jordan's early death in march 1970 created a vacancy to be filled by then-governor ronald reagan, who believed it was unfair to appoint someone to the office and give that person a leg up in the november 1970 election. therefore reagan appointed a lower-level staff member, h.p. sullivan, on an interim basis to fill the vacancy so that two republicans could compete in the primary without the advantage of incumbency. the republican primary was won by james l. flournoy, an african-american los angeles attorney; this made flournoy the first african-american nominated for statewide office in california by a major party. flournoy lost the general election to democrat jerry brown, who went on to serve as state attorney general and four terms as governor of california.