Francisco Aguilar is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he has served as the Secretary of State of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

since 2023. He was elected in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

, defeating Republican Jim Marchant.

Early life and education

Born to a family of Mexican descent, Aguilar is named after his maternal grandfather Francisco, a miners' union leader in Arizona. Aguilar earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accou ...

, and

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...

Career

A lawyer, he worked as a law clerk for

U.S. Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...

. Aguilar served for eight years on the

Nevada State Athletic Commission The Nevada State Athletic Commission (also known as the Nevada Athletic Commission or NSAC) regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of Nevada, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, kickboxers, ...

, including two years as chairman. He also served as special counsel to James E. Rogers, chancellor of the

Nevada System of Higher Education The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE, formerly the University and Community College System of Nevada or "UCCSN") is a state government unit in Nevada that oversees its public system of colleges and universities. It was formed in 1968 to ove ...

. He also led Agassi Graf, a management company for tennis stars

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...

and

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

. Aguilar is a member of the Board of Directors for the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to ...

, Sletten Construction Company, the Fulfillment Fund Las Vegas and the University of Arizona Foundation Board of Trustees. He is a founding board member of the Innocence Center of Nevada. He is the Chairman of the board of trustees of Cristo Rey St. Viator, a Catholic high school in

North Las Vegas North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 216,961, with an estimated population of 251,974 in 2019. The city was incorporated on May 1, 19 ...

that principally serves students from impoverished families. Aguilar works for De Castroverde Law Group as an attorney and owns Blueprint Sports, LLC, a sports technology company.

Nevada Secretary of State

Incumbent Nevada Secretary of State

Barbara Cegavske Barbara Katherine Cegavske (née Jewson; born August 27, 1951) is an American businesswoman and politician, who is the former Secretary of State of Nevada from 2015 to 2023. She was a Republican member of the Nevada Senate, representing Clark ...

could not seek reelection in 2022 due to

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential ...

. Aguilar announced his candidacy to succeed her in the

2022 Nevada Secretary of State election The 2022 Nevada Secretary of State election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the next Secretary of State of Nevada, secretary of state of Nevada. Incumbent Republican Party (United States), Republican Barbara Cegavske was term-limited an ...

. He was unopposed in the

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

. In the general election, he faced Republican nominee Jim Marchant, an election denier who believed the 2020 election had been stolen from former U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

. Aguilar defeated Marchant in the November 8 general election. He is Nevada's first Latino secretary of state. Aguilar has indicated support for a legislative proposal to make harassing campaign workers a felony.

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Cisco 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American lawyers Living people Nevada Democrats Nevada lawyers Nevada State Athletic Commissioners Politicians from Tucson, Arizona Secretaries of State of Nevada University of Arizona alumni Year of birth missing (living people)