Brad Raffensperger, a civil engineer and former Johns Creek councilman and state representative, was elected secretary of state in 2018. He gained national attention for rejecting President Trump’s January 2021 demand to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn Georgia’s result, and has since defended both the state’s elections and the 2021 SB 202 overhaul against critics on both sides.
Office & background
- Secretary of State of Georgia (2019–present)
- Georgia House of Representatives, District 50 (2015–2019)
- Johns Creek City Council (2012–2014)
Campaign finance — who funds them
$3,137,922 raised · $10,897 cash on hand (FRIENDS OF BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, INC)
No itemized contributions reported in the current filings yet.
Finance as of Feb 2, 2026 — latest GA Ethics filing (2026 Jan 31 CCDR).
Source: Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission (PeachFile)
Where they stand
Touts record turnout under his tenure — more than 4 million early ballots in 2024 with sub-minute check-ins — while voting-rights groups argue the SB 202 measures he defends curtailed access even as raw turnout rose.
Source: 11Alive — record early votingDefends SB 202 (2021), which replaced absentee signature-matching with photo-ID verification but also limited ballot drop boxes to inside early-voting sites during business hours; he has at times moved to reopen drop-box grants.
Source: Wikipedia — Election Integrity Act of 2021 · sos.ga.gov — reopens drop-box grantsA strong proponent of photo ID, championing SB 202’s shift to requiring a license or state-ID number for absentee ballots in place of “subjective” signature matching, and urging Congress to adopt similar requirements.
Source: WSB-TV — defends ID / signature matchHas aggressively pursued list maintenance and citizenship audits; a 2024 audit he ordered found only about 20 noncitizens among 8 million-plus registered voters, all canceled and referred to authorities.
Source: ABC News — citizenship audit finds 20Defends Georgia’s Dominion ballot-marking devices and QR-code counting, releasing audits he says show 100% accuracy; after lawmakers banned QR-code tabulation effective July 2026, the state faced a scramble to modify its system.
Source: sos.ga.gov — QR-code accuracy audit · Votebeat — QR-code deadline crunchCertified Georgia’s 2020 result for Joe Biden after recounts and an audit, refusing Trump’s pressure to overturn it, and again certified the 2024 result after audits — positioning himself as defending the duty to certify accurate results.
Source: sos.ga.gov — certifies 2024 after auditsRefused Trump-administration DOJ demands for unredacted voter data, arguing Georgia law bars disclosing Social Security numbers, birth dates, and license numbers; in January 2026 a federal judge dismissed the DOJ’s suit seeking that data.
Source: Georgia Recorder — rebuffs voter-data pressureHis office also handles corporate filings and ~500 professional license types covering roughly 570,000 Georgians; to cut application delays he launched the GA Works Licensing Commission (2023) and an online licensing system.
Source: GPB — professional licensing reform