Democratic Secretaries

Range of Years Served: 2019 – Current.

Secretary Katie Hobbs has led a life of service. Beginning as a volunteer at her church and continuing with her job as a social worker and chief compliance officer at one of the largest domestic violence centers in the U.S., the focus of her life has been to help others to gain security, to be heard, and to create better lives.

That fundamental motivation inspired her to run for Secretary of State, after serving in the Arizona House of Representatives and Arizona Senate as minority leader. Now, she brings her years of experience to the Office of the Secretary of State to ensure that it runs productively, and that Arizona elections are secure, fair and efficient.

Secretary Hobbs has a Bachelor of Social Work from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Social Work from Arizona State University. She has been a professional social worker since 1992. Prior to being elected to the legislature, she worked in the areas of domestic violence, behavioral health, and homelessness.

She has been honored with dozens of awards for her service. Most recently, she was named the League of Cities and Towns Legislative Champion for two consecutive years (2017 and 2018).

Secretary Hobbs met her husband at church in 1992. They live in Phoenix with their two kids, Hannah and Sam, and their dog and cats.

Alex Padilla was sworn in as California Secretary of State on January 5, 2015. He is committed to modernizing the office, increasing voter registration and participation, and strengthening voting rights.

Padilla previously served in the California State Senate (2006-2014) where he chaired the Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications. As chair, he shepherded legislation to combat climate change and create a greener and more sustainable economy.  He pursued an ambitious agenda in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, and broadband deployment.

Padilla’s parents emigrated from Mexico and raised their family in the working class community of Pacoima, California. Padilla attended local public schools and went on to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. 

In 1999, at the age of 26, Padilla was elected to the Los Angeles City Council to represent the same east San Fernando Valley community where he grew up.  In 2001, his colleagues elected him to the first of three terms as Council President, becoming the youngest member and the first Latino to serve in this capacity. As Council President, Padilla provided citywide leadership at critical times including serving as Acting Mayor during the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

In 2005, Padilla was elected President of the League of California Cities.  He advocated on behalf of California cities in the State Capitol and fought to protect their budgets and advance their legislative priorities.

In 2006, Padilla was elected to the California State Senate. He was reelected in 2010.  Over the course of eight years, Padilla established a diverse and groundbreaking legislative record.

Padilla previously served as President of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), a non-partisan organization made up of more than 6,000 federal, state, and local officials dedicated to all aspects of civic engagement.

Padilla lives with his wife Angela and their three sons in the San Fernando Valley.

Jena Marie Griswold is Colorado’s 39th Secretary of State, and began her term on January 8, 2019. She is the youngest elected Secretary of State in the United States. Griswold grew up in a working-class family in rural Colorado and was the first person in her family to attend a four-year college and then law school. She knows first-hand how important it is for every vote to count and for every Coloradan’s voice to be heard, no matter their background or income. She will protect our right to vote, fight secret political spending, improve transparency, and stand up to those who try to bend the rules or break the law.

Griswold has practiced international anti-corruption law and worked as a voter protection attorney, where she made sure Coloradans were able to participate in our democracy. She served as the Director of the Governor of Colorado’s DC Office, advocating on behalf of Colorado in D.C. During that time, Griswold was instrumental in bringing back hundreds of millions of relief dollars to help the Colorado communities hit by the 2013 flood. Before her election to Colorado Secretary of State, Griswold ran her own small business, a legal practice in Louisville.

Griswold holds a B.A. in Politics and Spanish Literature from Whitman College and a J.D from University of Pennsylvania Law School. Griswold is fluent in Spanish and a graduate of Estes Park High School in Estes Park, Colorado. In 2006, Griswold was awarded the Watson Fellowship, and in 2009, the Penn Law International Human Rights Fellowship. Griswold lives in Louisville, Colorado.

Denise W. Merrill was elected to her third term as Connecticut’s 73rd Secretary of the State on November 6, 2018. As Connecticut’s chief elections official and business registrar, Merrill has focused on modernizing Connecticut’s elections, business services and improving access to public records.

Secretary Merrill is focused on both civic engagement and fostering business enterprise. Since taking office, she has supported and expanded democratic participation, ensuring that every citizen’s rights and privileges are protected and that every vote is counted accurately. Secretary Merrill has worked to expand voter participation through Election Day and online voter registration. She has also improved Connecticut’s democratic accountability and integrity with a series of rapid response processes to Election Day problems. She was elected president of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) for the 2016-17 term and currently serves on the Board of Advisors to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Prior to her election as Secretary of the State, Denise Merrill served as State Representative from the 54th General Assembly District for 17 years. She served as the House Chair of the budget writing Appropriations Committee from 2005-2009 and as House Majority Leader from 2009-2011.

