The Associated Press has called the secretary of state race in favor of Republican incumbent Michael Adams, who secured just over 60% of the reported votes (view live election results here) as of 7:46 p.m., defeating the Democratic challenger Charles “Buddy” Wheatley.
“On this stage I told you the mission impossible had become mission accomplished,” Adams said at a press conference later in the evening.
“We’ve taken Kentucky from the bottom in election administration to the top, and, thanks to your support, we’ll continue making it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Adams said.
Wheatley’s campaign released a statement thanking the people who worked on the campaign as well as his family while also expressing optimism about the campaign’s messaging.
“Even though we didn’t win, we were able to spread our message on the importance of protecting our democracy and increasing voter access across the state,” Wheatley said,” and our ideals are going to live on far past this election.”
The secretary of state is the commonwealth’s chief election official. As such, he serves as the chair of the state board of elections. The secretary is also responsible for recording the official acts of the executive branch in the aptly named executive journal. These acts include pardons, requisitions and extraditions, appointments, proclamations and reorganizations as well as acts relating to civil rights. The secretary of state also acts as the filing agent for the state once the General Assembly passes a law and the governor signs it.
Finally, the secretary is responsible for ensuring election security. This final point has proven especially contentious since 2020 as conspiracy theories around elections have become more prominent. Adams was integral to the state’s efforts to expand early voting during the pandemic.
Many of the conspiracy theories focus around the 2020 presidential election, which former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed was stolen from him. These claims have been discredited, but the theories have found an audience throughout the country, even in the local region.
As reported by LINK nky’s Mark Payne, for instance, former Senate District 24 candidate Jessica Neal pushed for a recount after losing her race to current Kentucky Senator Shelley Funke Frommeyer (R-Alexandria).
“It was a pretty close race, and I firmly believe in making sure we have secure elections,” Neal said in May 2022 on her reasoning for a recount.
Neal was a member of the Campbell County Republican Party’s election integrity committee, who has pushed conspiracy theories about elections in Kentucky and their potential for fraud.
Neal’s efforts mirrored a few other recount cases statewide, and the team in charge of litigating against those false claims was made up of attorneys from the state board of elections, which is chaired by Kentucky’s secretary of state. Thus, much of Adam’s tenure prior to Tuesday’s election was characterized by repeated refutations of claims of election fraud, often from within his own party–he characterized Neal’s recount attempt as frivolous.