A Brief Biography of California State Gov. Jerry Brown

For almost 50 years, Edmund “Jerry” Brown has been a major player in California’s state political circuit. According to CA.gov, Brown was elected Trustee for the Los Angeles Community College District in 1969, before he became Secretary of State in 1970 and the governor of California four years after that. Re-elected in 1978, 2010 and 2014, Brown is the first person to serve four terms as the Golden State’s governor.

Born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938, Brown is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley and Yale Law School. His official bio on CA.gov also states that he once was chairman of the state Democratic Party and mayor of Oakland.

Brown’s career has included ambitions outside of the state of California. Per Laura Mandaro of USA Today Network, Brown ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1976, 1980 and 1992. Additionally, he attempted to claim a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1982, but failed.

Throughout his years in office, Brown has worked to adapt policies and awareness regarding climate change. A recent article in the New York Times by Javier C. Hernandez and Adam Nagourney described Brown’s extensive efforts at fighting this phenomenon, including a trip to China to meet with the country’s president, Xi Jinping, about the issue.

While United States President Donald Trump has pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and generally moved American policy away from climate change initiatives, Brown, with his trip to China, became what Hernandez and Nagourney called America’s “de facto envoy” on climate change.

His long and unprecedented political career in California may finally come to a close when his current term ends in 2019. The article suggests that the 79-year-old may spend his final months focusing on the issue that he has been linked to since he was first elected governor over 40 years ago. Brown may forever be known as the governor of California who championed climate change resolutions.