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.

Shirley Nash Weber, Ph.D. was nominated to serve as California Secretary of State by Governor Gavin Newsom on December 22, 2020 and sworn into office on January 29, 2021. She is California’s first Black Secretary of State and only the fifth African American to serve as a state constitutional officer in California’s 170-year history.  

Weber was born to sharecroppers in Hope, Arkansas during the segregationist Jim Crow era. Her father, who left Arkansas after being threatened by a lynch mob, did not have the opportunity to vote until he was in his 30s. Her grandfather never voted as custom and law in the South, before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, systemically suppressed voting by Blacks. Although her family moved to California when Weber was three years old, it was her family’s experience in the Jim Crow South that has driven her activism and legislative work. She has fought to secure and expand civil rights for all Californians, including restoring voting rights for individuals who have completed their prison term. 

Weber attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she received her BA, MA and PhD by the age of 26. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she became a professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) at the age of 23. She also taught at California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA) and Los Angeles City College before coming to SDSU. She retired from the Department of Africana Studies after 40 years as a faculty member and serving several terms as department chair. 

Before her appointment, Secretary Weber served four terms as an Assembly Member representing California’s 79th Assembly District, which includes parts of the City of San Diego as well as several cities and communities in the San Diego region.  Weber also served as a member and chair of the San Diego Unified School District and has twice served as a California Elector, including chairing the California College of Presidential Electors on December 14, 2020. 

During her tenure in the Assembly, Weber chaired the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety, and Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health. Weber was the first African American to serve as the chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. She also served as a member of the Standing Committees on Education, Higher Education, Elections, Budget, Banking and Finance. 

In addition, Weber chaired the Select Committee on Campus Climate, which was created to examine and mitigate hate crimes on California’s college and university campuses. The committee also explored student hunger, sexual assaults, homelessness, and freedom of expression. She formerly created and chaired the Select Committee on Higher Education in San Diego County, which explored the need for an additional higher education facility in San Diego and ways to improve the quality, affordability and equal access of higher education in the region.   

From 2019 – 2020, she served as chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), which consists of the state’s African American legislators and has the goal of promoting equal opportunity for California’s African American community. Weber broke records during her tenure by garnering extraordinary support for CLBC’s efforts and its projects. 

Weber’s genuine passion and tireless quest for equality and fairness in all sectors of life have resulted in her pursuit of reforms in education and criminal justice. Her equity-oriented legislation includes: school finance and accountability, classroom safety, ethnic studies, early learners, attendance and dropout rates, quality instruction, law enforcements’ use-of-force and body camera practices, reparations, the CalGangs’ database, Affirmative Action, inclusive jury selection and instruction, predatory lending, resources for exonerees, restorative justice, racial profiling, among others. Weber has also pursued public policy changes related to health, senior citizens, veterans and military families.

Secretary Weber is a mother of two adult children, three grandchildren and was married for 29 years to the late Honorable Daniel Weber.  She is number six in a family of eight children. Her Parents, David and Mildred Nash, are deceased. Her hobbies are reading and traveling.  

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.

Jesse White is Illinois’ 37th Secretary of State. White was first elected to the office in 1998 and won landslide victories in 2002, in which he won all 102 counties, and again in 2006, 2010 and 2014. On Nov. 6, 2018, White was re-elected to a record-breaking sixth term, winning another landslide victory in which he earned over 3.1 million votes statewide – the most ever by a statewide candidate in a midterm election.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office is the largest and most diverse office of its kind in the nation, providing more direct services to the people of Illinois than any other public agency. White’s office issues state ID cards, vehicle license plates and titles; registers corporations; enforces the Illinois Securities Act; administers the Organ/Tissue Donor Program; licenses drivers; and maintains driver records. As State Librarian, Secretary White oversees the State Library and literacy programs, and as State Archivist, he maintains records of legal or historic value.

Under White’s leadership, the use of new technology along with modernizing and streamlining operations has significantly improved customer service. Illinois has become a national leader in road safety as White strengthened DUI laws, reformed the truck driver licensing program and overhauled teen driving guidelines. As a result of White’s initiatives, traffic fatalities have decreased, with drunk driving deaths down nearly 50 percent and teen driving deaths reduced by 74 percent. In 2014, White was inducted into the Illinois High School & College Driver Education Association Hall of Fame.

Prior to his election as Secretary of State, White served as Cook County Recorder of Deeds – a job to which he was first elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. Before that, he served 16 years in the Illinois General Assembly, representing the most culturally, economically and racially diverse district in Illinois.

In 1959, White founded the internationally known Jesse White Tumbling Team to serve as a positive alternative for at-risk children residing in public housing in and around the Chicago area. Since its inception, more than 18,500 young men and women have performed with the team. White has spent 61 years working as a volunteer with the team to help kids stay away from gangs, drugs, alcohol and smoking, and to help set at-risk youth on the path to success.

