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7 secretary of state offices[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The2020 United States secretary of state elections were held on November 3, 2020, to elect thesecretaries of state in seven states. These elections took place concurrently with several otherfederal, state, and local elections.
The previous elections for this group of states took place in 2016. The secretary of state of Vermont serves two-year terms and was last elected in2018.
Going into the election, there were 26 Republican secretaries of state and 21 Democratic secretaries of state. 5 Republican secretaries of state were up for election, of whomCorey Stapleton ofMontana andBev Clarno ofOregon are retiring. 2 Democratic secretaries of state were up for election, both seeking re-election.
Going into these elections, this class of secretaries of state is made up of 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Republicans were defending two states won byHillary Clinton in2016 (Oregon and Washington), while Democrats are defending one state won byDonald Trump in2016 (North Carolina).
Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of theincumbent (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'sCook 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:
| State | PVI | Incumbent[1] | Last race | Cook June 25, 2024 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | R+9 | Jay Ashcroft | 57.6% R | Solid R | Ashcroft 60.6% R |
| Montana | R+11 | Corey Stapleton (retiring) | 55.5% R | Lean R | Jacobsen 59.6% R |
| North Carolina | R+3 | Elaine Marshall | 52.3% D | Likely D | Marshall 51.2% D |
| Oregon | D+5 | Bev Clarno (retiring) | Appointed (2019)[b] | Likely D(flip) | Fagan 50.3% D (flip) |
| Vermont | D+15 | Jim Condos | 66.81% D | Solid D | Condos 57.9% D |
| Washington | D+7 | Kim Wyman | 54.6% R | Lean R | Wyman 50.9% R |
| West Virginia | R+19 | Mac Warner | 48.5% R | Likely R | Warner 58.3% R |
| State | Secretary of state | Party | First elected | Result | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | Jay Ashcroft | Republican | 2016 | Incumbentre-elected. |
Others
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| Montana | Corey Stapleton | Republican | 2016 | Incumbent retired torun for U.S. House. New secretary of stateelected. Republican hold. |
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| North Carolina | Elaine Marshall | Democratic | 1996 | Incumbentre-elected. |
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| Oregon | Bev Clarno | Republican | 2019(appointed) | Interim appointee retiring. New secretary of stateelected. Democratic gain. |
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| Vermont | Jim Condos | Democratic | 2010 | Incumbentre-elected. |
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| Washington | Kim Wyman | Republican | 2012 | Incumbentre-elected. |
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| West Virginia | Mac Warner | Republican | 2016 | Incumbentre-elected. |
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States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
Blue denotes races won by Democrats.Red denotes races won by Republicans.
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 Ashcroft: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Faleti: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Incumbent secretary of stateJay Ashcroft ran and won re-election to a second term after he defeated Democratic nomineeYinka Faleti with 60.6% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Ashcroft (incumbent) | 620,822 | 100.0% | |
| Total votes | 620,822 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Yinka Faleti | 470,955 | 100.0% | |
| Total votes | 470,955 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jay Ashcroft (incumbent) | 1,790,873 | 60.59% | +2.97% | |
| Democratic | Yinka Faleti | 1,072,415 | 36.28% | −2.17% | |
| Libertarian | Carl Herman Freese | 55,320 | 1.87% | −2.06% | |
| Green | Paul Lehmann | 23,981 | 0.81% | N/A | |
| Constitution | Paul Venable | 13,066 | 0.44% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 2,955,655 | 100.0% | |||
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 Jacobsen: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Bennett: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Incumbent Republican secretary of stateCorey Stapleton was eligible to run for a second term but has decided torun for U.S. House instead. Former chief of staff to Stapleton,Christi Jacobsen won the Republican nomination defeating president of theMontana State Senate,Scott Sales andMontana Public Service Commissioner,Brad Johnson.
