# 2014 California Secretary of State election

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vte :
The 2014 California Secretary of State election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the secretary of state of California. Incumbent Democratic secretary of state Debra Bowen was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election to a third term in office.
A primary election was held on June 3, 2014. Under California's nonpartisan blanket primary law, all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. In the primary, voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two finishers — regardless of party — advance to the general election in November, even if a candidate manages to receive a majority of the votes cast in the primary election. Washington is the only other state with this system, a so-called "top two primary" (Louisiana has a similar "jungle primary").
Democrat Alex Padilla and Republican Pete Peterson finished first and second, respectively, and contested the general election, which Padilla won by 7.2 percentage points. As a result, it was the closest statewide race in California that year. As of 2025, this election, alongside the concurrent State Controller election, is also the last time in which a statewide California race between a Democrat and a Republican was decided by single digits; and in which Mono, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura Counties voted for the Republican in a statewide race.

## Primary election
### Candidates
#### Democratic Party
##### Declared

* Derek Cressman, political reform and anti-dark money activist and former vice president of Common Cause
* Jeffrey H. Drobman, computer scientist and engineer
* Alex Padilla, state senator

##### Withdrew

* Leland Yee, state senator

#### Republican Party
##### Declared

* Roy Allmond, California state employee
* Pete Peterson, executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement at Pepperdine University

#### Green Party
##### Declared

* David S. Curtis, architectural designer

#### Independent
##### Declared

* Daniel Schnur, former chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission and former Republican strategist

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Derek Cressman (D) | David Curtis (G) | Alex Padilla (D) | Pete Peterson (R) | Daniel Schnur (I) | Leland Yee (D) | Other | Undecided |
| SurveyUSA | May 16–19, 2014 | 610 | ±4% | — | — | 48% | 32% | — | — | 9% | 11% |
| Field Poll | March 18–April 5, 2014 | 504 | ±4.5% | 3% | 5% | 17% | 30% | 4% | — | <0.5% | 41% |
| Field Poll | March 18–April 5, 2014 | 504 | ±4.5% | 2% | 4% | 10% | 27% | 4% | 8% | 1% | 44% |

### Results

California Secretary of State primary election, 2014 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Alex Padilla | 1,217,371 | 30.24 |
| | Republican | Pete Peterson | 1,194,715 | 29.68 |
| | Democratic | Leland Yee | 380,361 | 9.45 |
| | No party preference | Daniel Schnur | 369,898 | 9.19 |
| | Democratic | Derek Cressman | 306,375 | 7.61 |
| | Republican | Roy Allmond | 256,668 | 6.38 |
| | Democratic | Jeffrey H. Drobman | 178,521 | 4.44 |
| | Green | David S. Curtis | 121,618 | 3.02 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,025,527 | 100 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 13.63 |

## General election
### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Alex Padilla (D) | Pete Peterson (R) | Undecided |
| GQR/American Viewpoint | October 22–29, 2014 | 1,162 | ± 3.3% | 45% | 41% | 14% |
| Field Poll | October 15–28, 2014 | 941 | ± 3.4% | 44% | 37% | 19% |
| Field Poll | August 14–28, 2014 | 467 | ± 4.8% | 43% | 36% | 21% |
| Gravis Marketing | July 22–24, 2014 | 580 | ± 4% | 34% | 37% | 28% |

### Results

California Secretary of State general election, 2014 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Alex Padilla | 3,799,711 | 53.63 |
| | Republican | Pete Peterson | 3,285,334 | 46.37 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 7,085,045 | 100 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |