The 2022 Georgia Secretary of State election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the Secretary of State of Georgia. Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger won re-election to a second term. Raffensperger emerged as a major national figure in early January, 2021 when he faced significant pressure from then-President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump had been taped in a phone call asking Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes," the exact number needed for Trump to carry the state. The party primary elections took place on May 24, with runoffs scheduled for June 21.

Raffensperger was elected in 2018 to a first term in a runoff against Democratic former U.S. representative John Barrow, the first time in Georgia history that any statewide executive election went to a second round.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Endorsements

U.S. executive branch officials

U.S. representatives

Organizations

County commissioners

Mayors

City councilors

Debates

2022 Georgia Secretary of State Republican primary election debates
No.DateOrganizerP Participant A Absent (invited) I Invited N Not invitedSource
David Belle IsleJody HiceT.J. HudsonBrad Raffensperger
1May 2, 2022Atlanta Press Club, Georgia Public BroadcastingPPPP

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of April 30, 2022
CandidateRaisedSpentCash on hand
Brad Raffensperger (R)$1,683,799$1,372,857$310,941
Jody Hice (R)$2,221,750$1,781,490$440,260
David Belle Isle (R)$479,175$476,319$2,855
Source: Georgia Campaign Finance Commission

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll sourceDate(s) administeredSample sizeMargin of errorDavid Belle IsleJody HiceT.J. HudsonBrad RaffenspergerUndecided
Landmark CommunicationsMay 22, 2022500 (LV)± 4.4%9%39%2%38%11%
SurveyUSAApril 22–27, 2022559 (LV)± 4.9%4%20%5%31%40%
University of GeorgiaApril 10–22, 2022886 (LV)± 3.3%5%26%4%28%37%
Landmark CommunicationsApril 9–10, 2022660 (LV)± 3.8%10%35%3%18%33%
University of GeorgiaMarch 20 – April 8, 2022~329 (LV)± 5.4%4%30%4%23%39%
Emerson CollegeApril 1–3, 2022509 (LV)± 4.3%6%26%3%29%37%

Results

Primary results map by county: Raffensperger 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Hice 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Hudson 70–80%

Despite opinion polls suggesting a tight race between Brad Raffensperger and Jody Hice as well as Trump's endorsement of Hice, Raffensperger ultimately won the primary election with a 19-point margin over Hice and avoided a potential runoff by winning an outright majority of the vote. This has been attributed to Hice's insufficient name recognition across the state and crossover voting in Georgia's open primary system where some Democratic voters voted in the Republican primary to vote against "Trump-backed extremists" like Hice.

Raffensperger performed best in the Atlanta metropolitan area, while Hice performed best in Georgia's 10th congressional district, where he served as a U.S. representative; only five counties outside the district were won by Hice. The only county to not be won by either Raffensperger or Hice was Treutlen County, Hudson's home county, which he won with 76.42% of the vote.

Republican primary results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanBrad Raffensperger (incumbent)611,61652.37%
RepublicanJody Hice389,44733.34%
RepublicanDavid Belle Isle103,2728.84%
RepublicanTJ Hudson63,6465.45%
Total votes1,167,981100.0%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in runoff

Eliminated in initial primary

Did not file

  • Manswell Peterson, former college professor

Endorsements

Statewide officials

State senators

Organizations

State senators

State representatives

Local officials

Organizations

First round

Debates

2022 Georgia Secretary of State Democratic primary election debates
No.DateOrganizerP Participant A Absent (invited) I Invited N Not invitedSource
Dee Dawkins-HaiglerJohn EavesFloyd GriffinBee NguyenMichael Owens
1May 2, 2022Atlanta Press Club, Georgia Public BroadcastingPPPPP

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s) administeredSample sizeMargin of errorDee Dawkins-HaiglerJohn EavesFloyd GriffinBee NguyenMichael OwensManswell PetersonUndecided
SurveyUSAApril 22–27, 2022549 (LV)± 5.1%7%7%6%12%9%–60%
Emerson CollegeApril 1–3, 2022509 (LV)± 4.3%13%14%4%7%5%0%57%

