This article has been corrected. 3 corrections — see Corrections at the end of this article.

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Role: Georgia Secretary of State (January 2019 – January 2027); Republican. Not seeking re-election; lost the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary.

Classification: Republican official who resisted authoritarian pressure to subvert election results, provided critical evidence to criminal investigators, and — in the second Trump administration — is the named defendant in the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit demanding Georgia’s sensitive voter file.

Basis for Inclusion

Subject classification: Public Official — sitting Georgia Secretary of State (January 2019 – January 2027), previously a Georgia state legislator and Johns Creek city councilman.

Anchor criterion: Public officials in an official capacity meet the eligibility standard automatically; no Non-Speech Anchor is required. This profile documents his official conduct as Secretary of State: certification decisions, litigation as respondent, sworn testimony, legislative advocacy, and public rulemaking.

Not the basis for inclusion: party affiliation, personal opinions, or public statements standing alone. Speech is documented here only where the speaker was Raffensperger acting as an election official (e.g., in the January 2, 2021 recorded call) or under oath (congressional testimony, grand jury testimony).

Characterization of speech in this profile: Political speech about elections is treated as protected; specific statements are documented as speech, not as criminal conduct.

Biographical Background

Bradford Jay Raffensperger (born May 18, 1955) is an engineer, business owner, and Republican politician serving as Georgia’s 29th Secretary of State. He holds a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering from Western University (Ontario) and an MBA from Georgia State University. He is CEO of Tendon Systems, LLC, a specialty contracting firm, and a licensed professional engineer in 25+ states. He served on the Johns Creek City Council and in the Georgia House (District 50, 2015–2019) before winning the Secretary of State race in 2018.

2020 Election: Certification and Recounts

Raffensperger oversaw Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, where Joseph Biden defeated Donald Trump by 11,779 votes. His office conducted three separate counts — the initial machine count, a full hand recount / risk-limiting audit, and a machine recount requested by the Trump campaign — all confirming Biden’s victory with nearly identical margins.

Throughout the post-election period, Raffensperger publicly stated the results were accurate and resisted pressure from Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham, and other Republican officials to change the outcome. Gabriel Sterling, his Chief Operating Officer, held a December 1, 2020 press conference warning “someone’s going to get killed” if the incendiary rhetoric continued.

The January 2, 2021 Phone Call

Four days before the Capitol attack, President Trump conducted an hour-long phone call with Raffensperger. On the line with Trump were Mark Meadows, Peter Navarro, John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Cleta Mitchell, and other attorneys. Raffensperger was joined by general counsel Ryan Germany.

Key moments from the call:

• Trump demanded, “I just want to find 11,780 votes” — one more than Biden’s margin.
• Claimed he won Georgia “by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
• Repeated debunked conspiracies about dead voters, shredded ballots, and Dominion machines.
• Falsely accused Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss of ballot tampering.
• Implied legal consequences, calling it a “criminal offense” and “big risk” for Raffensperger.

SourceRev.com, “Donald Trump Georgia Phone Call Transcript with Brad Raffensperger,” January 3, 2021 (full transcript and recording). https://www.rev.com/transcripts/donald-trump-georgia-phone-call-transcript-brad-raffensperger-recordingRaffensperger and Germany rejected each claim; Raffensperger told Trump directly, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.” Jordan Fuchs, Raffensperger’s chief of staff, recorded the call. The Washington Post released the recording on January 3, 2021, after Trump mischaracterized the conversation on Twitter.

January 6 Committee Testimony

Raffensperger testified in two settings before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack:

• November 30, 2021 (closed-door interview): Spoke with the Select Committee for roughly four hours, detailing each fraud allegation Trump raised and why each was false, and describing pressure from Senator Graham and members of Georgia’s Republican congressional delegation.
• June 21, 2022 (public hearing): Testified alongside Gabriel Sterling, walking through how all three counts confirmed Biden carried Georgia. Stated he had wanted Trump to win but “the numbers are the numbers.”

