Facts and Figures

• To date, we have identified 76 individuals who have served as Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. (ref: Governors’ Executive Journals housed with the Secretary of State’s Office.) This number does not include Assistant Secretaries who assumed the role of Acting Secretary of State.

• Of that number, 7 Secretaries are known living. They are:
  • Ken Harper  
  • Bremer Ehrler
  • Bob Babbage
  • John Y. Brown III
  • Trey Grayson
  • Elaine N. Walker
  • Alison Lundergan Grimes

• The first Secretary of State to be born outside of the United States was Harry Toulmin (born in England).

• Eight women have held the office of Kentucky’s Secretary of State:
  • Emma Guy Cromwell: 1924-1928
  • Ella Lewis: 1928-1932
  • Sara W. Mahan:  1932-1936
  • Thelma Stovall: 1956-1960; 1964-1968; 1972-1976
  • Lelia Feltner Begley (appointed by Gov. Nunn after the death of her husband, Secretary of State Elmer Begley):  Sept. 21, 1970 – Feb. 2, 1971
  • Frances Jones Mills:  1980-1984
  • Elaine N. Walker: January 29, 2011 – January 1, 2012
  • Alison Lundergan Grimes:  January 2, 2012 - Current

• The first Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Kentucky was James Brown. He was appointed by Governor Isaac Shelby, on June 5, 1792, “with the advice and consent of the Kentucky Senate.”

• The first Secretary of State elected “by the qualified voters of this state” was Charles Finley. He served from January 1896 to January 1900.

• The office of Secretary of State was appointive until 1896 when Section 91 of the 1891 Kentucky Constitution mandated the Secretary’s election “by the qualified voters of the State at the same time the Governor is elected”. Section 95 required the first election under the 1891 Constitution to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 1895. (Note: Article II, Sections 8 & 17, of the 1792 Kentucky Constitution and Article III, Sections 9 & 24, of the 1799 Kentucky Constitution allowed the Governor to appoint the Secretary of State and all other officers established by the Constitution, “with the advice and consent of the Senate”. Article III, Sections 25 & 26, of the Kentucky Constitution, dated June 11, 1850, required public elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, Auditor, Register of the Land Office & Attorney General. The first election for those offices was held the first Monday in August, 1851. Under Section 21, Article III, of the 1850 Kentucky Constitution, the office of Kentucky Secretary of State remained appointive.)

• The Kentucky Constitution of 1891 states the Secretary of State “shall be at least 30 years of age at the time of his election and shall have been a resident citizen of the State at least two years next before his election.” (ref: Section 91 of the Kentucky Constitution, ratified August 3, 1891, revised September 28, 1891, and amended & ratified November 3, 1992)

• Elected Constitutional State Officers, including the Secretary of State, “shall be ineligible to reelection for the succeeding four years after the expiration of any second consecutive term for which they shall have been elected.” (ref: Section 93 of the Kentucky Constitution, original version ratified August 3, 1891, revised September 28, 1891, and amended & ratified November 3, 1992)

• Under the terms of the 1992 amendment to the 1891 Kentucky Constitution, the first Secretary of State to hold two consecutive elected terms was John Y. Brown III. (1996-2000; 2000-2004)

• 49 individuals were appointed to the office of Kentucky Secretary of State from 1792 to 1896. 23 individuals have been elected to the office of Kentucky’s Secretary of State from 1896 to current date; 3 individuals have been appointed Secretary of State by the Governor from 1896 to current date.

• From 1792 to 1892 when Secretaries of State were appointed:
  • There was one gubernatorial term (1832-1836) in which the office of Secretary of State was held by 4 appointees.
  • There were eight gubernatorial terms (1804-1808, 1816-1820, 1828-1832, 1844-1848, 1848-1850—shorter term due to new Constitution, 1851-1855, 1859-1863, & 1871-1875) in which the office of Secretary of State was held by 3 appointees.
  • There were eight gubernatorial terms (1796-1800, 1808-1812, 1812-1816, 1820-1824, 1824-1828, 1863-1867, 1879-1883, 1887-1891) in which the office of Secretary of State was held by 2 appointees.
  • The remaining ten gubernatorial terms, from 1792-1892, were held by 1 appointed Secretary of State.

