Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez

Who is Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez?

Lorraine A. Cortés-Vázquez was the 65th Secretary of State of New York, serving in the Cabinet of Governor David Paterson. She originally served in the Cabinet of former Governor Eliot Spitzer and remained in office following Paterson's taking over the governorship on March 17, 2008. A former Vice President for Government and Public Affairs with Cablevision, she was Chief of staff to former New York Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez. From 2001 to 2007, she served on the New York State Board of Regents.

As Secretary of State, she was formally responsible with accepting Spitzer's resignation from the governorship on March 17, 2008 due to a sex scandal. She also accepted the resignation of U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton when she resigned as New York's Senator to the United States Senate after she accepted the position of United States Secretary of State in President Barack Obama's newly formed cabinet. She is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent and is the second person of Puerto Rican ancestry to serve as Secretary of State in a state of the Union, preceded only by Pedro Cortés, of Pennsylvania.