Results

Initial primary results map by county: Nguyen 20–30%30–40%40–50%50–60%60–70% Dawkins-Haigler 20–30%30–40%40–50% Owens 20–30%30–40%40–50% Griffin 20–30%30–40%40–50%70–80% Nguyen/Owens tie 20–30%
Democratic primary results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticBee Nguyen309,43744.33%
DemocraticDee Dawkins-Haigler130,27818.67%
DemocraticMichael Owens114,62116.42%
DemocraticFloyd Griffin75,42310.81%
DemocraticJohn Eaves68,2339.78%
Total votes697,992100.0%

Runoff

Debate

2022 Georgia Secretary of State democratic primary runoff debate
No.DateHostModeratorLinkDemocraticDemocratic
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn
Dee Dawkins-HaiglerBee Nguyen
1Jun. 6, 2022Atlanta Press ClubLisa RayamPP

Results

Runoff primary results map by county: Nguyen 50–60%60–70%70–80%80–90%>90% Dawkins-Haigler 50–60%60–70% Nguyen/Dawkins-Haigler tie 50–60%
Democratic primary runoff results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticBee Nguyen198,51177.00%
DemocraticDee Dawkins-Haigler59,31023.00%
Total votes257,821100.0%

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Declared

General election

Debate

2022 Georgia Secretary of State debate
No.DateHostModeratorLinkRepublicanDemocraticLibertarian
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn
Brad RaffenspergerBee NguyenTed Metz
1Oct. 28, 2022Atlanta Press Club Georgia Public BroadcastingLisa RayamPPP

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Sabato's Crystal BallLean RNovember 3, 2022
Elections DailyLean RNovember 7, 2022

Post-primary endorsements

U.S. representatives

U.S. executive branch officials

Organizations

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll sourceDate(s) administeredSample sizeMargin of errorBrad Raffensperger (R)Bee Nguyen (D)Ted Metz (L)OtherUndecided
Landmark CommunicationsNovember 4–7, 20221,214 (LV)± 2.8%48%40%6%–6%
SurveyUSASeptember 30 – October 4, 20221,076 (LV)± 3.7%39%36%–7%18%
University of GeorgiaSeptember 5–16, 2022861 (LV)± 3.3%50%31%6%–13%
Phillips AcademyAugust 3–7, 2022971 (RV)± 3.1%50%34%––16%
SurveyUSAJuly 21–24, 2022604 (LV)± 5.3%40%33%–7%20%
University of GeorgiaJuly 14–22, 2022902 (LV)± 3.3%46%32%7%–15%

Results

2022 Georgia Secretary of State election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
RepublicanBrad Raffensperger (incumbent)2,081,24153.23%+4.14%
DemocraticBee Nguyen1,719,92243.99%−5.32%
LibertarianTed Metz108,8842.78%+0.55%
Total votes3,910,047100.0%
Republican hold

By congressional district

Raffensperger won nine of 14 congressional districts.

DistrictRaffenspergerNguyenRepresentative
1st60%37%Buddy Carter
2nd48%49%Sanford Bishop
3rd67%30%Drew Ferguson
4th24%74%Hank Johnson
5th21%77%Nikema Williams
6th63%33%Lucy McBath (117th Congress)
Rich McCormick (118th Congress)
7th41%56%Carolyn Bourdeaux (117th Congress)
Lucy McBath (118th Congress)
8th67%30%Austin Scott
9th72%25%Andrew Clyde
10th64%33%Jody Hice (117th Congress)
Mike Collins (118th Congress)
11th61%35%Barry Loudermilk
12th59%38%Rick Allen
13th21%78%David Scott
14th70%27%Marjorie Taylor Greene

Notes

External links

Official campaign websites