25 Facts About Kate Brown

Kate Brown assumed the governorship upon the resignation of John Kitzhaber in 2015.

Kate Brown was elected to serve out the remainder of his gubernatorial term in the special election in 2016 and was reelected to a full term in 2018.

Kate Brown was born in Torrejon de Ardoz in Spain, where her father, Dr James Paterson Kate Brown, an eye doctor, was serving in the United States Air Force, at Torrejon Air Base.

Kate Brown grew up in Minnesota and graduated from Mounds View High School in Arden Hills, Minnesota in 1978.

Kate Brown was appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1991, filling a vacancy in a Portland seat left by predecessor Judy Bauman, who took an executive appointment.

Kate Brown was elected to a second term before being elected to the Oregon State Senate in 1996.

Kate Brown was a top fundraiser for her caucus, helping the Democrats tie the Republicans in the Oregon Senate in 2003.

Kate Brown helped round up votes to pass a bill that year reforming the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, although she ultimately voted against it to preserve her relationship with labor unions.

In July 2007, Kate Brown announced that she would give up her seat in the Oregon Senate to be a candidate for Oregon Secretary of State the next year.

In 2010 Kate Brown reported she delivered $64 in cost savings and efficiencies for every dollar invested in the Division.

In 2009 Kate Brown introduced and passed House Bill 2005 to crack down on fraud and abuse in the initiative and referendum system.

In January 2015 Kate Brown submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission in support of the purchase of Time Warner Cable by Comcast that had been almost entirely ghostwritten by Comcast, a company that has made a total of over $10,000 in donations to her past election campaigns.

On February 18,2015, Governor John Kitzhaber resigned amid a public corruption scandal just three months after his reelection; Kate Brown succeeded him since the Constitution of Oregon identifies the secretary of state as the successor when the governor leaves office prematurely.

Kate Brown defeated Bell, Chet Chance, Kevin M Forsythe, Steve Johnson, and Dave Stauffer for the Democratic nomination.

In January 2017, Kate Brown named Nik Blosser her third chief of staff after the resignation of former chief of staff Kristen Leonard.

In June 2017, Kate Brown signed into law the Oregon Equal Pay Act, which banned employers from using job seekers' prior salaries in hiring decisions, and a transgender equity bill.

On June 20,2019, Kate Brown authorized state troopers to search for and return 11 Republican state senators after the Oregon Senate ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to compel them to attend a Senate session.

In 2019, after a measles outbreak in Oregon, Kate Brown urged parents to vaccinate their children.

Kate Brown signed a law to allow Oregon students to graduate without proving they can write or do math.

In March 2018, Kate Brown was criticized for firing state librarian MaryKay Dahlgreen, a move that surprised members of the Oregon State Library Board of Directors.

Kate Brown was accused of mismanaging Oregon DHS Child Welfare in audits published in January 2018.

In July 2018, Kate Brown brokered meetings between several large Oregon-based companies, including Nike, and union leaders over campaigns to include Initiative Petition 25, a corporate transparency initiative, and Measure 104, geared toward limiting reductions in corporate tax breaks, on the November ballot.

Kate Brown's office said her goal was to prevent both initiatives from coming to fruition.

In 2019, the Oregon Republican Party and an independent group, "Flush Down Kate Brown", attempted to remove Brown by recall petition, but fell 40,790 signatures short of the required 280,050.

Kate Brown is the country's first openly bisexual statewide office holder and first openly bisexual governor.