State election officials were among the most visible defenders of American democracy after the 2020 election — standing up to President Donald Trump, rejecting false claims and, whether they wanted to or not, becoming national symbols of institutional resistance to his attempts to overturn his election loss.
But as some run for governor in 2026, they are eager to talk about anything but 2020.
More than five years after Trump’s attempt to cling to power ignited a political rallying cry on the left and a loyalty test on the right, these Republican and Democratic candidates are betting — and, in some cases, hoping — that voters have moved on.
A pair of Republican secretaries of state who rejected Trump’s false 2020 election claims and then survived MAGA-fueled 2022 primaries are running for governor. Unsurprisingly, neither is keen to relitigate the issue that linger over their hopes this year.
“2020 is very far behind us as secretaries of state,” Kansas Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab said. “We remember it, but we’re moving on, and I think the American public is too.”
But Trump isn’t ready to move on, complicating these candidates’ hopes of putting 2020 in the rearview mirror. Speaking before an audience of global leaders and business officials in Davos last week, Trump repeated his false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” and promised that “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.”
Two Democratic secretaries of state are also running for the governor’s mansion. And while defending democracy and their defiance to Trump on election issues forms a defining part of their political biographies, both candidates lead with pocketbook issues rather than making protecting the vote the centerpiece.
“This election is about Michigan, and this election is about who is best positioned to lower costs for the people in our state,” Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told POLITICO.
In many ways, the shift reflects the reality of running for the governor’s mansion. The job description is much broader from the office of the secretary of state — and voters want to hear about what politicians will do for them now.
But it also underscores the political evolution of one of the most animating aspects of Trump’s first term.
For Democrats, democracy was a potent force in 2022, when candidates leaned heavily into running against election deniers. And many Democrats say it’s still effective.
“They use the issue as an illustration of character,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “It really communicates integrity, nonpartisanship, commitment to democracy and freedom, standing up for people, and courage.”
As Democratic candidates’ use of democracy messaging has evolved, strategists say the meaning of “democracy” itself has also shifted since 2020. Then, it was largely about election integrity and the transfer of power. Now, it’s increasingly tied to broader concerns about executive authority, with Democrats arguing they’ll be the ones who can stand up to a president they see as authoritarian.
“This is the moment where you need a governor who won’t bend the knee,” said Benson, who has been outspoken against the Trump administration following back-to-back killings of protestors in Minnesota by federal agents.
Jocelyn Benson
Benson was on the front lines of defending her state’s election results after 2020, facing threats and swatting attacks. That period is a part of her messaging: Her campaign launch video showed news footage of her home being surrounded by protesters, and she remains outspoken against false claims related to the 2020 election.
She has also cast that moment as proof of leadership — and a willingness to stand up to Trump. “We fought back to protect democracy itself and we showed that as state officials, that’s how we have to respond to bullies who try to rip away our rights no matter how powerful they may be,” she said.
But on the campaign trail, Benson has often focused more on bread-and-butter economic issues. Affordability, housing, health care, childcare and energy costs are listed as her top issues on her campaign website.
“What every resident, every citizen, every voter in this election knows is how important it is to have a governor who will fight for them and who will fight for them in a way that that effectively lowers their cost of living while also protecting the safety of themselves, their families and their communities,” Benson told POLITICO.
Brad Raffensperger
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was one of the most prominent Republicans to reject Trump after the president urged him to “find” more votes in his state. The incident propelled him into the national spotlight — and drew fury from the president and his MAGA base, leading to death threats. He warded off a Trump-endorsed primary challenge in 2022, in part by taking his case to conservative media. Now, he’s seeking the governor’s mansion in the state that is in many ways the epicenter of Trump’s bid to hold on to power in 2020.
Raffensperger does not directly talk about the 2020 incident in his launch video or on his campaign website. Instead, he frames his record as evidence that he is willing to make the “tough decisions.” His launch video focuses on creating jobs in Georgia, lowering property taxes and banning transgender women from women sports, among other issues — issues that are key to voters but not central to his current day job.
But Georgia’s 2020 election keeps getting pushed back into the spotlight.
On Wednesday, the FBI executed a search warrant at the Fulton County elections office outside Atlanta, seizing all ballots from the 2020 election there.
“He’s trying to talk about other issues, [but] 2020 keeps coming up,” said Buzz Brockway, a former Republican state legislator who lost to Raffensperger in a 2018 primary.
Brockway said many Republicans have moved on from 2020 — but that there remains a “loud, noisy contingent who are continuing that battle” that Raffensperger will have to contend with, even if most voters’ main focus lies elsewhere.
Raffensperger has largely sidestepped questions about the 2020 election — in a November interview with the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, he said that it showed that he does the “right thing, no matter what.”
“Other people haven’t been put to that test, but we were at the end of the day,” he said.
Raffensperger’s campaign declined to comment for this story.
Still, Raffensperger’ opponents in the GOP primary, particularly Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, are eager to keep 2020 alive in the race. Jones, who was a fake elector in the state, has tried to cast his actions during that period as unflinching loyalty to the president.
“I don’t know that it brings Jones any new voters,” Brockway said, but it may be an effort to “energize his base.”
Scott Schwab
In ruby-red Kansas, Schwab defied some of the loudest voices in his party when he repeatedly rejected false claims about the 2020 election in his role as secretary of state. He has been clear that he does not see that chapter as central to his gubernatorial bid as he runs in a crowded GOP primary.
“Everybody’s concerned about taxes, especially with cost of living,” Schwab, a past chair of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said in an interview. “Property taxes are a real red-hot button in Kansas.”
His campaign launch video only briefly mentions election issues, and almost as an afterthought. “As secretary of state, I streamlined business services and cut bureaucratic red tape,” he said. “I secured our elections, too.”
There remains a segment of the GOP for whom election issues remain salient, said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Kansas. But for the broader electorate — those most likely to turn out in midterm elections — these issues are still “pretty low down the list.”
In 2022, Schwab, Raffensperger and Benson all prevailed in their reelections, despite facing Trump-backed challengers or outright election deniers.
“I would say that most people really believe that we’ve moved on,” Schwab said.
Shenna Bellows
Democrat Secretary of State Shenna Bellows became Maine secretary of state in January 2021 after being chosen by the state legislature, just as Trump was in the middle of his push to overturn his election loss. In 2023, she ruled that Trump should be barred from the ballot for his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, a decision later overturned by the Supreme Court.
In the blue-leaning state, and facing a crowded primary, Bellows has been more eager to talk about the issue than some of her fellow chief election officials.
“Leadership is about doing what is right, even when it is hard,” she said in her launch video, which highlighted the threats and harassment she faced as a result of her decision.
In her bid for governor, she has emphasized that anger over Trump’s actions exists in tandem with persistent anxiety about the economy. Like Benson, she has been vocal in criticizing the killings in Minnesota.
“The economy is the number one issue for most Mainers, there’s a lot of economic concern right now, especially in the wake of the tariffs and increasing job losses that we’re about to see,” she told POLITICO.
“That being said, I also think it’s really important to tell the truth,” she said. “What the Trump decision and my work as secretary and defending democracy tells people about me is that I will do the right thing even when it’s hard.”