Secretary Merrill is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, is licensed to practice law in the state of California, and is a classically trained pianist. She lives in Hartford. Her family includes husband Dr. Stephen Leach and his two sons, her three grown children and six grandchildren.

Jeffrey W. Bullock was appointed Delaware’s 80th Secretary of State in 2009 by Gov. Jack Markell and re-appointed by Gov. John Carney in 2017. Secretary Bullock has held the office longer than any other Delaware Secretary of State in more than 220 years.

During his tenure, Secretary Bullock has worked to make state government more responsive to the citizens it serves, to support job creation and economic development across industries, and to grow the revenue streams that underpin the state’s core budget priorities.

As head of the most diverse cabinet department in state government, Secretary Bullock oversees nearly two dozen different agencies and divisions, whose missions range from preserving Delaware’s historical sites and collections, to supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, to serving consumers, public employees and veterans. Most notable among these agencies is the Division of Corporations, an integral part of the Delaware franchise and the state’s preeminence as America’s “Corporate Capital.”

Secretary Bullock was born and raised in Claymont, Delaware and graduated from the University of Delaware. He previously served as Chief of Staff to Gov. Tom Carper and as Chief Administrative Officer of New Castle County, Delaware’s largest county.

He and his wife Susan live in Wilmington and have two daughters.

Matthew Dunlap of Old Town was elected by the Legislature to serve as Maine’s 47th and 49th Secretary of State. He was sworn in on Jan. 8, 2019 to serve his fourth consecutive and seventh overall term in office. He previously served three terms as Maine’s 47th Secretary of State and is the first person to serve non-consecutive terms as Secretary of State since 1880.

Secretary Dunlap’s widely varied professional career has included extensive work as a cook, a bartender and bar manager, radio show host, proofreader, research assistant, waiter, editor, writer, fur trapper, and textile worker.

Secretary Dunlap’s career in public service began with his election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1996. He served as Democratic Chair of the 2002 Legislative Apportionment Commission, a member of the House Standing Committee on Elections, served as House Chair of the Citizen’s Advisory Commission to Secure the Future of Maine’s Wildlife and Fish, and was the first House Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program Evaluation and Governmental Accountability. He was also Chair of the Old Town Democratic City Committee.

While natural resource conservation was the hallmark of Dunlap’s legislative career, he also was a vocal champion for historic preservation and promotion of Maine libraries. He sponsored enacted legislation to protect library materials in circulation and to proscribe illegal sale of rare and important public documents.

Notably, he served as a member of the national Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, (May 2017- January 2018) where he exposed the commission for the farce that it was.

Raised in Bar Harbor, Secretary Dunlap is a graduate of Mount Desert Island High School. He later graduated from the University of Maine, where he was a varsity member of the track and cross-country teams and received a B.A. in History and an M.A. in English. He lives in Old Town with his wife, Representative Michelle Dunphy and their daughter, Emily Charlotte Dunlap.

Jocelyn Benson is Michigan’s 43rd Secretary of State. In this role she is focused on ensuring elections are secure and accessible, and dramatically improving customer experiences for all who interact with our offices.

Benson is the author of State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process, the first major book on the role of the secretary of state in enforcing election and campaign finance laws. She is also the Chair of Michigan’s Task Force on Women in Sports, created by Governor Whitmer in 2019 to advance opportunities for women in Michigan as athletes and sports leaders.

A graduate of Harvard Law School and expert on civil rights law, education law and election law, Benson served as dean of Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. When she was appointed dean at age 36, she became the youngest woman in U.S. history to lead a top-100, accredited law school. She continues to serve as vice chair of the advisory board for the Levin Center at Wayne Law, which she founded with former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin. Previously, Benson was an associate professor and associate director of Wayne Law’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights.

Benson is co-founder and former president of Military Spouses of Michigan, a network dedicated to providing support and services to military spouses and their children.

Steve Simon is Minnesota’s 22nd Secretary of State. He was sworn into office on January 5, 2015, and as Minnesota’s chief elections administrator pledged in his inaugural address to “work with anyone, of any political affiliation, from any part of our state” to protect, defend, and strengthen the right to vote in Minnesota.

