Debra Bowen

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American politician (born 1955)

title: "Debra Bowen" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-births", "living-people", "politicians-from-rockford,-illinois", "california-lawyers", "democratic-party-california-state-senators", "democratic-party-members-of-the-california-state-assembly", "michigan-state-university-alumni", "politicians-from-los-angeles-county,-california", "secretaries-of-state-of-california", "university-of-virginia-school-of-law-alumni", "women-state-legislators-in-california", "20th-century-american-women-lawyers", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "21st-century-american-women-politicians", "21st-century-american-women-lawyers", "21st-century-american-lawyers", "candidates-in-the-2011-united-states-elections", "21st-century-members-of-the-california-state-legislature", "20th-century-members-of-the-california-state-legislature", "20th-century-american-women-politicians"] description: "American politician (born 1955)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debra_Bowen" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (born 1955) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Debra Bowen
image	Debra_Bowen_op.png
imagesize	168 pix
order	29th
office	Secretary of State of California
governor	Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jerry Brown
term_start	January 8, 2007
term_end	January 4, 2015
predecessor	Bruce McPherson
successor	Alex Padilla
state_senate2	California State
district2	28th
term2	December 7, 1998 – November 30, 2006
predecessor2	Ralph C. Dills
successor2	Jenny Oropeza
state_assembly3	California
district3	53rd
term3	December 7, 1992 - November 30, 1998
predecessor3	Richard Floyd
successor3	George Nakano
birth_date
birth_place	Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
party	Democratic
spouse
children	1
education	Michigan State University (BA)
University of Virginia (JD)
profession	Lawyer
Politician
::

Debra Lynn Bowen (born October 27, 1955) is a former American attorney and politician who served as the Secretary of State of California from 2007 to 2015. Previously, she was a member of the California State Legislature from 1992 to 2006. In March 2008, she was given the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Background and education

Bowen was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, where she graduated from Guilford High School in 1973. She received her bachelor's degree in 1976 from Michigan State University, and her Juris Doctor in 1979 from the University of Virginia School of Law. In 1984, she started her own California law firm.

Motivated by the death of Robin Williams a few weeks earlier, in September 2014, her last year serving as Secretary of State, Bowen revealed that she has been battling depression since she had been in college. She vowed to continue to serve out the four months remaining in her term as Secretary of State.

Career in politics

Bowen began her career in politics on the Neighborhood Watch and Heal the Bay. Her first elected office was to the California State Assembly, where she represented the 53rd Assembly District in the South Bay, Los Angeles area from 1992 to 1998. Bowen was first elected to the California State Senate, representing the 28th State Senate District, in 1998. Her district included all or portions of the cities of Carson, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Venice, and Wilmington. Bowen chaired the California Senate's Committee on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments. She also sat on the Energy, Utilities & Communications and Rules committees. Due to term limits, her service in the Senate ended in December 2006.

On June 6, 2006, Bowen faced Deborah Ortiz, another state senator, in the Democratic primary to run against Republican incumbent Bruce McPherson for the position of California Secretary of State. Bowen won the primary by a 61-39 margin. On the November 2, 2006 general election, she defeated McPherson by a margin of 3% popular vote.

Bowen was re-elected on November 2, 2010 over Republican Damon Dunn.

Candidacy for Congress seat

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Secretary_of_State_Debra_Bowen,CA-36_candidate(5671449410).jpg" caption="Bowen at the 2011 [[Democratic Party of California]] state convention"] ::

After incumbent Jane Harman announced she was vacating the seat, Bowen was widely discussed as a possible candidate for the 36th congressional district special election to replace her. On February 15, 2011, Bowen announced in an email to her supporters that she was entering the race. Her candidacy was endorsed by former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Democracy for America, the California League of Conservation Voters, and the California Nurses Association. She came in third, not qualifying for the general election for the seat.

Policy interests

Bowen is known for her support of opening government to the Internet. In 1993, her first year in elected office, she helped to pass Assembly Bill (AB) 1624, which made all of California's bill information available on the Internet.

In May 2007, Bowen commissioned a "Top to Bottom Review" of California's electronic voting systems, to determine their security. On August 3, 2007, Bowen withdrew approval and certification and conditionally re-approved three electronic voting systems (Diebold Election Systems, Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems), and rescinded approval of a fourth system, (Election Systems & Software), after the top-to-bottom review of the voting machines found the machines to be highly insecure.{{cite web |title=Top-To-Bottom Review |publisher=California Secretary of State |date=2007-08-03 |url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vsr.htm |access-date=2007-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715155200/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vsr.htm |archive-date=2007-07-15 |url-status=dead For these efforts she was awarded the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Bowen was interviewed for the January 16, 2008 broadcast of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and was the keynote speaker for the 2008 Usenix Security Symposium.

Electoral history

References

(2008-05-12). "Debra Bowen - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum". Jfklibrary.org.
"About Debra Bowen - California Secretary of State". Sos.ca.gov.
(2010-03-03). "Intersection of Technology, Democracy Influenced Bowen's Path to California Secretary of State". Law.virginia.edu.
McGreevy, Patrick. (September 5, 2014). "Secretary of State Debra Bowen tells of struggle with depression". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Miller, Jim. (September 8, 2014). "Bowen vows to press on as election nears". [[Sacramento Bee]].
Maddaus, Gene. (2011-02-15). "Debra Bowen Will Run For Congress - Los Angeles News - The Informer". Blogs.laweekly.com.
"CA Secretary of State - General Election- Secretary of State - Statewide".
"Secretary of state".
"Our Campaigns - CA Secretary of State Race - Nov 02, 2010".
(2011-02-08). "2011: Harman to resign, setting up cycle's first special". First Read.
Cruickshank, Robert. (Feb 7, 2011). "Bowen for Congress". Calitics.
Merl, Jean. (February 16, 2011). "Debra Bowen enters race to succeed Rep. Jane Harman". Los Angeles Times.
David Catanese. (March 28, 2011 ). "Howard Dean for Debra Bowen". Politico.
(March 23, 2011). "DFA Endorses Debra Bowen for CA 36". Democracy for America.
(2011-03-30). "News Release: CLCV endorses Debra Bowen for Congress | California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV)". Ecovote.org.
California, Nevada, Texas Legislation. "California Endorsements". National Nurses United.
"Official Results for California's 36th Congressional District Special Election, 2011".
"Bill List". Leginfo.public.ca.gov.
"County officials fear new voting standards will be hard to meet".
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: [http://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Awards/Profile-in-Courage-Award/Award-Recipients/Debra-Bowen-2008.aspx?t=2 Debra Bowen award announcement.] May 12, 2008.
Michels, Spencer. (2008-01-16). "Ballot Blues in California". PBS.
(2008-12-09). "USENIX Security '08 Technical Sessions".
(2006-12-16). "Secretary of State". [[Secretary of State of California]].
(2006-12-18). "Registration and Participation". [[Secretary of State of California]].
"Statement of the Vote - November 2, 2010 General Election".
[http://rrcc.co.la.ca.us/elect/11051110/rr1110pa.html-ssi 2011 primary election results]

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