One type of race I’m particularly interested in tonight are elections for secretaries of state where an election denier is running. Secretaries of state are typically the chief election official for their state, so they have a lot of authority over administering elections and certifying the results — having an individual who doesn’t believe the last election was legitimate, in spite of a complete lack of evidence, could put future elections at risk. There are 10 states tonight where the Republican candidate for secretary of state has at least questioned the results of the 2020 election. In Arizona and Nevada, the races are particularly competitive. As I mentioned earlier, the Arizona race pits state lawmaker Republican Mark Finchem against former Maricopa County recorder, Democrat Adrian Fontes, and Finchem has been a hardline proponent of Trump’s claims of a stolen election. In Nevada, Republican Jim Marchant is facing Democrat Francisco Aguilar. Marchant has also claimed the 2020 election was stolen and said in a debate, “Your vote hasn’t counted for decades.”
