“Everything we do every day to ensure that the American people can elect, freely choose their election officials, is directly connected to January 6 and Trump’s far-right and all-out assault on democracy,” said Secretary of State Colorado, Jenna Griswold. chairman of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, referring to last year’s attack on the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. “We believe that democracy is literally on the ballot.” For some Democrats, however, the party hierarchy hasn’t fully grasped the threat of what it would mean for candidates who refuse to serve as their state’s top election officials. “There’s been improvement. Do I think it’s enough? No,” said Helen Kurtz, founder and president of iVote, a Democratic outside group focused on the secretary of state’s races. “If I ran the (Democratic National Committee), I would make it a top priority.
“A seismic shift” for the sports minister
The 2020 election represented a high-water mark for the position of foreign minister. The incumbent President was calling out secretaries, including some Republicans, by name and urging his supporters to pressure those offices to refuse to certify elections in states he had lost. In many states, the secretary of state is appointed by the governor, but the position is an elected office in the majority of states, although they usually do not prioritize voters. Both the Republican and Democratic campaigns raised miniscule amounts compared to other statewide campaigns, and few ads aired on television. That has changed since the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol, reflected in fundraising by top secretary of state candidates and the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. A rebellion makes a difference. The aftermath of the 2020 election has forced more Americans to recognize that our country is at a crossroads and our democracy is at risk,” said Kim Rogers, executive director of the Democratic Secretary of State’s Caucus, noting that Trump’s pressure campaign on state officials after The loss and the global pandemic also contributed to the caution. “I think broadly speaking, all of these factors have culminated in people recognizing that secretaries of state are one of our last lines of defense. And people are paying attention now.” He added: “As a collective, 2020 has really been a seismic shift in focus in these races.” Nowhere was that more clear than on Rogers’ team, which is working to elect Democratic secretaries of state. In early 2022, the group reported that it had raised “$4.5 million in 2021, over $2 million more than reported in 2020 and $3 million more than in the entire 2018 cycle.” As of late August, the group has raised $16 million in this round. And in some races, Democratic candidates for secretary of state have raised up to five times what they raised in previous elections. Incumbent Jocelyn Benson of Michigan announced in August that she had raised $2.1 million in 2022. At the same time in 2018, the candidate had raised only $134,000. In Minnesota, Democrat Steve Simon has raised nearly $400,000 in 2021 for re-election, more than triple what he raised in his 2018 campaign. Simon is running against Republican Kim Crockett, who said last year that changing the of voting rules after the 2020 “big rig” was “our 9/11”. A study by the liberal Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that candidates in the six largest 2022 Secretary of State races — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin — had amassed a 16.3 million since early August, more than double what the candidates had raised at the same point in 2018. In Nevada alone, where Marchant faces Democrat Cisco Aguilar, the two candidates have raised $2.6 million this cycle by the end June, according to the report, more than five times the total the foreign secretary candidates had collected at the same point in 2018. For top law enforcement officials in those states, the outcome of those races could be significant. Aaron Ford, the Democratic attorney general in Nevada, has watched Marchant’s rise with concern. Ford’s office was embroiled in a lawsuit filed after the Republican’s 2020 loss to Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford in Nevada’s 4th District. The lawsuit was filed for voter fraud, but was dismissed. “I know firsthand what it would be like to have someone like Mr. Marchant in office. I’m not lost at all,” Ford said, referring to the litigation after the 2020 election. If he were to win and work to challenge the 2024 election , Ford added, “I could envision a scenario where this constitutional official would be sued by my office. It is my duty, as the attorney general, to defend the Constitution of the United States states and the state of Nevada… especially when it relates to something as important as an election.” Ford is running for a second term this year. Marchant did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
More could be done
Even as money flows into these races, overall spending in these contests remains small, especially compared to gubernatorial and congressional races, and there are concerns that national Democrats are not doing enough. “The reality of an election cycle is that everyone is trying to focus on the level of the ballot they have,” said a Democratic operative who works on the secretary of state’s races. While the agent acknowledged that there has been a lot of attention in these contests as Democrats argue that “democracy is on the ballot,” more could be done. “We welcome any additional support,” the agent said. Asked about their involvement in ministerial races, a Democratic National Committee official would not elaborate on direct involvement, but said the party “invested earlier and more aggressively in the DASS battlegrounds, making direct investments in coordinated campaigns and state parties supporting Democratic candidates up and down the ballot in those targeted states.” The official noted that in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan and Georgia — four of the top targets of the Democratic Secretary of State’s association — the party has invested $11 million. The commission also transfers $12,500 to each member state each month to help with all campaigns, including down-the-ballot races. Advocates for the Secretary of State’s tribes argue, however, that the impact of more money could be significant. While Secretary of State contests have become more expensive — and many of the candidates are competing for prime airtime in states with other high-profile statewide races — their cost still pales in comparison to other contests, allowing for little money long way. That’s a lesson learned by iVote, the Democratic group that’s focused exclusively on congressional races in swing states since it was founded in 2014. Its budget then was $4.5 million, a figure that grew to $7.5 million in 2018 cycle. For the 2022 cycle, the group plans to spend $15 million, double what it spent four years ago. “There are these little races, the races that go relatively unnoticed that will determine whether we have a free and fair election,” said Harry Sevugan, senior advisor to iVote. “Because pro-democracy candidates won these seats in 2018, our democracy survived in 2020. Who wins these seats in 2022 will not only determine what the 2024 election looks like, but also what our democracy looks like. The next day”. Kurz, who has been involved in foreign secretary races for years, echoed that sentiment, arguing that Democrats cannot ignore what some Republican candidates say they will do if they win. “Let’s just say one of these people wins and they refuse to certify the votes because they don’t like the results,” Kurz said. “It’s a constitutional crisis if the election is close, as it usually is. So how could there be anything more important than making sure we get pro-voting supporters of free and fair elections into those offices?” “What’s more important than that?” she added.
