The 2014 California Secretary of State election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the secretary of state of California. Incumbent Democratic secretary of state Debra Bowen was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election to a third term in office.
A primary election was held on June 3, 2014. Under California's nonpartisan blanket primary law, all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. In the primary, voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. The top two finishers — regardless of party — advance to the general election in November, even if a candidate manages to receive a majority of the votes cast in the primary election. Washington is the only other state with this system, a so-called "top two primary" (Louisiana has a similar "jungle primary").
Democrat Alex Padilla and Republican Pete Peterson finished first and second, respectively, and contested the general election, which Padilla won.
Primary election
Candidates
Democratic Party
Declared
Derek Cressman, political reform and anti-dark money activist and former vice president of Common Cause Jeffrey H. Drobman, computer scientist/engineer Alex Padilla, state senator
Withdrew
Leland Yee, state senator
Republican Party
Declared
Roy Allmond, California state employee
Pete Peterson, executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement at Pepperdine University
Green Party
Declared
David S. Curtis, architectural designer
Independent
Declared
Daniel Schnur, former chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission and former Republican strategist