SourceAxios, “Flashback: The call that got Trump in trouble in Georgia,” August 15, 2023. https://www.axios.com/2023/08/15/trump-georgia-election-interference-callSourceCNN, “Georgia secretary of state spoke with January 6 committee about election lies,” November 30, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/politics/brad-raffensperger-january-6-committeeThe Select Committee’s final report cited the Raffensperger call as key evidence and issued criminal referrals to the Department of Justice against Trump.

Fulton County RICO Case — Indictment, Willis Disqualification, and Current Status

Raffensperger testified before the Fulton County special purpose grand jury on June 2, 2022, spending approximately five hours at the courthouse. On August 14, 2023, District Attorney Fani Willis secured a 41-count RICO indictment against Trump and 18 co-defendants, including two counts directly related to the Raffensperger call: soliciting a public officer to violate their oath and making false statements. Raffensperger was a key witness, not a target. The recorded call served as the most direct evidence in the Georgia case — an unambiguous recording of Trump personally pressuring a state official to change vote totals.

Court record: State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump et al., Fulton County Superior Court (GA), 41-count RICO indictment returned August 14, 2023 (Trump, Meadows, Giuliani, Eastman, Chesebro, Clark, Shafer, and 12 others). Guilty pleas entered by Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, and Scott Hall in October 2023.

Case status (as of September 2026) — the state case has effectively stalled:

• SourceGeorgia Recorder, “Appeals court disqualifies Fulton DA Fani Willis from prosecuting Georgia Trump case,” December 19, 2024. https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/12/19/appeals-court-disqualifies-fulton-da-fani-willis-from-prosecuting-georgia-trump-case/December 19, 2024: The Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified DA Willis from prosecuting the case, citing a “significant appearance of impropriety” arising from her romantic relationship with lead special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
• SourceGeorgia Recorder, “DA Fani Willis loses appeal in quest to lead Fulton County election interference case against Trump,” September 16, 2025. https://georgiarecorder.com/2025/09/16/da-fani-willis-loses-appeal-in-quest-to-lead-fulton-county-election-interference-case-against-trump/September 16, 2025: The Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Willis’s appeal in a 4-3 decision, leaving the disqualification in place.
• March 2026: Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis could not participate in Trump defendants’ motion for approximately $16.8 million in legal fees, again citing her disqualification. A 2025 Georgia statute permits defendants to recover legal fees when the prosecutor is disqualified.
• As of September 2026 no successor prosecutor has been designated by Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council to take over the case. The state prosecution is dormant; there is no active trial calendar.

2022 Republican Primary

Trump endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice in March 2021 to unseat Raffensperger. Hice had objected to Georgia’s electoral vote certification on January 6, 2021 and promoted baseless fraud claims.

On May 24, 2022, Raffensperger won the Republican primary decisively with 52.3% (611,616 votes) vs. Hice’s 33.4% (389,447), clearing the 50% runoff threshold — a result few predicted. He defeated Democratic nominee Bee Nguyen in November 2022. His stated motivation for running: “If the good walk off the field and leave the field to the bad, then the bad wins.”

SB 202: Election Integrity Act of 2021

Raffensperger supported Georgia’s Election Integrity Act (SB 202), signed by Governor Kemp on March 25, 2021. Key provisions of the bill as enacted:

• Absentee voter ID: Replaced signature matching with driver’s license or state ID number verification.
• Drop box restrictions: Codified permanent use but limited placement to one per 100,000 active registered voters or one per early voting site (whichever is fewer), indoor only, during early voting hours only. In Atlanta-area counties, this reduced deployed drop boxes from 94 in 2020 to approximately 23.
• Shortened absentee window: Moved the absentee ballot request deadline from four to eleven days before Election Day.
• Expanded early voting: Required two Saturday early voting days statewide, with two additional Sunday days optional at counties’ discretion.
• Reduced SOS authority: Removed the Secretary of State as chair of the State Election Board and replaced the position with a legislatively-appointed chair.

