The 2020 United States secretary of state elections were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the secretaries of state in seven states. These elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7 secretary of state offices | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Democratic hold Democratic gain Republican hold No election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 in 2018.
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 whom Corey Stapleton of Montana and Bev Clarno of Oregon are retiring. 2 Democratic secretaries of state were up for election, both seeking re-election.
Partisan composition
editGoing into these elections, this class of secretaries of state is made up of 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Republicans were defending two states won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 (Oregon and Washington), while Democrats are defending one state won by Donald Trump in 2016 (North Carolina).
Election predictions
editSeveral 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:
- "tossup": no advantage
- "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
- "lean": slight advantage
- "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
- "safe" or "solid" : near-certain chance of victory
| 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)[a] |
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 |
Race summary
editStates
edit| State | Secretary of state |
Party | First elected |
Result | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | Jay Ashcroft | Republican | 2016 | Incumbent re-elected. |
Others
|
| Montana | Corey Stapleton | Republican | 2016 | Incumbent retired to run for U.S. House. New secretary of state elected. Republican hold. |
|
| North Carolina | Elaine Marshall | Democratic | 1996 | Incumbent re-elected. |
|
| Oregon | Bev Clarno | Republican | 2019 (appointed) | Interim appointee retiring. New secretary of state elected. Democratic gain. |
|
| Vermont | Jim Condos | Democratic | 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. |
|
| Washington | Kim Wyman | Republican | 2012 | Incumbent re-elected. |
|
| West Virginia | Mac Warner | Republican | 2016 | Incumbent re-elected. |
|
Closest races
editStates where the margin of victory was under 5%:
- North Carolina, 2.4%
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
- Oregon, 7.1%
- Washington, 7.6%
Blue denotes races won by Democrats. Red denotes races won by Republicans.
Missouri
edit | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 Ashcroft: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Faleti: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Incumbent secretary of state Jay Ashcroft ran and won re-election to a second term after he defeated Democratic nominee Yinka 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% | |||
Montana
edit | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 Jacobsen: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Bennett: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Incumbent Republican secretary of state Corey Stapleton was eligible to run for a second term but has decided to run for U.S. House instead. Former chief of staff to Stapleton, Christi Jacobsen won the Republican nomination defeating president of the Montana State Senate, Scott Sales and Montana Public Service Commissioner, Brad Johnson.
She went on to defeat Democratic state senator Bryce 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% | ||
North Carolina
edit | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Incumbent Democrat Elaine 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% | |||
Oregon
edit | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 Fagan: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Thatcher: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Incumbent Republican Bev Clarno had agreed not to run for a full term. Clarno was appointed by Governor Kate Brown to replace Dennis Richardson, who died of cancer during his term.
Republicans nominated state senator Kim Thatcher while Democrats nominated state senator Shemia 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% | |||
Vermont
edit | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Incumbent Democratic secretary of state Jim 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% | |||
Washington
edit | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 Wyman: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tarleton: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Incumbent Republican secretary of state Kim Wyman won re-election to a second term after she defeated Democratic nominee Gael 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% | ||
West Virginia
edit | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 Warner: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tennant: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Incumbent Republican secretary of state Mac Warner won re-election to a second term after he defeated former secretary of state Natalie 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Natalie Tennant | 175,600 | 100.0% | |
| Total votes | 175,600 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mac Warner (incumbent) | 447,537 | 58.26% | |
| Democratic | Natalie Tennant | 320,650 | 41.74% | |
| Total votes | 768,187 | 100.0% | ||
Notes
edit- ^ Republican Dennis Richardson won with 47.1% of the vote in 2016 against Democratic nominee Brad Avakian, but died in office on February 26, 2019.
References
edit- ^ Parentheses around an incumbent's name indicates that the incumbent is not running for re-election.
- ^ a b "State of Missouri - State of Missouri - Primary Election, August 04, 2020". Missouri Secretary of State.
- ^ "Montana Statewide Election Results". Montana Secretary of State. November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
- ^ "03/03/2020 OFFICIAL LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS - STATEWIDE". North Carolina State Board of Elections.
- ^ "State Composite Abstract Report - Contest.pdf" (PDF). North Carolina State Board of Elections. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
- ^ "November 3, 2020, General Election Abstract of Votes" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
- ^ "August 4, 2020 Primary Results". Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ "General Election Results". Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved 17 December 2020.