SAN FRANCISCO California political trailblazer March Fong Eu, who served as the state’s first female secretary of state and later a U.S. ambassador to Micronesia, died Thursday at the age of 95.

Eu served four terms as a Democratic state assemblywoman representing the Oakland area before becoming California’s chief elections officer in 1975. She held that position until 1994 when President Bill Clinton named her ambassador to the Pacific nation of Micronesia.

“She was a pioneering woman who helped open doors to public service for more women and Asian Americans,” said Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday. “On behalf of all Californians, Anne and I express our deep condolences to March’s family.”

Source: “California political trailblazer March Fong Eu dies at 95” by Janie Har in the Sacramento Bee (12/22/2017)

“From her work at the CIA and on Eleanor Roosevelt’s staff at the first United Nations General Assembly in 1946 to her early support of San Diego’s trolley and downtown redevelopment, she forged her own path in a political world largely dominated by men…

Killea served on the city council for five years and spent 14 years in the state Assembly and Senate, retiring from public service in 1996. She continued working with civic organizations and was known for her decades-long push to improve cross-border relations with Mexico…

Of all the things she lent her drive to, advocating for women was paramount. Killea was one of a handful of women in office in Sacramento when she was first elected, and she deftly navigated the Legislature. And when other women entered office, Killea showed them how to be effective lawmakers in a world dominated by men.”

Source: “Lucy Killea, political trailblazer who was denied Communion for supporting abortion rights, dies at 94” by Lyndsay Winkley and Joshua Stewart in the Los Angeles Times (1/19/2017)

“State Sen. Sharon Runner, a longtime legislator who championed a sweeping law that targeted sex offenders and then battled back into political life after failing health, died Thursday…

Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) called Runner a “champion for California’s children” on Thursday, noting that she authored legislation to expand charter schools, help families adopt, and improve the lives of foster kids…

The Runners were instrumental in the drafting and passage of “Jessica’s Law” in 2006, a ballot measure that required sex offenders to be monitored with GPS devices and placed rules on how close they could live to schools and parks where children gather.”

Source: “State Sen. Sharon Runner, longtime Republican lawmaker, dies at 62” in the Los Angeles Times (7/30/2016)

“Marian Bergeson, a longtime education advocate who served Orange County for decades as one of its most prominent politicians and became a trailblazer as the first woman to win seats in both the state Assembly and Senate, died Wednesday. She was 90…

Throughout California, Bergeson was known as a trailblazer for female politicians, initiating a wave of women successfully running for public office. Today, nearly four decades after she was first elected to the state Assembly, three of the county’s seven congressional delegates are female, as are two of its five state senators and two of its five county supervisors.”

Source: “Marian Bergeson, pioneering politician, dies at 90” in the Orange County Register (7/6/2016)

 

Since 1918 when the first women were elected to the California Legislature, only 153 women have been elected to serve in these halls.

Women in the California Legislature