A Democratic Fulton County commissioner who blocked Republican election board nominees in defiance of a judge’s order is running to become Georgia’s next secretary of state.
Commissioner Dana Barrett announced her candidacy Thursday. Georgia’s secretary of state has a number of duties, including overseeing elections and granting business licenses.
Barrett won her seat representing the Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Midtown areas in 2022 after defeating a longtime Republican incumbent. Prior to her election, she worked as a tech executive, radio host and small business owner.
In August, Barrett and another commissioner defied a judge’s order and refused to approve two Republican nominees to the county election board that the Democratic commissioners called extremists and election deniers. A judge levied a daily $10,000 fine against the board of commissioners, but the fines are on hold while an appeal is being considered.
Speaking at an Atlanta independent bookstore Thursday, Barrett characterized herself as the best candidate to stand up against the Trump administration.
“This past summer, I was threatened with jail time when I said no to the MAGA extremists trying to stack the board with election deniers,” she said. “We’ve stopped them for now, but the fight is not over. I said then that I cannot and I will not hand our elections over to extremists and election deniers who think that their voices are more important than yours.”
The Georgia secretary of state’s office entered the spotlight after the 2020 election when Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, refused President Donald Trump’s request to “find” enough missing votes to overturn his loss in the state.
Barrett characterized that refusal as “the bare minimum” and criticized Raffensperger’s support for Georgia’s 2021 election overhaul.
She said her experience as a businesswoman has prepared her to serve small business owners and her tech background will help her protect Georgia’s election system from cyber threats and protect Georgians from scams.
Raffenspreger is running for Georgia governor this year, and the lack of an incumbent has attracted a number of candidates from both parties who have also declared plans to replace Raffensperger.
In the Democratic primary in May, Barrett is set to square off against rivals including former TV judge and Biden administration official Penny Brown Reynolds and voting rights advocate Adrian Consonery Jr. The winner will return to face the victor in the Republican primary in November.
On the GOP side, state Rep. Tim Fleming; former state Rep. Vernon Jones, Kelvin King, a businessman and husband to state election board member Janelle King, as well as former state election official Gabriel Sterling, a top Raffensperger aide, have all announced their candidacies.
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