2019 Kentucky Secretary of State election
# 2019 Kentucky Secretary of State election

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The 2019 Kentucky Secretary of State election was held on November 5, 2019, to elect the secretary of state of Kentucky. Primary elections were held on May 21, 2019. Incumbent Democratic secretary Alison Lundergan Grimes was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits, creating the first open election for secretary of state since 2003.

Republican nominee Michael Adams narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Heather French Henry. This was the only statewide race in Kentucky in 2019 besides the gubernatorial election in which the Democratic nominee came close to winning. It was also the only non-gubernatorial statewide election in Kentucky, Louisiana, or Mississippi (all of these states were staunchly Republican in 2019) where the Democrat achieved more than 45% of the vote in 2019.

## Democratic primary

### Candidates

* Jason Belcher, U.S. Air Force veteran and writer
* Jason Griffith, teacher and businessman
* Heather French Henry, former Kentucky Commissioner of Veterans Affairs and former Miss America
* Geoff Sebesta, comic book artist

### Results

Democratic primary results :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Democratic | Heather French Henry | 263,431 | 70.99 |
| | Democratic | Jason Belcher | 47,930 | 12.92 |
| | Democratic | Jason Griffith | 47,657 | 12.84 |
| | Democratic | Geoff Sebesta | 12,087 | 3.26 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 371,105 | 100.00 |

## Republican primary

### Candidates

* Michael Adams, general counsel for the Republican Governors Association and former aide to U.S. senator Mitch McConnell
* Andrew English, former general counsel for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and U.S. Navy veteran
* Stephen Knipper, cyber security expert, former Erlanger city councilor and nominee for secretary of state in 2015
* Carl Nett, former counterintelligence officer

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Michael Adams | Andrew English | Steve Knipper | Carl Nett | Undecided |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cygnal | May 10–12, 2019 | 600 | ± 4.0% | 11% | 10% | 7% | 5% | 68% |

### Results

Republican primary results :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Republican | Michael Adams | 94,417 | 41.27 |
| | Republican | Andrew English | 62,680 | 27.39 |
| | Republican | Steve Knipper | 41,369 | 18.08 |
| | Republican | Carl Nett | 30,340 | 13.26 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 228,806 | 100.00 |

## General election

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Heather French Henry (D) | Michael Adams (R) | Undecided |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Clarity Campaign Labs (D) | October 23–26, 2015 | 798 | ± 3.5% | 52% | 37% | 9% |

### Results

2019 Kentucky secretary of state election :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Republican | Michael Adams | 746,629 | 52.26% | +3.42 |
| | Democratic | Heather French Henry | 682,096 | 47.74% | –3.42 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,428,725 | 100.00% | |
| | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic |
