Brown, Kate, 1960-

Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Born in Torrejón de Ardoz, in Francoist Spain, she grew up in Minnesota, graduating from Mounds View High School in Arden Hills, Minnesota in 1978. Brown earned a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Conservation with a certificate in women's studies from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1981 and a J.D. degree and certificate in environmental law from the Lewis & Clark College Law School in 1985. Brown practiced family law in Portland until she was appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1991. She served in both the State House and Senate. In 2004, she became the first woman to serve as Senate majority leader.

In 2008, Brown was elected as Oregon’s 24th secretary of state, serving two terms. After Governor John Kitzhaber resigned in 2015, Brown was sworn in as Oregon’s 38th governor, in accordance with the Oregon Constitution. She was elected governor on November 8, 2016 to finish out Governor Kitzhaber’s first term and was reelected in 2018 to a second term.

As an openly bisexual woman, Brown has made history several times through her electoral success. In 2008, she became the first openly LGBT person elected secretary of state of a state in the United States. In 2016, she became the first openly LGBT person elected governor of a state in the United States as well as the second woman elected governor of Oregon.