Incumbent Secretary of State Awaits Winner of Highly Contested Republican Primary
Incumbent Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, a Democrat, is unopposed to make it to November, but who will he face in November besides Libertarian John Kennedy and Independent American Brad Lee Barnhill?
Well known names and frequent election losers in the Republican primary competition consist of Sharron Angle as well as Jim Marchant, while first time candidate Shirley Folkins-Roberts, a Reno based businesswoman, attorney and nonprofit executive is now the perceived frontrunner, having raised the most money, while receiving the backing of Republican Governor Joe Lombardo.
“At a time when American trust in elections is at an all-time low, Shirley is committed to commonsense election reforms like Voter ID and ensuring ballots are received by Election Day – the kind of reforms that have broad bipartisan support and improve voter confidence and trust in the process,” Lombardo said in a social media post.
Finally, repeat candidate Socorro Keenan is also appearing in this race on Republican ballots.
“Jim Marchant has been a leader and innovator in the computer software, Internet, and telecommunication industries beginning in 1984. He has founded and served as CEO and President of numerous technology companies,” Marchant writes on his own about page.
Marchant blames unproven “election fraud” on his website for losing in an election for Nevada’s Congressional District 4 in 2020, which was won by Democrat Steven Horsford by over 16-thousand votes, while he lost to Aguilar in the Secretary of State runoff in 2022, by about 23-thousand votes. He was also a failed candidate for the US Senate in 2024.
“I’m running for Secretary of State to restore trust in our elections and make Nevada the best place in America to start and grow a business,” Marchant writes on his website.
Wooster and UNR grad Sharron Angle, who has the endorsement of the Washoe Republicans, writes she is a “reliable Republican with the record to prove it” on a fairly bare website.
There’s a press release from April where she apologized to Folkins-Roberts and her husband after mistakenly saying her opponent had contributed $1,000 to Democrat Aaron Ford now running for governor. Since serving in the Nevada Assembly as a notorious conservative, Angle has lost a series of elections from several federal Senate races to a Nevada one to trying to previously unseat Mark Amodei in Congress.
“With Shirley Folkins-Roberts leading the charge, Nevada’s elections will be safe, secure, easy to understand, and trusted by everyone. As Secretary of State, Shirley will work to: Keep our voter rolls accurate and up to date, Require voter ID to stop fraud in its tracks, Ensure election results are delivered on time —not days, weeks, or months later,” the electshirley.com website indicates.
Her about page describes her as “a Nevada attorney, business leader, and longtime community advocate who has spent her career working at the intersection of law, business, and public policy. In the private sector, she has helped lead the entitlement, financing, construction, and leasing of major industrial and office projects across Northern Nevada, supporting the development of more than three million square feet of commercial space and helping attract major employers that strengthen the state’s economy.”
“Socorro Keenan is a longtime Nevada community member with broad experience supporting families, workers, and small businesses,” the keenanfornvsos.com website indicates.
There’s a long list of professional experiences included from mortgage lending, to tax preparation cosmetology and burial insurance sales, as well as owning a talent agency, working in private banking in Europe and as a flight attendant for the former Eastern Air Lines.
Keenan got just over four-thousand votes in the GOP primary for the same Secretary of State race in 2022. The priorities section of her website lists integrity and accountability, voter confidence, better public service and truth and prosperity.
The Nevada Secretary of State, the third highest ranking state official behind the governor and lieutenant governor, oversees elections, business registrations, securities regulations, as well as notary public licensing.
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