Shirley Weber (née Nash; born September 20, 1948) is an American academic and politician serving as the secretary of state of California. She was previously a member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

for the 79th Assembly District, which includes portions of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, Chula Vista, and National City and all of Lemon Grove and La Mesa. Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2012, Weber served on the San Diego Board of Education, and as a professor of African-American studies at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

. She is the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to have been elected to the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

south of Los Angeles. In December 2020,

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...

appointed Weber as California's secretary of state, succeeding

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democrati ...

, whom he had appointed as California's junior United States senator. Weber is the first

to serve as California's secretary of state and the fifth to serve in a statewide position.

Early life and education

Weber was born in Hope, Arkansas, and raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Her father was a farmer and left school after sixth grade but encouraged Weber and her seven siblings to prioritize their education. At three years old, she and her family fled their farm and moved west after her father refused to back down in a dispute with a white farmer and a lynch mob threatened his life. The family relocated to the Pueblo Del Rio housing projects in South Los Angeles where Weber grew up. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

, and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in communication from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Career

Academics

Weber is a professor emerita of Africana studies at

. She helped to establish that department in 1972 and became its chair, teaching there for 40 years. She was president of the National Council for Black Studies from 2002 to 2006.

Early political career

She served as a board member and later president of the

Board of Education from 1988 to 1996. She also served as chairwoman of the San Diego Citizens’ Equal Opportunity Commission.

California State Assembly

In Fall 2011, she was recruited to run for office in the

by Toni Atkins. In November 2012, Weber won election to the state assembly with 61.7% of the vote, defeating her Republican opponent, Mary England. During her time in the assembly, Weber was a member of the California Assembly's Committee on Higher Education. She promoted the development of a state university location in Chula Vista as a satellite or extension campus of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...

system. In 2020, Weber authored Assembly Bill 3121, which created a California Reparations Task Force to study how to redress slavery in California; the task force met for the first time in 2021.

California Secretary of State

Shirley Weber speaking at the signing of AB392

On December 22, 2020, Governor

appointed Weber to the position of secretary of state of California, effective upon confirmation by the

, to replace

, whom he had just appointed to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. Weber is the first African American to serve as secretary of state. Weber was sworn in on January 29, 2021, having been confirmed unanimously by the state senate the day before. As secretary of state, Weber played a central role in administering the

2021 California gubernatorial recall election The 2021 California gubernatorial recall election was a special recall election, recall election that started in August 2021 and ended on September 14, 2021, when the majority of California voters chose not to recall incumbent Democratic Party ...

that targeted Newsom. She won a full term in the 2022 election.

Personal life

Weber's husband,

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Daniel Weber, died in 2002. She has two children and three grandchildren. Her daughter, Akilah Weber, is a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and was a member of the La Mesa

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

from 2018 to 2021. On April 19, 2021, Akilah was sworn in by her mother to succeed her in the

after winning in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

Electoral history

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

References

External links

Government website

Campaign website
*
Join California Shirley Weber
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Shirley 1948 births 2020 United States presidential electors 21st-century American women politicians African-American state legislators in California Living people Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly People from Hope, Arkansas Politicians from San Diego San Diego State University faculty Secretaries of state of California University of California, Los Angeles alumni Women state legislators in California 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Democratic Party state constitutional officers of California 21st-century members of the California State Legislature