Jerry Brown wins a record-setting fourth term as California governor

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

California Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. (D) is projected to easily win a historic fourth term, 40 years after his first gubernatorial victory in 1974 at the age of 36.

The 76-year-old was re-elected as governor in 1978, and after three unsuccessful attempts to run for president, made a comeback in 1998 as the mayor of Oakland, California. He served as attorney general in 2006, and was elected governor again in 2010.

His opponent, Republican Neel Kashkari, is a former aerospace engineer and Goldman Sachs investment banker known for once being the head of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In his concession speech, Kashkari said he was "just getting started," and knew his campaign was "always a long shot, always a total mountain to climb." By the June primary, Kashkari had already poured $2 million, or 40 percent of his net worth, into his campaign, and only ran a handful of commercials leading up to the election.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.