2022 United States secretary of state elections
The 2022 United States Secretary of State elections will be held on November 8, 2022, to elect the secretaries of state (not to be confused with the United States Secretary of State, a position which deals with foreign policy, while secretaries of state in statewide government generally deal with election management) in twenty-seven states. These elections will take place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections. Not all Secretaries of State are elected directly. The office is appointed by either the Governor or the State Legislature in 12 states and  does not exist in Alaska, Hawaii, or Utah. The elections for secretary of state are viewed to have taken on heightened importance due to former President Donald Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Many have argued that election officials such as secretaries of state could have the power to overturn the 2024 election, should its outcome be disagreeable to President Trump. As such, both parties are expending far more resources than in previous cycles on these races. The previous elections for this group of states took place in 2018. The secretary of state of Vermont serves  two-year terms and was last elected in 2020. Additionally, there is a special election being held in Washington state (secretary of state elections in Washington are regularly held in Presidential election years) due to the resignation of Republican Kim Wyman to take a position in the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. Going into the election, there are 27 Republican secretaries of state and 20 Democratic secretaries of state. 13 Democratic secretaries of state are up for election, of whom Nellie Gorbea of Rhode Island is term-limited, and Katie Hobbs of Arizona, Denise Merrill of Connecticut, Jesse White  of Illinois, and Jim Condos of Vermont are choosing to retire. On the Republican side, John Merrill (no relation to Denise Merrill) of Alabama and Barbara Cegavske of Nevada are term-limited while Lawerence Denney of Idaho and Alvin Jaegar of North Dakota are retiring. Republicans will be defending two states won by Joe Biden in 2020 (Georgia and Nevada), and Democrats will be defending zero states won by Donald Trump. Election predictions. Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for  re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat. Most election predictors use: Alabama. Incumbent Republican John Merrill is term-limited. Republicans state representative Wes Allen, election administrator Ed Packard, Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler and activist Christian Horn are running for the seat. Corrections officer Pamela Laffitte is the only Democratic candidate. Arizona. Incumbent Democrat Katie Hobbs is retiring to  run for governor. Democratic candidates include minority leader of the Arizona House of Representatives Reginald Bolding and former Maricopa County recorder Adrian Fontes. Republican candidates include state representatives Shawnna Bolick and Mark Finchem, advertising executive Beau Lane, and state senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita. Arkansas. Incumbent Republican John Thurston is running for re-election. Former state representative Eddie Joe Williams is primary challenging Thurston. Democratic candidates include Anna Beth Gorman, executive director of the Women's Foundation of Arkansas, and former Pulaski County election commissioner Josh Price. California. Incumbent Democrat Shirley Weber is running for election to a full term. Republican  candidates include chief financial officer Rob Bernosky, author Rachel Hamm, Teamster truck driver James "JW" Paine, and retired warehouseman Raul Rodriguez Jr. Teacher Gary B. Blenner is running as the Green Party candidate, while private investigator Matthew D. Cinquanta is running as an independent. Colorado. Incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold is running for re-election. Republican candidates include former Jefferson County clerk Pam Anderson; Mike O'Donnell, former head of the nonprofit Colorado Lending Source; and Mesa County clerk Tina Peters. Walter James Rutledge is running as a Libertarian. Connecticut. Incumbent Democrat Denise Merrill is retiring. Democratic candidates include state representatives Hilda  Santiago and Stephanie Thomas, and New Haven health director Maritza Bond. Republican candidates include Apple senior account manager Dominic Rapini, New Britain executive mayoral aide Brock Weber and state representative Terrie Wood. Environmental attorney Cynthia Jennings is running on the Independent Party of Connecticut ticket. Georgia. Incumbent Republican Brad Raffensperger is running for re-election. Other Republican candidates include U.S. Representative for Georgia's 10th congressional district Jody Hice, former Treutlen County probate judge T.J. Hudson, and former Alpharetta mayor David Belle Isle. Democratic candidates include former state representative Dee Dawkins-Haigler, former Fulton County chairman John Eaves, former Milledgeville  mayor Floyd Griffin, state representative Bee Nguyen, and former chair of the Cobb County Democratic party Michael Owens. Ted Metz is running as a