Jerry Brown

**Edmund Gerald Brown Jr.** (born April 7, 1938) is an American politician. He was the 39th Governor of California from 2011 to 2019. He was also the 34th Governor of California from 1975 to 1983. In 2010, he was elected Governor of California. On November 4, 2014, he was re-elected governor. Brown is a member of the Democratic Party. He has also been California's Secretary of State, Attorney General of California, and was the mayor of Oakland for eight years. He ran for President of the United States in the Democratic primaries in 1976, 1980 and in 1992.

## Early life

Brown was born in San Francisco, California. His father was Pat Brown who also served as Governor of California until losing re-election to Ronald Reagan. His mother was Bernice Layne Brown. He was raised in San Francisco. Brown studied at Yale University and at the University of California, Berkeley.

## Early career

Brown began his political career as a member of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1971. He later served as Secretary of State of California from 1971 to 1975.

## Governor of California

Elected Governor in 1974 at age 36, Brown was the youngest California governor in 111 years.

Brown declined to run for a third term in 1982, instead running for the United States Senate in 1982. However, he was defeated by Republican Mayor Pete Wilson (who himself would later become governor), and many considered his political career to be over. After travelling abroad, Brown returned to California and served as Chairman of the California Democratic Party (1989–1991), resigning to run for the Senate again in 1992.

Running against Meg Whitman in 2010, Brown became the 39th Governor in 2011; on October 7, 2013, he became the longest-serving governor in California history, surpassing Earl Warren. He was reelected in 2014 with sixty percent of the vote.  As a consequence of the 28-year gap between his second and third terms, Brown has been both the sixth-youngest California governor (the youngest since 1863) and the oldest California governor in history.

On November 23, 2017, Brown pardoned 70 year old Craig Richard Coley after DNA tests showed he was not involved in the murders of his ex girlfriend and her son in 1978.

## Alleged 2016 Presidential bid

Brown had been thought likely to run for the Democratic nomination for President in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He had expressed some interest in doing so, particularly if Hillary Clinton did not run. However, in an interview in 2014, Brown ruled out running. He did not rule out running for another term as Mayor of Oakland, saying that "I wouldn't mind being mayor of Oakland. But I don't know, when I'm 80 and a half, whether I'll have the same appetite. I'm very excited doing this job. [Still], I don't want to foreclose my options for four years from now."

In an interview by CNN during the second Republican Primary debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Brown hinted at a possible presidential bid in 2016. He stated that "I'll jump in when the time is appropriate".

## Personal life

Brown married his girlfriend of fifteen years, Anne Gust, in 2005.

In April 2011 Brown had surgery to remove a basal-cell carcinoma from the right side of his nose. In December 2012, media outlets reported that Brown was being treated for early stage (the precise stage and grade was not stated) localized prostate cancer with a very good health.

The official gubernatorial portrait of Jerry Brown, painted for his first term as Governor of California, was painted by Don Bachardy. It was shown to the public for the first time in 1984. The painting is controversial because it is not like all of the other portraits.

## Other websites

- Jerry Brown for Governor

## Infobox (governor)

- **name**: Jerry Brown
- **image**: Edmund G Brown Jr.jpg
- **caption**: Brown in 2006
- **order**: 34th and 39th Governor of California
- **lieutenant**: Abel Maldonado
Gavin Newsom
- **term start**: January 3, 2011
- **term end**: January 7, 2019
- **predecessor**: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- **successor**: Gavin Newsom
- **lieutenant1**: Mervyn M. Dymally, Mervyn Dymally
Mike Curb
- **term start1**: January 6, 1975
- **term end1**: January 3, 1983
- **predecessor1**: Ronald Reagan
- **successor1**: George Deukmejian
- **office2**: 31st Attorney General of California
- **governor2**: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- **term start2**: January 9, 2007
- **term end2**: January 3, 2011
- **predecessor2**: Bill Lockyer
- **successor2**: Kamala Harris
- **office3**: 47th List of mayors of Oakland, California, Mayor of Oakland
- **term start3**: January 4, 1999
- **term end3**: January 8, 2007
- **predecessor3**: Elihu Harris
- **successor3**: Ron Dellums
- **office4**: 6th Chairman of the California Democratic Party
- **term start4**: February 11, 1989
- **term end4**: March 3, 1991
- **predecessor4**: Peter D. Kelly III
- **successor4**: Phil Angelides
- **office5**: 24th Secretary of State of California
- **governor5**: Ronald Reagan
- **term start5**: January 4, 1971
- **term end5**: January 6, 1975
- **predecessor5**: H. P. Sullivan
- **successor5**: March Fong Eu
- **parents**: Pat Brown
Bernice Layne Brown
- **birth name**: Edmund Gerald Brown Jr.
- **party**: California Democratic Party, Democratic
- **relatives**: Kathleen Brown
- **signature**: Signature of California Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown.png
- **alma mater**: University of California, Berkeley
Yale University