Incumbent Steve Simon (D) defeated Kim Crockett (R) and Steve Carlson (write-in) in the general election for Minnesota Secretary of State on November 8, 2022. Simon was first elected to this position in 2015.

Ryan Faircloth of the Star Tribune wrote the following about the election results: “Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon won a third term over Republican challenger Kim Crockett. The race tested voters' faith in the state's election system. Simon…wanted to keep Minnesota's voting laws intact and the state to consider automatically registering people to vote when they get their driver's license. He noted the state often ranks first nationally in turnout…Crockett, an attorney who has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, said [if elected] she would push to shorten the state's early voting period, limit who can vote by absentee ballot, eliminate same-day voter registration and require photo identification at polling places.”^[1]

Crockett, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump (R), called the 2020 election “lawless, and partisan in nature” and said, “I don't think we'll ever know precisely what happened. What I can tell you is that Minnesota laws were not followed that should have been followed.”^[2]

This was one of 27 elections for secretary of state taking place in 2022. Click here for an overview of these races. All but three states have a secretary of state. Although the specific duties and powers of the office vary from state to state, secretaries of state are often responsible for the maintenance of voter rolls and for administering elections. Other common responsibilities include registering businesses, maintaining state records, and certifying official documents. At the time of the 2022 elections, there were 27 Republican secretaries of state and 20 Democratic secretaries of state.

A state government triplex refers to a situation where the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all members of the same political party. Heading into the 2022 elections, there were 23 Republican triplexes, 18 Democratic triplexes, and nine divided governments where neither party held triplex control.

Minnesota has a state government triplex.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Minnesota Secretary of State

Incumbent Steve Simon defeated Kim Crockett and Steve Carlson in the general election for Minnesota Secretary of State on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Steve Simon (D)	54.5	1,345,685
	Kim Crockett (R)	45.4	1,119,949
	Steve Carlson (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	15
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2,080

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,467,729
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Minnesota Secretary of State

Incumbent Steve Simon defeated Steve Carlson in the Democratic primary for Minnesota Secretary of State on August 9, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Steve Simon	72.5	285,314
	Steve Carlson	27.5	108,144

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 393,458
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Minnesota Secretary of State

Kim Crockett defeated Erik van Mechelen in the Republican primary for Minnesota Secretary of State on August 9, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kim Crockett	63.2	190,156
	Erik van Mechelen	36.8	110,940

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 301,096
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Kelly Jahner-Byrne (R)
Phillip Parrish (R)

Campaign data

Campaign finance

General election

Democratic primary

Republican primary

Past elections

2018

See also: Minnesota Secretary of State election, 2018

General election

General election for Minnesota Secretary of State

Incumbent Steve Simon defeated John Howe and William Denney in the general election for Minnesota Secretary of State on November 6, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Steve Simon (D)	52.3	1,328,502
	John Howe (R)	43.6	1,109,093
	William Denney (Independence Party)	4.1	103,610
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,317

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,542,522 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steve Simon advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota Secretary of State.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. John Howe advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota Secretary of State.

2014

See also: Minnesota Secretary of State election, 2014

Secretary of State of Minnesota, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Steve Simon	47%	901,450
	Republican	Dan Severson	45.9%	879,022
	Independence	Bob Helland	4.9%	94,065
	Libertarian	Bob Odden	2.1%	40,729
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.1%	1,134
Total Votes				1,916,400
Election results via Minnesota Secretary of State

Election analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.

Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.

Presidential elections

	2026 → ← 2018
Minnesota Secretary of State
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election;
Election details
	Filing deadline: May 31, 2022
	Primary: August 9, 2022; General: November 8, 2022; Pre-election incumbent(s):; Steve Simon (Democratic)
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Voting in Minnesota
Ballotpedia analysis
	Federal and state primary competitiveness; State executive elections in 2022; Impact of term limits in 2022; State government trifectas; State government triplexes; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
Minnesota; executive elections
	Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Attorney General; Secretary of State; Auditor

See also: Presidential voting trends in Minnesota and The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Cook PVI by congressional district

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Minnesota, 2022
District	Incumbent	Party	PVI
Minnesota's 1st	Vacant	Republican	R+7
Minnesota's 2nd	Angie Craig	Democratic	D+1
Minnesota's 3rd	Dean Phillips	Democratic	D+8
Minnesota's 4th	Betty McCollum	Democratic	D+17
Minnesota's 5th	Ilhan Omar	Democratic	D+30
Minnesota's 6th	Tom Emmer	Republican	R+12
Minnesota's 7th	Michelle Fischbach	Republican	R+19
Minnesota's 8th	Pete Stauber	Republican	R+8

