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Republican Sweep Extends to Secretaries of State

The GOP picked up four seats.

Democrats suffered some of their worst downballot failures on election night in the secretary of state races, the low-profile but quietly influential office that oversees elections in each state.

The GOP flipped four seats. Three were open seats: Missouri (Jay Ashcroft), Montana (Corey Stapleton), and Oregon (Dennis Richardson). The Oregon contest was the most surprising, with the GOP winning their first statewide office in more than a decade.

The other seat the GOP flipped was in West Virginia, where Republican Andrew "Mac" Warner ousted incumbent Democrat Natalie Tennant.

The Democrats did flip one seat, as Maggie Toulouse Oliver won a Republican-held seat in New Mexico.

The Democrats also held on to seats in North Carolina, where Elaine Marshall was re-elected, and Vermont, where incumbent Jim Condos faced no major-party opposition.

And the Republicans held the office in Washington state, as incumbent Kim Wyman won another term.

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
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