White served our country as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and as a member of the Illinois National Guard and Reserve. He played professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs organization, which was followed by a 33-year career with the Chicago Public Schools as a teacher and administrator.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is Maine’s 50th Secretary of State, sworn into her first two-year term in the position on Jan. 4, 2021. Secretary Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State.

Secretary Bellows previously served two terms in the Maine Senate from 2016-2020, representing 11 towns in southern Kennebec County. In the Maine Senate, she served as Senate Chair of the Labor and Housing Committee and served on the Judiciary Committee.  She was a 2020 presidential elector in the Electoral College.

Secretary Bellows most recently led the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine as executive director from 2018 to 2020. Previously, she owned Bellows & Company, a non-profit consulting business, where she worked with organizations such as the Sierra Club’s Maine Chapter, Consumers for Affordable Healthcare and the Maine Women’s Lobby. She also served as interim executive director of LearningWorks. In 2014, Secretary Bellows was the Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Maine.

From 2005 to 2013, Secretary Bellows was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. She was a member of the first Right to Know Advisory Committee and the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. She served on the Executive Committee of the 2009 and 2012 ballot campaigns to pass marriage equality in Maine, and co-chaired a successful 2011 statewide ballot campaign to restore same-day voter registration. She was an original member of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting.

Secretary Bellows grew up in Hancock and is a graduate of Ellsworth High School. She holds a B.A. in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College. She volunteered with the Peace Corps in Panama and AmeriCorps VISTA in Nashville, Tennessee.

Secretary Bellows lives with her husband, Brandon, in Manchester, Maine.

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.

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.

Bill Gardner  is the current Democratic New Hampshire Secretary of State. He was first elected to this position by the state legislature in 1976, and as of 2021, he was the longest serving secretary of state in the United States. The state legislature re-elected Gardner to his 23rd term as secretary of state on December 2, 2020.

Gardner is most well known for his role in keeping New Hampshire’s presidential primary the first in the nation. He previously served as a member of the New Hampshire State Legislature from 1973 to 1976.

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.

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.

State Senator Shemia Fagan is the Democratic nominee for Oregon Secretary of State. She’s running for “the job that puts progress within reach because of our faith in democracy” and “to make sure that every Oregonian knows that their voice, their actions, their ballot, CAN make a difference because, when democracy works, progress is always within reach.”

Fagan is an native Oregonian who overcame a challenging childhood to put herself through college and law school. She earned her JD from Lewis and Clark Law School and now works as an employment attorney.

Fagan’s public service career began in 2011 when she was elected to the David Douglas School Board. In 2012 she defeated a Republican when she was elected to the State House of Representatives. In 2018 she defeated a Republican when she was elected to the State Senate.

As Secretary of State, Fagan will work to protect Oregon’s free and fair from all threats including those from hostile foreign governments and the attacks on vote-by-mail from Donald Trump.

Veronica Degraffenreid was appointed Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth on February 8, 2021. In this role, Degraffenreid leads the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Degraffenreid joined the Department on February 10, 2020, as the Special Advisor on Election Modernization. Previously, Degraffenreid served as Director of Election Operations for the North Carolina State Board of Elections where, for six years, she managed a team of election technology and election program specialists responsible for providing training, support and administrative oversight to North Carolina’s 100 county boards of elections. The program areas under her supervision included voter registration, voting processes, precinct and voting site administration, election event administration and voting systems. She led efforts to modernize North Carolina’s aging statewide voter registration and election management system and developed the state’s first voting systems certification program.

Prior to joining the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Degraffenreid was a Special Litigation Legal Assistant with the North Carolina Department of Justice for nearly 10 years, specializing in redistricting and election-related litigation.

Degraffenreid is a graduate of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts  degree in economics. She is married and the proud mom of two daughters in college and one son in high school.

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 10+ 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 18 years on the South Burlington City Council, and 8 years as a Vermont State Senator from Chittenden County.

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 10+ years, Secretary Condos has demonstrated his commitment to open and transparent government, accountability from public officials, free, fair and accessible 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.

Doug La Follette is the Secretary of State of Wisconsin, and has served as Secretary since 1982, with two unsuccessful runs for higher office earlier in his term.

Doug made his first run for office in 1970 in the Democratic primary bid seeking to represent Wisconsin in Congress. He served a term as a state senator from 1972—1974 for Kenosha, during which time he authored legislation which provided family planning care to women for the first time in Wisconsin’s history. He was then elected Secretary of State and has been reelected every four years for the past 30 years.

Throughout his years of public service he has fought against the corrupting influence of big money on politics. He has rejected high-spending campaign tactics and has followed the path of the great Wisconsin Senator Bill Proxmire, who depended on his relationship with the people to get elected.

Doug has deep environmental roots in this state. He started Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, now Clean Wisconsin, and has been fighting for local, renewable energy since the 1970’s. He helped the late Gaylord Nelson organize the first Earth Day in 1970 and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the Assistant Director to the Mid-American Solar Energy Complex.

He earned his Ph.D in organic chemistry from Columbia University and went on to teach as an Assistant Professor of chemistry and ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.