List of American politicians of Armenian descent

This article is the list of Armenian American politicians, officeholders and party chairpersons.

George Deukmejian has served as a State Assemblyman, Senator, State Attorney General and a former Governor of California.

Bold indicates incumbent officeholders.

Note: persons are classified by chronological order

Federal government

Cabinet officials

	Position	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
	20th Secretary of the Treasury		Thomas Corwin[1]	Ohio	July 23, 1850	March 6, 1853		Millard Fillmore
	59th Secretary of the Navy		Paul Ignatius[2]		September 1, 1967	January 24, 1969		Lyndon B. Johnson
	Assistant Attorney General for the Internal Security Division		Robert Mardian[3]		November 7, 1970	March 1972[4]		Richard Nixon

• Ike Hajinazarian, White House Regional Communications Director, Biden Administration[5][6]
• Jeff Marootian, Special Assistant to the President for Climate and Science Agency Personnel, Biden Administration[7][8]

Members of Congress

Name	Party	State	Years	Ref
Senate
Thomas Corwin	Whig Party	Ohio	1845–50	[1]
House of Representatives
Thomas Corwin	Whig Party	Ohio	1830–40 1859–61	[1]
Steven Derounian	Republican	New York	1953–65	[9][10]
Adam Benjamin Jr.	Democrat	Indiana	1977–82	[9]
Chip Pashayan	Republican	California	1979–91	[9][11]
Anna Eshoo	Democrat	California	1993–	[9][12]
John E. Sweeney	Republican	New York	1999–2007	[9][13]
Jackie Speier	Democrat	California	2008—	[9][14]
Anthony Brindisi	Democrat	New York	2019—	[15][16]

Diplomats

Name	Position	Years	President(s)		Ref
Thomas Corwin	United States Minister to Mexico	1861–64		Abraham Lincoln	[1]
Edward Djerejian
	United States Ambassador to Syria	1988–91		Ronald Reagan	[17]
	Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs	1991–93		George H. W. Bush
	United States Ambassador to Israel	1993–94		Bill Clinton
William A. Stanton
	Chargé d’affaires to Embassy Canberra, Australia	2005–06		George W. Bush	[18]
	Deputy Chief of Mission to Embassy Seoul, Korea and Director of the American Institute in Taiwan	2009–12		Barack Obama

State government

Governors

• Thomas Corwin, Whig Party, Ohio, 1840–42[1]
• George Deukmejian, Republican, California (1983–91)[19]

Other

• Steven Derounian, Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1969–81)[9][10]
• George Deukmejian, California Attorney General (1979–83)[19]
• Julia Tashjian, Secretary of the State of Connecticut (1983–91)[20][9]
• Dickran Tevrizian, United States District Court for the Central District of California (1985–2005)[9]
• Armand Arabian, Justice of the Supreme Court of California (1990–96)[9]
• Marvin R. Baxter, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California (1991—2015)[9]
• Brad Avakian, Oregon Commissioner of Labor (2008—2019)[21]
• Rachel Kaprielian, Massachusetts Registrar of Motor Vehicles (2008–14); Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Worforce Development (2014–15)[22]
• Peter Koutoujian, Middlesex County Sheriff, Massachusetts (2011—)[23]

Legislature

Lower Name Party State Years Ref George Deukmejian Republican California State Assembly 1962–1967 [19] George Keverian Democratic Massachusetts House of Representatives 1967–1991 (speaker 1985–1991) [20][11] Chuck Haytaian Republican New Jersey General Assembly 1982–1996 (speaker 1992–1996) [20][9] Jackie Speier Democratic California State Assembly 1986-1996 [9] Chuck Poochigian Republican California State Assembly 1994-1998 [24][9] Howard Kaloogian Republican California State Assembly 1994–2000 [9][25] Rachel Kaprielian Democratic Massachusetts House of Representatives 1995–2008 [22] Peter Koutoujian Democratic Massachusetts House of Representatives 1997–2011 [23] Joe Simitian Democratic California State Assembly 2000–2004 [9] Ruth Munson Republican Illinois House of Representatives 2002–2009 Greg Aghazarian Republican California State Assembly 2002–2008 [9] Brad Avakian Democratic Oregon House of Representatives 2003–2007 [21] Paul Krekorian Democratic California State Assembly 2006–2010 [9] Katcho Achadjian Republican California State Assembly 2010—2016 [26] King Banaian Republican Minnesota House of Representatives 2011—2013 [26] Sara Gideon Democratic Maine House of Representatives 2012— (speaker 2016—) [27] Adrin Nazarian Democratic California State Assembly 2012— [26] Gary Azarian Republican New Hampshire House of Representatives 2012— [26] Charlene Takesian Republican New Hampshire House of Representatives 2012—2016 [26] John Janigian Republican New Hampshire House of Representatives 2016- Mari Manoogian Democratic Michigan House of Representatives 2019— [28]

Upper Name Party State Years Ref Walter Karabian Democratic California State Senate 1966–1974 (majority leader 1971–1974) [9][29] George Deukmejian Republican California State Senate 1967–1979 [19] Jackie Speier Democratic California State Senate 1998–2006 [9] Brad Avakian Democratic Oregon State Senate 2007–2008 [21] Chuck Poochigian Republican California State Senate 1998–2006 [9][24] Joe Simitian Democratic California State Senate 2004–2012 [9]

Municipal government

Mayors

Name City Years Ref Robert Sabonjian Waukegan, Illinois 1957–77 1985–89 [30] Sam Mardian Phoenix, Arizona 1960–64 [31] Peter Torigian Peabody, Massachusetts 1978–2001 [32][33] Haig Paravonian Waukegan, Illinois 1989–93 [30] John Antaramian Kenosha, Wisconsin 1992–2008 2016– [34] Bill Paparian Pasadena, California 1995–97 [35] Scott Avedisian Warwick, Rhode Island 2000–18 [36] Harry Tutunjian Troy, New York 2004–12 [37] Marina Khubesrian South Pasadena, California 2018– [38] Amy Shuklian Visalia, California 2011–13 [39] Jack Hadjinian Montebello, California 2014–15 [40]

Mayors of Glendale, California Name Years Ref Larry Zarian 1986–87 1990–91 1993–94 1997–98 [41] Rafi Manoukian 2002–03 2005–06 [41] Bob Yousefian 2004–05 [41] Ara Najarian 2007–08 2010–11 2015–16 2019–20 [41] Zareh Sinanyan 2014–15 2018–19 [41] Vartan Gharpetian 2017–18 [41] Vrej Agajanian 2020–21 [41]

Other

• Onnie Shekerjian, Vice-Mayor of Tempe, Arizona (2006–)[42]
• Paul Krekorian, Los Angeles City Council (2010—)[9]
• Marina Khubesrian, South Pasadena, CA Mayor Pro Tem (2010—)[9]

Other political figures

• Edward N. Costikyan, New York-based political personality[43]
• Danny Tarkanian, Nevada-based politician and candidate

See also

• List of Armenian Americans
• List of Jewish American politicians

References

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