As Secretary of State, he partners with township, city, and county officials to organize elections on behalf of Minnesota’s nearly four million eligible voters, and to ensure that the election system is fair.

Simon also oversees a wide range of services for Minnesota businesses and administers the “Safe at Home” address confidentiality program for people whose personal safety is at risk, often due to physical abuse or threats.

His goals as Minnesota’s Secretary of State are straightforward: expand access to voting, remove barriers to voting, make business services as streamlined as possible, strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence and, most importantly, be a Secretary of State for all Minnesotans.

Before being elected Minnesota’s Secretary of State, Simon served in the Minnesota House of Representatives for ten years representing the communities of St. Louis Park and Hopkins.

Simon spent much of his time in the state legislature immersed in elections issues, including serving as the chair of the House Elections Committee in 2013 and 2014. He played a lead role in many of the election reforms that Minnesota has embraced over the last several years, including no-excuse absentee voting, online voter registration, and easier access to voting for Minnesotans overseas, including those in the military.

Simon also served as Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota and worked as a lawyer in private practice for several years.

Simon grew up in St. Louis Park and Hopkins. He graduated with a B.A in Political Science from Tufts University in Massachusetts in 1992, and earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1996. Simon and his wife Leia live in Hopkins with their two children, Hannah and Noah, and  rescue dog, Hugo.

In 1996, Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall became the first woman ever elected to a statewide, executive branch office in North Carolina.

Secretary Marshall was a member of the NC State Senate before rising to statewide office. She holds a B.S. in Home Economics from the University of Maryland and a law degree from Campbell University. She has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Campbell University, Lees-McRae College, Meredith College and the Republic of Moldova Testemitanu State University of Medicine.

Her work experiences include teaching Home Economics in the public school and community college systems, co-ownership of a book and gift store, establishing an interior decorating business and the private practice of law.

Secretary Marshall has been very active in many civic groups in the areas of child welfare, women’s issues, and agriculture and small town economic development.

Since becoming Secretary of State, she has received numerous state and national awards for leadership in technology, government innovation, and women’s leadership, including:

• 2017 Medallion Award for Outstanding Leadership in Business Services and Electronic Governance from the National Association of Secretaries of State;
• President of the National Association of Secretaries of State, 2015;
• The North Carolina 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award;
• The Moldovan Order of Honor, the highest distinction Moldova awards to non-Moldovan citizens;
• Leadership awards from Common Cause North Carolina, the NCAE and the Delta Kappa Gamma Society;
• Named to National Notary Magazine’s list of “The 50 Most Influential People in Notarization in the Last 50 Years”;
• And Secretary Marshall has even received an official “Gold Record” from the Recording Industry Association of America for her law enforcement work to protect Trademarked goods and patent holders, as well as being named an honorary member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for trademark protection!

She is married to Jessie Thomas Bunn.

Tahesha Way serves as New Jersey’s 34th Secretary of State. Nominated for appointment by Governor Phil Murphy on December 18, 2017, Ms. Way was sworn in on February 26, 2018. As Secretary of State, Ms. Way holds one of the nation’s oldest constitutional offices and leads a department with a diverse portfolio. She serves as New Jersey’s top election official, overseeing the state Division of Elections and its work in securing our democracy and ensuring broad, fair access to the right to vote. Ms. Way also chairs New Jersey’s Complete Count Commission, a 27 member non-partisan commission established to encourage full participation in the 2020 Census. In addition to the critical work protecting what Secretary Way calls the “fraternal twins of democracy,” Ms. Way also oversees the state government offices supporting New Jersey’s vibrant arts, culture, history, and business communities.

Secretary Way is a graduate of Brown University, where she served as Vice President of the collegiate chapter of the NAACP, President of her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, taught religious education, and was a radio announcer for WBRU-FM. Ms. Way holds a juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law at Charlottesville, where she clerked for the Virginia Legal Aid Society and the United Steelworkers of America.

Secretary Way lives in Passaic County with her husband, former New York Giant and NFL executive Charles Way, and their four daughters. Secretary Way has been a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Garden State Bar Association, National Association of Women Judges, Association of Black Women Lawyers, Passaic County Bar Association, and the New Jersey Women’s Lawyers Association.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has spent her career as a public official working for greater transparency and ethics in government, fair and efficient elections, and increased voter access.

First elected in 2016, Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver is focused on providing increased transparency in financial disclosure and campaign finance reporting, modernizing the online campaign finance system, encouraging New Mexicans to get registered and vote, and advocating for good government and stronger ethics legislation.

