Democrats’ Big North Carolina Push Will Soon Include the Secretary of State

Scared of a 2020 repeat, Democrats plan on spending seven figures to keep Elaine Marshall’s seat.

Elaine Marshall
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall’s margin of victory has dwindled in the past two presidential elections. Gerry Broome/AP

Democrats, already steeped in an expensive campaign to win North Carolina, are about to spend big on a lesser-known but highly consequential race in the state.

The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State is making its first-ever investment in North Carolina to defend incumbent Secretary of State Elaine Marshall’s seat to the tune of seven figures. Why? Because of 2020, the Democratic campaign arm said.

“The only reason that you saw North Carolina stay out of trouble, so to speak, in 2020 was because it was a Trump state,” DASS Executive Director Travis Brimm said. “They didn’t have a need or a desire to have a fake-elector scandal.”