• From 1896 to current date, when Secretaries of State are elected by the “qualified voters of this State”:

• One Secretary of State has served 3 separate terms in office:

      Thelma Loyace Hawkins Stovall (1956-1960; 1964-1968;

      1971-1975)

• Three Secretaries of State have been appointed by the Governor: 

           Leila Feltner Begley (1970-1971)

  Kenneth F. Harper (1971-1972)

  Elaine N. Walker (2011)

o   One Secretary of State died while in office:  Elmer Begley    

o   One Secretary of State resigned while in office:  Trey Grayson (Note: Secretary Grayson resigned during the last year of his second term to accept the directorship of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.)

• Three Secretaries of State have held 2 non-consecutive terms:

            George Glenn Hatcher (1940-1944; 1948-1952)

            Charles K. O’Connell (1944-1948; 1952-1956)

            Drexell R. Davis (1976-1980; 1984-1988)

• Two Secretaries of State have held 2 consecutive terms:

                      John Y. Brown III (1996-2000; 2000-2004)

                      Trey Grayson (2004-2008; 2008-2011)

• Since 1792, ten Secretaries of State have served multiple terms in office:
  • Harry Toulmin (appointed for two terms)
  • Samuel B. Churchill (appointed for two terms)
  • J. Stoddard Johnston, Sr.  (appointed for one term plus one month of a second term)
  • John W. Headley (appointed for one full term & part of a second due to the January 1896 inaugural date mandated by the 1891 Constitution)
  • George Glenn Hatcher (elected for two terms)
  • Charles K. O’Connell (elected for two terms)
  • Thelma Loyace Hawkins Stovall (elected for three terms)
  • Drexell R. Davis (elected for two terms)
  • John Y. Brown III (elected for two consecutive terms)
  • Trey Grayson (elected for two consecutive terms)

• The first Secretary of State to be appointed for two consecutive terms was:
  •  Harry Toulmin (1792-1796; 1796-1800)

• The first Secretary of State to be elected for two non-consecutive terms was:
  • George Glenn Hatcher (1940-1944; 1948-1952)

• Secretary of State Caleb Powers was indicted, incarcerated, and later pardoned for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Gov. William Goebel in 1900. (Note: Complete text of Governor William S. Taylor’s pardon of Secretary Powers is included on the “Timeline” channel of this website.)

• Two Secretaries of State have been elected Kentucky Governor:
  • William Owsley (Governor: 1844-1848)
  • John J. Crittenden (Governor: 1848-1850, resigned to become U.S. Attorney General)

• Two Secretaries of State have served as Kentucky’s Lieutenant Governor:
  • William Taylor Barry (Lt. Governor: 1820-1828, John Adair Administration)
  • Thelma Loyace Hawkins Stovall (Lt. Governor: 1975-1979, Julian Carroll Administration)

• Two Secretaries of State have served as Attorney General for Kentucky:
  • James Harlan (first elected Attorney General, served from 1850 to 1859)
  • Andrew Jackson James (elected Attorney General in 1859)

• One former Governor was appointed to the Office of Secretary of State:

Former Governor Christopher Greenup served as Secretary of State from February 3, 1813 to March 11, 1813, during Governor Isaac Shelby’s second Administration, according to Gov. Shelby’s Executive Journal. (Note: When Martin D. Hardin resigned as Secretary of State, former Gov. Greenup, who was serving as Hardin’s Assistant Secretary of State, was appointed Secretary. Hardin returned to the office and served the remainder of the term from March 11, 1813 to September 1, 1816.)