Secretary of State Trends & Analytics
Historical partisan balance, party flips, and SoS trends since 1960
The secretary of state oversees elections and business filings in most states and moved from political obscurity into the national spotlight after the 2020 presidential election. The charts below trace partisan control over time. Note that three states do not have an SoS office (Alaska, Hawaii, Utah). Twelve other states fill the office by appointment or legislative election rather than popular vote; in those states partisan control tracks the appointing authority rather than independent voter choice. See Secretaries of State for the full institutional overview.
Partisan Balance of Secretaries of State (1960–2026)
Number of Democratic and Republican secretaries of state serving on January 15 of each year.
Party Flips by Decade
Number of times an SoS office changed party hands in each decade, split by direction.
Longest Single-Party Streaks
States with the longest unbroken runs of secretaries of state from one party (since 1960).
Recent Party Flips (Since 2018)
Every time an SoS office changed party hands.
| Year | State | Flip | New SoS |
|---|