[Part 3 of 3]
During most election cycles, I remain only moderately aware of internal state races that aren’t in Texas. This time, however, I started looking at races in other states that could impact national elections. While it’s enormously sad that the conduct of democratic elections has become partisan, it is what it is. The prevalence of 2020 election-denying Republicans running in 2022 means that we must consider whether state officials might try to overturn a valid 2024 election in their states simply because they don’t like the result. This three-part series looks at State Legislatures, Governors, and Secretaries of State.
Secretaries of State
In many states, the Secretary of State (SoS) plays an important role in certifying election results in their respective states. The Republican strategy is simple: If we can’t win the game based on merit, let’s make sure we own the referees.
The SoS is appointed by the Governor in three big states (FL, PA, TX) and by the state legislature in one other state (NH) – adding another level of importance to some non-SoS races. Three states (AK, HI, UT) don’t have the office at all.
Of the rest, there are 27 SoS races in 2022, 14 currently held by Republicans and 13 by Democrats. Of those, I find 11 races to be of interest, listed here in (my) order of importance:
(Click for a larger image; use the back button to return.)
A few notes on the races above:
- Arizona: I tried really hard to write a single paragraph here. I failed miserably. AZ is just too powerful of a magnet for election deniers.
- This is the state where Republican legislators commissioned their own “Cyber Ninja” recount of the 2020 election results that, despite being horribly run and widely discredited, still managed to determine that Biden won by an even larger margin than the official count. That had to hurt.
- Now, the open AZ SoS office has attracted two Democrats and four Republicans. The D side pits State Rep. Reginald Bolding against former Maricopa County election official Adrian Fontes. Both are qualified.
- The R side, however, is another matter:
- Up first is state Rep. Mark Finchem, a 2020 election-denying idiot who attended the Jan. 6 “rally” in DC and who has the former President’s endorsement. With associations from Oath Keepers to QAnon, Finchem demands that AZ decertify the 2020 election results – whatever the hell that means.
- Next up is state Rep. Shawnna Bollick, another 2020 election-denying idiot, who is known for latching onto insane conspiracy theories (e.g. “sharpiegate”) and sponsoring insane legislation (e.g. giving the AZ legislature the power to ignore the popular vote and simply certify their own slate to the Electoral College).
- The other GOP candidates, advertising exec Beau Lane, and state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, are only better by comparison.
- Both Primaries: 8/2.
- Michigan: Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic incumbent, is up against community college professor Kristina Karamo, a 2020 election-denying idiot running with the endorsement of the former President. Karamo claims, without any evidence, that she “saw” 2020 election fraud in Detroit, despite numerous audits proving otherwise. A regular QAnon conference speaker, she also fought in court to overturn Electoral College slates in MI – and in WI, PA, and GA.
- Minnesota: The Republican challenger to incumbent Democrat Steve Simon is still TBD. The frontrunner appears to be attorney Kim Crockett, a 2020 election-denying idiot. Crockett’s anti-semitic tweets about Simon earned her a rebuke in the Jerusalem Post – quite an accomplishment for a MN SoS candidate. Running behind Crockett is Erik van Mechelen, the author of “How Machines Controlled 2020” who, you guessed it, thinks that all electronic voting is evil.
- Nevada: Attorney and businessman Cisco Aguilar is the Democratic nominee. The Republican candidate is former NV Assemblyman Jim Marchant, a 2020 election-denying idiot, running with the endorsement of the former President and with connections to Mike Lindell and QAnon.
- New Mexico: Incumbent Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver is running against Republican Audrey Trujillo, a 2020 election-denying idiot, a rabid anti-vaxxer, and a conspiracy theorist with a history of anti-semitic viewpoints. She pretty much fills out the nutjob BINGO card.
- Wisconsin: This one’s weird. In WI, the SoS doesn’t currently have much power and elections are overseen by a bipartisan Elections Commission. Republicans want to change that and give a ton of power to the SoS – assuming, of course, that it’s a Republican SoS. State Rep. Amy Loudenbeck is the leading Republican SoS candidate and is also leading the power parade. On the other side, Democratic incumbent Doug La Follette is facing a primary challenge from Alexia Sabor, the head of the Dane County Democratic Party. It’s a long WI-centric story, but since La Follette is likely the most electable Democrat, the challenge isn’t particularly welcome. Both Primaries: 8/9.
- Colorado: The Republican challenger to incumbent Democrat Jena Giswold is still TBD. One of the candidates, former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson, seems relatively sane. One of the others, though, is Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters – a 2020 election-denying idiot. Peters faced a court-mandated removal from overseeing elections in her county after she was charged with obstructing the 2020 elections that she was supposed to oversee. Damn. Republican Primary: 6/28.
- Connecticut: Four Democrats and three Republicans are running for this open office. One of the latter, Dominic Rapini, has his party’s endorsement after making a lucrative living pushing spurious allocation of voter fraud in 2020. Both Primaries: 8/9.
- Kansas: In the Republican primary, incumbent Scott Schwab is being challenged by Mike Brown, a 2020 election-denying idiot. The Democrat doesn’t have a chance, so we root for the sane Republican. Republican Primary: 8/2.
- Georgia: It’s safe to say that incumbent Republican Brad Raffensperger does NOT have the endorsement of the former President, since refusing his (taped!) request to “find 11,780 votes” in 2020. On the Democratic side, the choice is between State Rep. Bee Nguyen and former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler. Normally, neither Democrat would have a chance in the general election, but the vitriol directed at Raffensperger by the former President could make things interesting. Democratic Runoff: 6/21.
- Alabama: The Democrat doesn’t have a prayer. On the Republican side, State Rep. Wes Allen and State Auditor Jim Ziegler are in a runoff of 2020 election-denying idiots. Both have incessantly lambasted the outgoing Republican SoS – essentially for counting ANY 2020 Democratic votes in a state that the former President won by a margin of 24%. I mention the AL SoS race here just in case anyone was thinking of moving to Alabama. Republican Runoff: 6/21.
There is no sane possibility that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republicans. I understand that they didn’t like the result. I didn’t like the result in 2016 and that was actually a whole lot closer. Both, however, were valid elections. I thus consider anyone who still believes in wide-spread 2020 election fraud to be incredibly unqualified to hold any office that has the responsibility of running a democratic election.
I don’t want – nor would I accept – a Democratic SoS candidate who couldn’t set aside their own partisan preferences to run a fair election. Is it naïve to expect the same from Republicans? Yeah, I guess it is.
The “Dem Goal” column in the above table reflects my current opinion that national Democrats should focus on the first eight rows to maintain election interity in swing states. To that end, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State seems to be a decent destination for a one-shot donation – even if its reach isn’t particularly targeted.