She went on to defeat Democratic state senatorBryce Bennett with 59.6% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Christi Jacobsen | 57,941 | 29.4% | |
| Republican | Scott Sales | 49,759 | 25.3% | |
| Republican | Brad Johnson | 45,526 | 23.1% | |
| Republican | Forrest Mandeville | 20,318 | 10.3% | |
| Republican | Bowen Greenwood | 14,080 | 7.1% | |
| Republican | Kurt Johnson | 9,346 | 4.7% | |
| Total votes | 196,970 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Bryce Bennett | 130,109 | 100.0% | |
| Total votes | 130,109 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Christi Jacobsen | 352,939 | 59.56% | |
| Democratic | Bryce Bennett | 239,617 | 40.44% | |
| Total votes | 592,556 | 100.00% | ||
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Incumbent DemocratElaine Marshall won re-election to a seventh term after she defeated Republican nominee businessman E.C. Sykes with 51.2% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | E.C. Sykes | 296,457 | 42.9 | |
| Republican | Chad Brown | 262,595 | 38.0 | |
| Republican | Michael LaPaglia | 131,832 | 19.1 | |
| Total votes | 690,884 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elaine Marshall (incumbent) | 2,755,571 | 51.16% | −1.10% | |
| Republican | E.C. Sykes | 2,630,559 | 48.84% | +1.10% | |
| Total votes | 5,386,130 | 100.0% | |||
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 Fagan: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Thatcher: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Incumbent RepublicanBev Clarno had agreed not to run for a full term. Clarno was appointed byGovernor Kate Brown to replaceDennis Richardson, who died of cancer during his term.
Republicans nominated state senatorKim Thatcher while Democrats nominated state senatorShemia Fagan.
Fagan defeated Thatcher with 50.3% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Kim Thatcher | 312,296 | 85.62% | |
| Republican | Dave Stauffer | 48,839 | 13.39% | |
| Write-in | 3,625 | 0.99% | ||
| Total votes | 364,760 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Shemia Fagan | 209,682 | 36.23% | |
| Democratic | Mark Hass | 205,230 | 35.46% | |
| Democratic | Jamie McLeod-Skinner | 159,430 | 27.55% | |
| Write-in | 4,395 | 0.76% | ||
| Total votes | 578,737 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Shemia Fagan | 1,146,370 | 50.31% | +6.84% | |
| Republican | Kim Thatcher | 984,597 | 43.21% | −3.85% | |
| Pacific Green | Nathalie Paravicini | 82,211 | 3.61% | +1.06% | |
| Libertarian | Kyle Markley | 62,985 | 2.77% | +0.29% | |
| Write-in | 2,340 | 0.10% | -0.09% | ||
| Total votes | 2,278,503 | 100.0% | |||
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Incumbent Democratic secretary of stateJim Condos won re-election to a fifth term after he defeated Republican nominee H. Brooke Paige.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Jim Condos (incumbent) | 214,666 | 57.87% | −8.94 | |
| Republican | H. Brooke Paige | 99,564 | 26.84% | −2.68 | |
| Independent | Pamala Smith | 21,210 | 5.72% | +5.72% | |
| Progressive | Cris Ericson | 11,171 | 3.01% | +3.01% | |
| Write-in | 309 | 0.08% | +0.04% | ||
| Total votes | 2,278,503 | 100.0% | |||
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 Wyman: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tarleton: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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Incumbent Republican secretary of stateKim Wyman won re-election to a second term after she defeated Democratic nomineeGael Tarleton with 53.6% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Kim Wyman (incumbent) | 1,238,455 | 50.89% | |
| Democratic | Gael Tarleton | 1,053,584 | 43.29% | |
| Independent | Ed Minger | 87,982 | 3.62% | |
| Progressive | Gentry Lange | 51,826 | 2.13% | |
| Write-in | 1,919 | 0.08% | ||
| Total votes | 2,433,766 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Kim Wyman (incumbent) | 2,116,141 | 53.61% | |
| Democratic | Gael Tarleton | 1,826,710 | 46.27% | |
| Write-in | 4,666 | 0.12% | ||
| Total votes | 3,947,517 | 100.00% | ||
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 Warner: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tennant: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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Incumbent Republican secretary of stateMac Warner won re-election to a second term after he defeated former secretary of stateNatalie Tennant with 53.3% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mac Warner (incumbent) | 176,915 | 100.0% | |
| Total votes | 176,915 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
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| Democratic | Natalie Tennant | 175,600 | 100.0% | |
| Total votes | 175,600 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
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| Republican | Mac Warner (incumbent) | 447,537 | 58.26% | |
| Democratic | Natalie Tennant | 320,650 | 41.74% | |
| Total votes | 768,187 | 100.0% | ||
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