Eleni Kounalakis

Eleni Kounalakis

Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis (born March 3, 1966 in Sacramento , California ) is an American diplomat and politician of the Democratic Party . She has been Lieutenant Governor of California since January 7, 2019 and was the United States Ambassador to Hungary between 2010 and 2013 .

Career

Kounalakis was born the daughter of Greek immigrants in Sacramento , the capital of California . Her father was a real estate entrepreneur in Sacramento. She studied at the University of California, Berkeley , where she obtained a Masters in Business Administration . She then worked in the real estate industry for several years. She was also involved in the Democratic Party of California, where she took on various organizational activities and was involved in election campaigns, including for Senator Dianne Feinstein . She also served on the Religions for Peace Board of Directors for ten years . In April 2010, US President Barack Obama appointed her American ambassador to Hungary . Kounalakis held this office until July 2013.

In April 2017, Kounalakis announced her application for Lieutenant Governor of California in the 2018 election, with the support of several prominent Democrats, including Senator Kamala Harris . Former US President Barack Obama also made an election recommendation for Kounalakis. In the pre-election on June 5, 2018, Kounalakis took first place with 23% of the vote. Since 2012, with the exception of the president, California has no longer used any party primaries for all electoral posts: all candidates are voted on in a single pre-election regardless of their party affiliation (so-called nonpartisan blanket primary ). In the actual election, the two most successful candidates in the area code compete against each other, while the remaining applicants are eliminated. State Senator Ed Hernandez , also a Democrat, came in second . Hernandez was seen more towards the political center, while Kounalakis is more likely to belong to the progressive wing of the Democrats. She then won the main election on November 6, 2018 with 56.5% of the vote. She took office as Vice Governor - the first woman - on January 7, 2019. She succeeded her party colleague Gavin Newsom , who was elected Governor of California in the parallel gubernatorial election.

Private life

Her husband, Markos Kounalakis, a journalist, is also of Greek descent. The couple have two sons and live in San Francisco .

Web links

• Web presence in the government of California (English)
• Personal web presence (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meet Eleni , own biography (English)
2. ↑ Eleni Kounalakis Wins California's Lieutenant Governor's Race , CBS Sacramento, November 7, 2018 (English)
3. ↑ State elections: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom projected to win California governor race; Eleni Kounalakis projected to win lieutenant governor race , Daily Californian, November 7, 2018