The group that represents Democratic state election officials says it plans to spend $40m on competitive races in 2026 with the goal of Democratic control of election oversight before the 2028 presidential election.
The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State says the plans amount to its “most aggressive” operation to date, a sign of growing interest in the people who run elections, according to a strategy memo shared with the Guardian. The group will be targeting races in swing states and a few other states where they think they can win control of the office that helps manage and oversee election policies and signs off on state results.
“There’s no question that democracy is under attack,” said Drew Godinich, the group’s interim executive director. “Republicans have a trifecta in Washington, and while we can do everything we can to break that, we know that the fight is going to be in the states. We know that our democratic secretaries of state are an absolute bulwark against the rising tide of authoritarianism and particularly these attacks on our democracy.”
The group is going on offense early, with the election nearly two years away, to recruit candidates and provide them the support they need to be ready to counter Republicans’ misleading messaging on the integrity of US elections, Godinich said. “As Republicans tear up the rulebook to consolidate power over election outcomes to game the system, Democrats cannot afford to lose focus on Secretaries of State for a single second,” the group’s memo says.
Secretaries of state serve as their state’s top election officials, signing off on election results from smaller jurisdictions. In recent years, Democrats elected to these roles have stood up against attempts to undermine election results and defended against lawsuits that sought to toss out votes or prevent voters from casting ballots. In some states, secretaries play roles in redistricting. Those elected in 2026 would be in place for the 2030 census, the results of which decide congressional and state redistricting processes.
Of the 35 elected secretaries of state, 26 will be on the ballot in 2026. Of those 26, 13 are currently held by Democrats. In 2022, Democrats won secretary of state seats in key battlegrounds, including Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan. Those seats are all up for re-election. Michigan will be an open seat, with Jocelyn Benson now running for governor. The organization will prioritize keeping these seats in Democrats’ hands in 2026 and again target Georgia, where a Republican currently holds the office.
Beyond these swing states, the memo says the group will invest for the first time in races in Iowa, Kansas and Ohio, places where Democrats hold or recently held at least one statewide office. These states provide “fertile opportunity to go on offense, particularly as Trump and Washington Republicans already see warning signs in the polls”.
“We’re going to be watching those states really closely over the next two years to see what opportunities arise,” Godinich said. “We don’t know where the national environment is going to lead, but we do know that we can’t compete in these states unless we put in the groundwork early.”
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Godinich said his association is seeing its largest quarter of fundraising in an off year, saying there’s a “groundswell” of grassroots donors who are concerned about democracy’s future in the two months since Trump took office.