2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Minnesota^[3]
District	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
Minnesota's 1st	44.3%	53.5%
Minnesota's 2nd	52.5%	45.4%
Minnesota's 3rd	59.5%	38.5%
Minnesota's 4th	67.8%	30.2%
Minnesota's 5th	80.6%	17.4%
Minnesota's 6th	40.1%	57.7%
Minnesota's 7th	32.5%	65.7%
Minnesota's 8th	43.4%	54.7%

2012-2020

How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:

County-level voting pattern categories
Democratic
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Democratic	D	D	D
Trending Democratic	R	D	D
Battleground Democratic	D	R	D
New Democratic	R	R	D
Republican
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Republican	R	R	R
Trending Republican	D	R	R
Battleground Republican	R	D	R
New Republican	D	D	R

Following the 2020 presidential election, 51.8% of Minnesotans lived in one of the state's nine Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 38.6% lived in one of 59 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Minnesota was Solid Democratic, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016, and Joe Biden (D) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Minnesota following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Minnesota county-level statistics, 2020
Solid Democratic	9	51.8%
Solid Republican	59	38.6%
Trending Republican	15	5.8%
Battleground Democratic	4	3.8%
Total voted Democratic	13	55.7%
Total voted Republican	74	44.3%

Historical voting trends

Minnesota presidential election results (1900-2020)

20 Democratic wins
10 Republican wins
1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	P^[4]	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Statewide elections

This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.

U.S. Senate elections

See also: List of United States Senators from Minnesota

The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Minnesota.

U.S. Senate election results in Minnesota
Race	Winner	Runner up
2020	48.8%	43.5%
2018	53.0%	42.4%
2018	60.3%	36.2%
2014	53.2%	42.9%
2012	65.2%	30.6%
Average	56.1	39.1

Gubernatorial elections

See also: Governor of Minnesota

The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Minnesota.

Gubernatorial election results in Minnesota
Race	Winner	Runner up
2018	53.8%	42.4%
2014	50.1%	44.5%
2010	43.6%	43.2%
2006	46.7%	45.7%
2002	44.4%	36.5%
Average	47.7	42.5

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Minnesota's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Minnesota, November 2022
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	4	6
Republican	0	4	4
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	8	10

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Minnesota's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Minnesota, November 2022
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Tim Walz
Lieutenant Governor	Peggy Flanagan
Secretary of State	Steve Simon
Attorney General	Keith Ellison

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Minnesota State Legislature as of November 2022.

Minnesota State Senate

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	31
	Republican Party	34
	Independent	1
	Vacancies	1
Total		67

Minnesota House of Representatives

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	69
	Republican Party	63
	Independent	1
	Vacancies	1
Total		134

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Minnesota was a divided government, with Democrats controlling the governorship and a majority in the house and Republicans controlling a majority in the state senate. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Minnesota Party Control: 1992-2022
Two years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	I	I	I	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Minnesota and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Minnesota
	Minnesota	United States
Population	5,706,494	331,449,281
Land area (sq mi)	79,631	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White	81.6%	70.4%
Black/African American	6.4%	12.6%
Asian	4.9%	5.6%
Native American	1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander	0%	0.2%
Other (single race)	2.1%	5.1%
Multiple	3.9%	5.2%
Hispanic/Latino	5.5%	18.2%
Education
High school graduation rate	93.4%	88.5%
College graduation rate	36.8%	32.9%
Income
Median household income	$73,382	$64,994
Persons below poverty level	9.3%	12.8%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

External links

Footnotes

[st-1] Star Tribune, “ Democrat Steve Simon wins third term as Minnesota secretary of state,” November 9, 2022

[mpr-2] MPR News, “Election integrity the key issue in Minnesota secretary of state race,” October 27, 2022

[3] Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012," accessed September 9, 2022

[4] Progressive Party

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Minnesota	State Executive Elections	News and Analysis

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Minnesota Secretary of State election, 2022

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Minnesota Secretary of State

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Minnesota Secretary of State

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Minnesota Secretary of State

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign data

Campaign finance

General election

Democratic primary

Republican primary

Past elections

2018

General election

General election for Minnesota Secretary of State

Democratic primary election

Republican primary election

2014

Election analysis

Presidential elections

Cook PVI by congressional district

2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2012-2020

Historical voting trends

Statewide elections

U.S. Senate elections

Gubernatorial elections

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

State executive

State legislature

Minnesota State Senate

Minnesota House of Representatives

Trifecta control

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