A lifelong New Mexico resident, Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver previously served as Bernalillo County Clerk from 2007 to 2016.  She attended Albuquerque Public Schools and earned both her BA and MA in Political Science from the University of New Mexico. Currently living in Santa Fe, the Secretary of State is the proud mother of two sons.

Kathy Boockvar has served as Secretary of the Commonwealth since January 5, 2019. In this role, Boockvar leads the Pennsylvania Department of State.

The mission of the Department is to promote the integrity of the electoral process, to support economic development through corporate filings and transactions, and to protect the health and safety of the public through professional licensure.

Boockvar is an attorney with an extensive background in public interest law and policy, election administration, and nonprofit healthcare administration, and has worked in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, she served as senior adviser to the governor on election modernization, leading and managing initiatives to improve security and technology in Pennsylvania’s elections and voting systems, in collaboration with federal, state, and county officials.

For many years, Boockvar worked as a poll worker and as a voting-rights attorney, gaining extensive knowledge of and experience with state and federal election laws and regulations, as well as local and county-level practices and procedures in Pennsylvania.

Boockvar is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1990) and the American University, Washington College of Law (J.D. 1993). She received a Performance Leadership Certificate from Cornell University in 2014, and is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, and Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington, D.C. courts.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea made history when she was sworn in on January 6, 2015, becoming the first Hispanic elected to statewide office in New England. A proven leader who is taking on some of the toughest issues and getting results, she was re-elected to serve a second term in office on November 6, 2018. As Secretary of State she has promoted increased civic engagement and government accessibility.

In 2017, she worked to pass automated voter registration, making Rhode Island the ninth state in the country to do so. She also improved Rhode Island’s elections infrastructure by implementing online voter registration and securing funding for modern voting technologies like electronic poll books. She has positioned the state as a national leader in elections cybersecurity. Her work to increase voter engagement, especially among new and young voters, is already seeing results. Rhode Island saw a 64 percent increase from 2014 to 2018 in the number of voters ages 18-20 voting in the general election.

Originally from Puerto Rico, Gorbea is a graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University. She is married to University of Rhode Island Oceanographer Steve D’Hondt. They live in North Kingstown with their three daughters.

Secretary of State Jim Condos has served as Vermont’s Secretary of State for the past 7+ years. He has an outstanding record of achievement from more than 30 years of elected public service. Prior to becoming Secretary of State, he served on the South Burlington City Council for 18 years and as a Vermont State Senator from Chittenden County for 8 years.

Secretary Condos has worked his entire private and public career in Vermont. His business background includes working for a Fortune 100 company, a $30 million family-owned Vermont business, and a regulated utility company. Jim understands the needs and concerns of Vermonters.

As Secretary of State for the past 7+ years, Secretary Condos has demonstrated his commitment to open and transparent government, accountability from public officials, fair elections, increased voter participation, and strong campaign finance laws.

Secretary of State Jim Condos’ accomplishments include providing new technology solutions for elections management including online campaign finance tools, online lobbyist disclosure, online voter registration, automatic voter registration, same day voter registration, a statewide voter registration database, election night reporting, and important cybersecurity enhancements.

Secretary Condos was raised in the Burlington area, graduating from South Burlington High School, and receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont.

As Secretary of the Commonwealth, Kelly is passionate about creating a state government that is open and welcome to everyone.  Kelly assists the Governor in recruiting and appointing over 3,000 qualified, service-minded individuals to serve on Virginia’s boards, commissions and councils.  In addition, the office serves the Commonwealth through managing clemency petitions, restoration of civil rights, extraditions, service of process, authenticating documents and commissioning Notaries Public. The Secretary of the Commonwealth acts as the Governor’s liaison to Virginia’s Indian Tribes, as well as the Council on Women. 

Kelly joined the McAuliffe administration as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2014, and was appointed as Secretary in 2016.  Prior to that service, she worked for Senator Mark Warner for 13 years in various capacities, including Projects Director in his U.S. Senate office and Director of Scheduling in the Office of the Governor.

Kelly is a native of Richmond and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is involved in many local community activities, including serving on the board of the Ashland Main Street Association.  Kelly serves on the Lead Virginia Board of Directors and was appointed by Governor McAuliffe to serve on the Virginia Information Technology Advisory Council.  She is a graduate of Lead Virginia and was named Top 40 Under 40 by Style Weekly in 2017.