Libertarian. Idaho. Incumbent Republican Lawerence Denney is retiring. Republican challengers include Ada County clerk Phil McGrane, state representative Dorothy Moon, and state senator Mary Souza. Shawn Keenan is the only Democratic candidate. Illinois. Incumbent Democrat Jesse White is retiring. Democratic candidates include former Illinois state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago alderman David Moore, Cook County resident Sidney Moore, and city clerk of Chicago Anna Valencia. Republican candidates include deputy minority leader of the Illinois House of Representatives  Dan Brady, former United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois John C. Milhiser, and former Chicago police sergeant Michelle Turney. Indiana. Incumbent Republican Holli Sullivan was appointed by governor Eric Holcomb after the previous secretary, Connie Lawson, resigned. Sullivan is running for a full term. Other Republican candidates include Kyle Conrad, former account manager for Governmental Business Systems, Paul Hager and Diego Morales, former aide to governor Mike Pence and candidate for Indiana's 4th congressional district in 2018. Democratic candidates include attorney Destiny Scott Wells. Jeff Maurer is running as a Libertarian. Iowa. Incumbent Republican Paul Pate  is running for re-election. He has drawn two challengers, both of whom are Democrats: Linn County auditor Joel Miller and Clinton County auditor Eric Van Lancker. Kansas. Incumbent Republican Scott Schwab is running for re-election. Running against him is fellow Republican Michael Brown, former member of the Johnson County Commission. Massachusetts. Incumbent Democrat William F. Galvin is running for re-election. Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, is primary challenging Galvin. Michigan. Incumbent Democrat Jocelyn Benson is eligible to seek re-election. Republican candidates include Chesterfield Township clerk Cindy Berry, Republican activist Kristina Karamo , state representative Beau LaFave and Plainfield Township clerk Cathleen Postmus. Minnesota. Incumbent Democrat Steve Simon is eligible to seek re-election. Republican candidates include Kim Crockett, former vice president of the conservative think tank Center of the American Experiment, and 2020 Minnesota House of Representatives election candidate Kelly Jahner-Byrne. Nebraska. Incumbent Republican Bob Evnen is running for re-election. Former Palmyra fire chief Rex Schroder is primary challenging him, as is Robert J. Borer. Nevada. Incumbent Republican Barbara Cegavske is term-limited and cannot seek a third term. Republican candidates include Sparks city councilman Kristopher Dahir, entrepreneur John  Cardiff Gerhardt, former state senator Jesse Haw, businesswoman Socorro Kennan, former member of the Nevada Assembly Jim Marchant, former news anchor Gerard Ramalho, and former 8th Nevada judicial court judge Richard Scotti. The only Democratic candidate is former Harry Reid staffer Cisco Aguilar. Janine Hansen is running as the candidate of the Independent American Party, while Ross Crane is running as a Libertarian. New Mexico. Incumbent Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver is running for re-election. Republican rancher Audrey Trujillo is challenging Oliver. Libertarian candidate Mayna Erika Myers is also running. North Dakota. Incumbent Republican Alvin Jaeger is retiring. Republican state  representative Michael Howe is running for the seat. Businessman Marvin Lepp is also running in the Republican primary. The only Democratic candidate is Mayville State University administrator Jeffrey Powell. Ohio. Incumbent Republican Frank LaRose is running for re-election. Former member of the Ohio House of Representatives John Adams and podcaster Terpsichore "Tore" Maras-Lindeman are challenging him for the Republican nomination. Democratic candidates include former Forest Park councilmember Chelsea Clark. Rhode Island. Incumbent Democrat Nellie Gorbea is term-limited and cannot seek a third term. Democrat State representative Gregg Amore is running. South Carolina. Incumbent Republican Mark Hammond  is running for re-election. He is facing a primary challenge from businessman Keith Blandford. The only Democratic challenger is Rosemounda Peggy Butler. South Dakota. Incumbent Republican Steve Barnett is eligible to seek re-election Vermont. Incumbent Democrat James C. Condos is retiring. Democrat Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Winters is running for the seat. Washington (special). Incumbent Democrat Steve Hobbs was appointed by governor Jay Inslee after Kim Wyman, the previous secretary, resigned. He is running in the special election. State senator Keith Wagoner and conspiracy theorist Tamborine Borrelli are running as Republicans, and Pierce County auditor Julie Anderson  is running as a nonpartisan. Wisconsin. Incumbent Democrat Doug La Follette is running for re-election. Dane County democratic party chair Alexia Sabor is primary-challenging him. Republican candidates include Dmitry Becker, assemblywoman Amy Loudenbeck, Daniel Schmidtka, and Jay Schroeder. Neil Harmon is running as a Libertarian. Wyoming. Incumbent Republican Edward Buchanan is eligible to seek re-election.