Election Integrity a Key Issue in Secretary of State Races

At a rally with former President Donald Trump last weekend, Nevada Republican Secretary of State nominee Jim Marchant encouraged an enthusiastic MAGA crowd to cast their vote for him on Nov. 8 and added his belief about the 2020 election.

“We have something in common,” said Marchant, a businessman and former Nevada State Assembly member. “President Trump and I lost an election in 2020 because of a rigged election.”

He also pledged to ensure election integrity in Nevada and help secure a Trump victory in 2024 if he runs for president.

“When I’m Secretary of State of Nevada, we are going to fix it. And when my coalition of secretary of state candidates around the country get elected, we’re going to fix the whole country, and President Trump is going to be president again in 2024,” Marchant said.

Until the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Secretary of State races took a back seat to higher-profile offices. Now, with midterms less than a month away, both parties are prioritizing those races, especially in states with Trump-endorsed candidates.

Marchant, who holds a lead in multiple polls over Democratic opponent Cisco Aguilar, formed the America First Secretary of State Coalition, which consists of more than a dozen Republican candidates for secretary of state and other offices that have an impact on elections.

Among the states the coalition is targeting are Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Biden won all four states in 2020. Each state has drawn election integrity controversy.

“If we get all of our secretaries of state elected around the country like this, we take our country back,” Marchant said at the rally.

The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, which served as the party’s main campaign arm, has booked $11 million in TV spots in Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada.

Among the