Matt Brown (American politician)

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Matt Brown (born November 15, 1969) is an American activist and politician who served as Rhode Island Secretary of State from 2003 to 2007. He was born in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. He attended Moses Brown School, earned a BA from Columbia University in 1993, and a JD from Yale Law School in 2001.

In 1993, Brown helped start City Year Rhode Island, the state’s first expansion site of the national service program, and he led City Year Rhode Island as executive director from 1995 to 1998.

In 2002, Brown won the Democratic primary against the incumbent Secretary of State and then won the general election with about 68.7% of the vote. He served as secretary under Governor Donald Carcieri. As secretary, he built Rhode Island’s Central Voter Registration System, launched Motor Voter e-Registration (an electronic voter registration system), and created Lobbytracker, a public online tool for lobbyist reports. He also strengthened lobbyist disclosure.

In 2005, Brown announced a run for the United States Senate in 2006 against Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, but he withdrew and endorsed Sheldon Whitehouse, who won the seat.

Brown co-founded Global Zero with Bruce G. Blair, a non-profit campaign to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Since its 2008 launch, Global Zero has grown to involve leaders and supporters worldwide and produced campaigns and a documentary.

In 2018, Brown ran for governor of Rhode Island in the Democratic primary, but lost to Gina Raimondo. He also ran for governor in 2022 and again lost in the Democratic primary.