Brown, Edmund Gerald, Jr. (1938-…), served as the governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and again from 2011 to 2019. He served as mayor of Oakland, California, from 1999 to 2007. Brown was also California’s attorney general from 2007 to 2011.
Brown was nicknamed Jerry from his middle name. His father, Edmund G. Brown, was California’s governor from 1959 to 1967.
A Democrat, Jerry Brown was first elected governor in 1974. He campaigned for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination but lost. He was reelected governor in 1978. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980 and 1992 and for the United States Senate in 1982. In his campaigns, Brown called for strict limits on government spending and urged better conservation of natural resources.
Brown was born on April 7, 1938, in San Francisco. He studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood for a time. Brown graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. In 1966, he joined a Los Angeles law firm. Brown was elected secretary of state of California in 1970. He was leader of the state’s Democratic Party from 1989 to 1991.
Brown was again elected California governor in 2010. He was reelected in 2014. State term limits prevented Brown from seeking reelection in 2018. Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom succeeded Brown in January 2019.
