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Georgia Election 2018: Raffensperger wins GOP secretary of state race

State Rep. Brad Raffensperger speaks in April during a Georgia secretary of state debate at Lassiter High School in Marietta. (REANN HUBER/REANN.HUBER@AJC.COM)
State Rep. Brad Raffensperger speaks in April during a Georgia secretary of state debate at Lassiter High School in Marietta. (REANN HUBER/REANN.HUBER@AJC.COM)
By
July 25, 2018

State Rep. Brad Raffensperger won the Republican Party runoff for Georgia secretary of state on Tuesday, setting up a race against Democrat John Barrow ahead of the general election in November.

Raffensperger, a Republican from Johns Creek, defeated former former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle in the runoff, according to unofficial election results.

Raffensperger is the CEO of an engineering design company who has emphasized his business experience in the campaign for secretary of state. If elected, he has said he would reduce government bureaucracy, support voter ID laws and push for verifiable paper ballots when Georgia replaces its electronic voting machines.

Raffensperger will be challenged by Barrow, a Democrat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for a decade, and Libertarian Smythe DuVal in the Nov. 6 general election.

The winner of the race will replace outgoing Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who won Tuesday’s Republican runoff for governor.

The secretary of state is responsible for running the state’s elections, registering Georgia businesses and issuing professional licenses.

About the Author

Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.

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