2022 Georgia Secretary of State election


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 [Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia|2020 United States presidential election|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 [2018 Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia Secretary of State election|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

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		David
Jody
Hice		T.J.
Hudson		Brad
Raffensperger		Undecided
Landmark CommunicationsMay 22, 2022500 ± 4.4%9%39%2%38%11%
SurveyUSAApril 22–27, 2022559 ± 4.9%4%20%5%31%40%
University of GeorgiaApril 10–22, 2022886 ± 3.3%5%26%4%28%37%
Landmark CommunicationsApril 9–10, 2022660 ± 3.8%10%35%3%18%33%
University of GeorgiaMarch 20 – April 8, 2022~329 ± 5.4%4%30%4%23%39%
Emerson CollegeApril 1–3, 2022509 ± 4.3%6%26%3%29%37%

Results

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, 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.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in runoff

Eliminated in initial primary

Did not file

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Declared

General election

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Brad
Bee
Nguyen 		Ted
Metz 		OtherUndecided
Landmark CommunicationsNovember 4–7, 20221,214 ± 2.8%48%40%6%–6%
SurveyUSASeptember 30 – October 4, 20221,076 ± 3.7%39%36%–7%18%
University of GeorgiaSeptember 5–16, 2022861 ± 3.3%50%31%6%–13%
Phillips AcademyAugust 3–7, 2022971 ± 3.1%50%34%––16%
SurveyUSAJuly 21–24, 2022604 ± 5.3%40%33%–7%20%
University of GeorgiaJuly 14–22, 2022902 ± 3.3%46%32%7%–15%

Results

By congressional district

Raffensperger won nine of 14 congressional districts.
DistrictRaffenspergerNguyenRepresentative
60%37%Buddy Carter
48%49%Sanford Bishop
67%30%Drew Ferguson
24%74%Hank Johnson
21%77%Nikema Williams
63%33%Lucy McBath
63%33%Rich McCormick
41%56%Carolyn Bourdeaux
41%56%Lucy McBath
67%30%Austin Scott
72%25%Andrew Clyde
64%33%Jody Hice
64%33%Mike Collins
61%35%Barry Loudermilk
59%38%Rick Allen
21%78%David Scott
70%27%Marjorie Taylor Greene