Former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson won the Republican primary for Colorado secretary of state on June 28, 2022, receiving 44% of the vote. Mike O’Donnell and Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters received 29% and 27% of the vote, respectively.
Heading into the primary, Anderson and Peters led in fundraising and media attention. The 2020 election results and election administration took a central role in the race.
The Colorado Sun‘s Jesse Paul wrote, “In virtually every major Republican primary race in Colorado this year … voters will have a choice between a candidate or candidates who … believe the outcome of the last presidential election was fraudulent and those who don’t.”
Regarding the secretary of state primary, Paul described the candidates as, “Peters … [who is] under indictment in a breach of her county’s voting system that she’s accused of orchestrating as part of her efforts to uncover fraud … [and] Anderson, who rejects 2020 election fraud claims.”
Anderson, who highlighted her experience as a city and county clerk, said she was “[t]he only candidate with a record of securing Colorado’s elections,” and that she ensured the use of paper ballots, made ballots public record, and implemented election audits. Anderson received endorsements from three former Republican secretaries of state and The Colorado Springs Gazette.
Anderson will face incumbent Jena Griswold (D) in the general election. Griswold first won election in 2018, defeating former Sec. of State Wayne Williams (R) and ending a 56-year streak of Republican control in the office.
Griswold received 53% of the vote in 2018. More recently, in 2020, Joe Biden (D) won Colorado with 55% of the vote to Donald Trump’s (R) 42%.
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