Republican Brad Raffensperger won a runoff election Tuesday to become Georgia’s next secretary of state, taking over the office at the center of a debate over voter access and election security in the Southern state.
Raffensperger, a state lawmaker from suburban Atlanta, defeated former Democratic congressman John Barrow to become Georgia’s top elections official, the office vacated by Gov.-elect Brian Kemp.
The runoff campaign played out against the backdrop of Democratic accusations that Kemp used his position as secretary of state to suppress minority turnout and increase his own odds of victory. Kemp insists that’s false, pointing to large increases in voter registration on his watch and record turnout in the Nov. 6 midterms.
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