The 2018 Georgia Secretary of State election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the

Secretary of State of Georgia The secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public record Public records are documents or pieces of information that are ...

. It was held concurrently with the 2018 gubernatorial election, as well as

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and

for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and various

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. Republican Incumbent Secretary of State

Brian Kemp Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American politician serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Kemp served as the state's 27th Georgia Secretary of Sta ...

chose not to run for re-election and instead ran successfully for governor. Since no candidate received the requisite 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates,

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

John Barrow and Republican

Brad Raffensperger Bradford Jay Raffensperger (born May 18, 1955) is an American businessman, civil engineer, and politician serving as the Georgia Secretary of State, secretary of state of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

proceeded to a runoff on December 4, 2018. At 22.98%, the runoff saw the lowest

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

out of any Georgia statewide election since the senate runoff of

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. In the runoff election, Raffensperger unexpectedly flipped rural counties

Sumter Sumter may refer to: People Given name * Sumter S. Arnim (1904–1990), American dentist * Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr. (1893–1985), United States Army general Surname * Rowendy Sumter (born 1988), Curaçaoan footballer * Shavonda E. Sumt ...

and

Warren Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

, which were reliably Democratic counties that have not voted Republican on the presidential levels since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

for Warren, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

for Sumter. However, both counties have been trending Republican in recent elections. Raffensperger also flipped Atlanta suburban counties

Cobb Cobb may refer to: People * Cobb (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Cobb * Cobb Rooney (1900–1973), American professional football running back Places New Zealand * Cobb River * Cobb Reservoir * Cobb Power ...

and

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: People * Newton (surname), including a list of people with the surname * ...

, which have been trending away from Republicans in recent elections. As of 2022, this was the last time Cobb and Newton went Republican in a statewide race in Georgia. Georgia has been a Republican triplex since 2011, meaning that its

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

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, and secretary of state have all been members of the same party. The state maintained that status following this election, as Republicans won every statewide office. This was the first time in Georgia state history that any statewide executive election went to a second round.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

, state representative

Eliminated in runoff

* David Belle Isle, Mayor of

Alpharetta Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818; in 2010, the population had been 57,551. ...

Eliminated in primary

Buzz Brockway Buzz Brockway (born July 22, 1966) is an American politician. He previously served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 102nd District from 2013 until January 14, 2019. Brockway represented the 101st district from 2011 to ...

, state representative * Joshua McKoon, state senator

Declined

* John Albers, state senator *

Steve Gooch Stephen Gooch (born February 25, 1967) is an American politician. He is a member and former majority leader of the Georgia State Senate from the 51st District, serving as a senator since 2010 and as the majority leader from 2023 to 2025. He is a ...

, state senator * Liz Hausmann, Fulton County Commissioner *

, incumbent

secretary of state of Georgia The secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public record Public records are documents or pieces of information that are ...

( running for governor) * Michael Williams, State Senator ( running for governor)

Endorsements

First round

Results

Runoff

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

* John Barrow, former U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary

* Dee Dawkins-Haigler, former state representative and candidate for the State Senate in 2016 * RJ Hadley, former

Rockdale County Rockdale County is a county located in the North Central portion in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 93,570 up from 85,215 in 2010. The county seat is Conyers. Rockdale County is included in Metro Atlanta. ...

Tax Commissioner and candidate for U.S. Senate in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Declined

Teresa Tomlinson Teresa Pike Tomlinson (born February 19, 1965) is an Americans, American politician and attorney. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. She was elected and served as the 69th List of mayors of Columbus, Geor ...

, Mayor of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

* David Worley, Georgia State Elections Board member, former Chair of the

Democratic Party of Georgia The Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG), formally known as the Union Democratic Republican Party, commonly shortened to the Union Party (UP), until 1840, is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia. Since its founding, it ...

and nominee for GA-06 in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Results

Libertarian convention

Candidates

Nominee

* J. Smythe DuVal, registered nurse and medical I.T. entrepreneur

General election

Predictions

Polling

Results

Runoff

References

External links

Official campaign websites
John Barrow (D) for Secretary of StateBrad Raffensperger (R) for Secretary of StateJ. Smythe DuVal (L) for Secretary of State
{{2018 United States elections Secretary of State

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...