toll-free telephone number that adorned all of his campaign material, and a mixture of alternative media that included cable and radio interviews being used in lieu of traditional television commercials in order to get his message out to voters.

In spite of poor showings in the Iowa caucus, in which he received 1. Senator Tsongas was forced out of the race on March 17 after Brown received a strong third-place showing in the Illinois primary and then defeated the senator for second place in the Michigan primary by a significant margin.

Within one week, Brown had cemented his position as a major threat to Clinton's candidacy when he eked out a narrow win the bitterly-contested Connecticut primary. This, however, was short-lived after Clinton pulled out victories in both Wisconsin and New York on April 7.

Although Brown continued to campaign in a number of other states, he won no further primary contests. Despite this, he had secured a sizable number of convention delegates. Enormously difficult. But it would take a real mobilization…. But we know there is. It was raining for a couple days. So what made that? What made that is the whole atmospheric chemistry.

Now, can 7 or 9 billion people, can several billion cars and coal plants affect that? Most of the scientists say yes. And if they can, how are we going to un-affect it? Up until you never had more than a billion people. And what did they do? Run around in their little clothes and with a little bit of gunpowder here and there.

Now we have massive technology. The human impact is multiplied, is unimaginably greater. But the human capacity for wisdom has not improved an iota. Could the Muslims in Srebrenica imagine they would be rounded up and shot? They would have gotten the hell out of there. Could the people in Hiroshima imagine that they were going to get an atomic bomb?

People in Nagasaki? But there it is. Leftist, liberal, Obama. If you have an open debate. JB: But it does take rules: Energy efficiency, tailpipe emissions or requiring zero emissions — those are regulations. Regulations generally are bad.

More problem, not more solution. I say the opposite. What does that mean? This is a complex world. First of all, Oregon is going to have certain advantages. Nevada has space; you do a lot of warehouses, and maybe Nevada has a tax advantage.

But there are all sorts of positives and negatives that people calculate. Or to Corvallis? Is it growing? I think you have to ask: What rules do you want gone, which ones? What is the disadvantage? Compare California in the last 10 years, our growth rate is higher. So it has benefits, and it has burdens.

A lot of local rules. And yeah, these are problems. I agree with you. It is. And maybe we could change that. But you know what? You know what I mean? Why did Facebook come out here? There are a lot of bright people. Toynbee is somewhat discredited, but his whole idea of challenge and response: You have a challenge, and the response builds the civilization.

But then somebody else comes along. So that can be true of California. Stuff happens. We need to invent biofuels. You need to invent lighter, more durable, more efficient batteries. If we can invent the right kind of battery, that would displace the normal car. Somebody just told me he thinks in five years or thereabouts the combustion engine will be obsolete. You need them. And a lot more. But the political is a problem. By Bill Van Niekerken. He intends to study medicine and psychiatry at UC Berkeley instead.

Associated Press The Chronicle Brown announces he is running for a seat on the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, his first step into politics. He would win a spot on the board. Brown is elected California secretary of state, defeating Republican candidate Houston Flournoy.

Brown takes the oath of office. He says he will do his best not to raise taxes and promote fiscal austerity. United Press International He also forgoes limousine travel and drives around in a blue Plymouth Satellite for his first two terms as governor.

Associated Press. Brown enters the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.