Shirley Weber

Weber was born in Hope, Arkansas, to sharecroppers during the Jim Crow era, and her family moved to California when she was three.[2] In her candidate statement she says her parents could not vote in the South, cast their first votes in California, and used the family living room as a polling place.[1] She earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at UCLA and became a professor at San Diego State University at age 23, retiring from its Department of Africana Studies after 40 years on the faculty.[2]

Before her appointment, Weber served four terms in the California State Assembly representing the 79th District and was a member and chair of the San Diego Unified School District board.[2] In the Assembly she chaired the Elections and Redistricting Committee and was the first African American to chair the Assembly Budget Committee, and she chaired the California Legislative Black Caucus from 2018 to 2020.[2]

Governor Gavin Newsom nominated Weber as Secretary of State on December 22, 2020, and she was sworn in on January 29, 2021; voters elected her to a full term on November 8, 2022.[2] She is California's first Black Secretary of State.[2] Her statement says 28 statewide and special elections have been held with her as Secretary of State and that she fought for voting rights in court and won.[1]