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 by 7.2 percentage points. As a result, it was the closest statewide race in California that year. As of , this election, alongside the concurrent state controller election, is also the last time in which a statewide California race between a Democrat and a Republican was decided by single digits; and in which Mono, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura Counties voted for the Republican in a statewide race.

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 and 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

Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror Derek David Alex Pete Daniel Leland Other UndecidedSurveyUSASurveyUSA 610 ±4% — — 48% 32% — — 9% 11%Field PollField Poll 504 ±4.5% 3% 5% 17% 30% 4% — <0.5% 41% 2% 4% 10% 27% 4% 8% 1% 44%

Results

General election Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror AlexPadilla (D) PetePeterson (R) UndecidedGQR/American ViewpointGQR/American Viewpoint October 22–29, 2014 1,162 ± 3.3% 45% 41% 14%Field PollField Poll October 15–28, 2014 941 ± 3.4% 44% 37% 19%Field PollField Poll August 14–28, 2014 467 ± 4.8% 43% 36% 21%Gravis MarketingGravis Marketing July 22–24, 2014 580 ± 4% 34% 37% 28%

Results

By county County Alex PadillaDemocratic Pete PetersonRepublican Margin Total votes cast # % # % # %Alameda256,28074.49%87,78625.51%168,49448.97%344,066Alpine26257.84%19142.16%7115.67%453Amador4,70837.74%7,76862.26%-3,060-24.53%12,476Butte25,23842.03%34,80357.97%-9,565-15.93%60,041Calaveras5,66437.35%9,50062.65%-3,836-25.30%15,164Colusa1,33932.88%2,73367.12%-1,394-34.23%4,072Contra Costa144,61058.88%101,00641.12%43,60417.75%245,616Del Norte2,91143.35%3,80456.65%-893-13.30%6,715El Dorado21,76036.56%37,75963.44%-15,999-26.88%59,519Fresno66,15642.22%90,53557.78%-24,379-15.56%156,691Glenn1,59727.36%4,24172.64%-2,644-45.29%5,838Humboldt21,88260.67%14,18339.33%7,69921.35%36,065Imperial12,65360.94%8,11139.06%4,54221.87%20,764Inyo2,10639.58%3,21560.42%-1,109-20.84%5,321Kern47,00835.55%85,22564.45%-38,217-28.90%132,233Kings7,78435.39%14,21264.61%-6,428-29.22%21,996Lake9,35854.90%7,68645.10%1,6729.81%17,044Lassen1,75726.01%4,99973.99%-3,242-47.99%6,756Los Angeles880,93962.50%528,63037.50%352,30924.99%1,409,569Madera9,03334.27%17,32865.73%-8,295-31.47%26,361Marin58,35870.27%24,68529.73%33,67340.55%83,043Mariposa2,31936.16%4,09563.84%-1,776-27.69%6,414Mendocino15,40465.55%8,09534.45%7,30931.10%23,499Merced16,47545.91%19,40854.09%-2,933-8.17%35,883Modoc72325.78%2,08274.22%-1,359-48.45%2,805Mono1,39446.14%1,62753.86%-233-7.71%3,021Monterey42,79359.59%29,01440.41%13,77919.19%71,807Napa21,33658.60%15,07441.40%6,26217.20%36,410Nevada17,53847.17%19,63952.83%-2,101-5.65%37,177Orange234,60438.70%371,65361.30%-137,049-22.61%606,257Placer39,64736.02%70,43663.98%-30,789-27.97%110,083Plumas2,50136.05%4,43663.95%-1,935-27.89%6,937Riverside153,34144.44%191,72155.56%-38,380-11.12%345,062Sacramento170,62754.16%144,38845.84%26,2398.33%315,015San Benito7,32755.43%5,89244.57%1,43510.86%13,219San Bernardino127,57545.24%154,42554.76%-26,850-9.52%282,000San Diego301,06045.99%353,50354.01%-52,443-8.01%654,563San Francisco162,57578.50%44,53721.50%118,03856.99%207,112San Joaquin54,11847.48%59,86852.52%-5,750-5.04%113,986San Luis Obispo38,80246.63%44,40353.37%-5,601-6.73%83,205San Mateo101,37965.75%52,79834.25%48,58131.51%154,177Santa Barbara56,45852.73%50,61247.27%5,8465.46%107,070Santa Clara230,45261.07%146,92038.93%83,53222.14%377,372Santa Cruz49,33770.43%20,71229.57%28,62540.86%70,049Shasta17,53631.63%37,90068.37%-20,364-36.73%55,436Sierra52735.58%95464.42%-427-28.83%1,481Siskiyou5,38740.03%8,07059.97%-2,683-19.94%13,457Solano50,19557.56%37,01642.44%13,17915.11%87,211Sonoma92,36966.80%45,91333.20%46,45633.60%138,282Stanislaus38,00443.09%50,20356.91%-12,199-13.83%88,207Sutter6,72133.87%13,12366.13%-6,402-32.26%19,844Tehama4,51629.82%10,62970.18%-6,113-40.36%15,145Trinity1,65743.65%2,13956.35%-482-12.70%3,796Tulare20,71333.82%40,52866.18%-19,815-32.36%61,241Tuolumne6,25637.74%10,32162.26%-4,065-24.52%16,577Ventura95,11348.74%100,02551.26%-4,912-2.52%195,138Yolo27,26961.94%16,75738.06%10,51223.88%44,026Yuba4,26034.70%8,01865.30%-3,758-30.61%12,278Total3,799,71153.63%3,285,33446.37%514,3777.26%7,085,045

References

External links California Secretary of State election, 2014 at Ballotpedia Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org

Official campaign websites Derek Cressman for Secretary of State David S. Curtis for Secretary of State Alex Padilla for Secretary of State Pete Peterson for Secretary of State Daniel Schnur for Secretary of State Leland Yee for Secretary of State