Matt Brown | |
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Secretary of State of Rhode Island | |
In office January 7, 2003 –January 1, 2007 | |
Governor | Donald Carcieri |
Preceded by | Edward Inman |
Succeeded by | Ralph Mollis |
Personal details | |
Born | Bethesda,Maryland,U.S. | November 15,1969
Political party | Democratic |
Children | 2 |
Education | Columbia University (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Matthew A. Brown (born November 15,1969) is an American attorney,activist,and politician who served as secretary of state of Rhode Island from 2003 to 2007. Brown was a Democratic candidate for governor of Rhode Island in the 2018 election.
Alongside Bruce G. Blair,Brown co-founded Global Zero,a non-profit international initiative for the phased,verified elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide. He previously served as executive director of the Rhode Island branch of City Year.
Brown was born in Bethesda,Maryland,and raised in Providence,Rhode Island. He graduated from Moses Brown School in Providence and from Columbia University in 1993. He received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2001.
In 1993,Brown helped to start City Year in Rhode Island,the first expansion site of the model national service program that brings together diverse young adults ages 17–24 for a year of full-time community service and leadership development. From 1995-1998,Brown served as Executive Director of City Year Rhode Island.
At age 32,in his first campaign for public office,Brown defeated the incumbent Secretary of State in the Democratic primary,and went on to win the general election with 68.7% of the vote.
Brown served as secretary of State of Rhode Island from 2003 to 2007. He developed Rhode Island’s first Central Voter Registration System,a computerized voter registration system ensuring accurate voter lists and he launched Motor Voter e-Registration,a first-in-the-nation electronic voter registration system. He established new lobby regulations increasing public disclosure of the links between lobbyists and elected officials and created Lobbytracker,a web-based tool making lobbyist monthly financial reports available to the public online. [1]
In 2005, Brown declared his intention to run for the United States Senate in 2006, challenging incumbent Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, but withdrew from the race and endorsed another Democratic candidate, Sheldon Whitehouse, who went on to win the general election.
Brown is Co-Founder, with Bruce G. Blair, of Global Zero, a non-profit international initiative for the elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide. [2] Since its launch in Paris in December 2008, [3] Global Zero has grown to 300 leaders, including current and former heads of state, national security officials and military commanders, and 400,000 citizens worldwide; developed a practical step-by-step plan to eliminate nuclear weapons; launched an international student campaign with 75 campus chapters in eight countries; and produced an acclaimed documentary film, Countdown to Zero, in partnership with Lawrence Bender and Participant Media. [4]
Brown declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor of Rhode Island in early-2018, challenging incumbent Democrat Gina Raimondo. Brown received the endorsement of several progressive organizations, including Justice Democrats, Bernie Sanders-affiliated organization Our Revolution, and the Progressive Democrats of America. Brown also received support from Senator Lincoln Chafee (whom Brown had once sought to challenge), former NARAL president Kate Michelman, and feminist activist Gloria Steinem. Brown lost the primary to Raimondo.
Brown has announced his intention to run for governor in the 2022 gubernatorial election. [5]
Lincoln Davenport Chafee is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a Democrat from 2013 to 2019; in June 2019, The Boston Globe reported that he became a Libertarian, having previously been a Republican until September 2007 and an independent and then a Democrat in the interim. He is the last non-Democrat to hold statewide and/or Congressional office in Rhode Island.
John Lester Hubbard Chafee was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Rhode Island, as the Secretary of the Navy, and as a United States Senator.
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Since the Great Depression, Rhode Island politics have been dominated by the Rhode Island Democratic Party, and the state is considered part of the Democrats' "Blue Wall." Democrats have won all but four presidential elections since 1928, with the exceptions being 1952, 1956, 1972, and 1984. The Rhode Island Republican Party, although virtually non-existent in the Rhode Island General Assembly, has remained competitive in gubernatorial elections, having won one as recently as 2006. Until 2014, Democrats had not won a gubernatorial election in the state since 1992, and it was not until 2018 that they won one by double digits. The Rhode Island General Assembly has continuously been under Democratic control since 1959.
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The 2014 Rhode Island gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Rhode Island, concurrently with the election of Rhode Island's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
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The 1976 United States Senate election in Rhode Island took place on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John O. Pastore did not seek re-election. Republican John Chafee won the seat, defeating Democrat Richard P. Lorber. Chafee was the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Rhode Island since 1930.
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The 2022 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Rhode Island. Incumbent Democratic Governor Dan McKee became Rhode Island's governor on March 2, 2021, when term-limited Gina Raimondo resigned following her confirmation as United States Secretary of Commerce. McKee easily won a full term on election day, defeating Republican Ashley Kalus by more than 19 percentage points.
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