SourceGeorgia General Assembly, SB 202 — Election Integrity Act of 2021, enrolled bill text as signed March 25, 2021. https://legiscan.com/GA/text/SB202/id/2322603

Voting rights organizations condemned SB 202 as voter suppression disproportionately affecting Black voters; Raffensperger defended it as security reform and leveraged his support for the bill to shore up conservative credentials during the 2022 primary. Federal challenges to specific provisions remain pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

2026 Gubernatorial Primary — Third-Place Loss

Source11Alive (WXIA-TV Atlanta), “Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announces campaign for governor,” September 17, 2025. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/brad-raffensperger-2026-campaign-for-georgia-governor/85-63e31779-013b-4c62-88dc-959d3cad613dOn September 17, 2025, Raffensperger announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Governor of Georgia.

SourceWABE, “Rick Jackson, Burt Jones headed to a runoff in the Republican primary for Georgia governor,” May 20, 2026. https://www.wabe.org/rick-jackson-burt-jones-headed-to-a-runoff-in-the-republican-primary-for-georgia-governorSourcePolitico, “Another Trump enemy falls as Brad Raffensperger loses Georgia primary,” May 19, 2026. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/19/raffensperger-loses-georgia-governor-primary-00929036In the May 19, 2026 Republican primary, Raffensperger finished third of three candidates. Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones received 37.45%; businessman Rick Jackson received 34.61%; Raffensperger received 14.94%. Jones and Jackson advanced to a runoff; Raffensperger did not.

Second Trump Administration — DOJ Voter-Rolls Lawsuit

In 2025 and 2026, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice served demands on at least 25 states — Georgia among them — for full, unredacted voter registration files, including full names, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Raffensperger declined to provide the sensitive data, citing Georgia law, and offered a voter list stripped of the sensitive fields.

The Department of Justice sued. A first-filed complaint was dismissed for improper venue; DOJ refiled in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on January 23, 2026.

SourceGeorgia Recorder, “Federal judge tosses out DOJ lawsuit seeking sensitive voter data in Georgia,” January 23, 2026. https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/01/23/federal-judge-tosses-out-doj-lawsuit-seeking-sensitive-voter-data-in-georgia/Court record: United States v. Raffensperger, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Case No. 1:26-cv-00485, filed January 23, 2026; nature of suit “441 Civil Rights: Voting”; cause of action “52 U.S.C. § 20703 — Demand for records or papers by Attorney General or representative.” Docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72193752/united-states-v-raffensperger/ (CourtListener, verified September 10, 2026).

The case is one of the clearest examples of the second Trump administration seeking data from a Republican-run state whose Secretary of State had previously resisted the first Trump administration’s demands. As of September 2026 the case is active; no dismissal or judgment on the merits has been entered.

Bipartisan Election Integrity Task Force (August 12, 2026)

SourceGeorgia Recorder, “Raffensperger launches bipartisan election integrity task force ahead of Georgia’s midterms,” August 12, 2026. https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/08/12/raffensperger-launches-bipartisan-election-integrity-task-force-ahead-of-georgias-midterms/SourceRough Draft Atlanta, “Brad Raffensperger forms Election Integrity Task Force,” August 12, 2026. https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/08/12/raffensperger-forms-election-task-force/On August 12, 2026, Raffensperger launched a nine-member Bipartisan Election Integrity Task Force ahead of the November 2026 midterms. Named members include former Democratic Governor Roy Barnes, former Republican U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, former Republican U.S. Representative Drew Ferguson, and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin (Democrat), together with county election officials and policy experts. The task force’s stated focus areas are voter list maintenance, election administration best practices, transparency, election misinformation, and county compliance and performance.

September 2026 SCOTUS Amicus — USPS Mail-Ballot Rule

In September 2026, Raffensperger joined a bipartisan amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by 38 current and former state and local election officials from 10 states, urging the Court not to permit implementation of the Trump administration’s plan to instruct the U.S. Postal Service to deliver absentee ballots only to voters appearing on a federal database, in time for the November 3, 2026 midterm election. The brief took no position on the underlying legality of the plan and argued only that ballots were already being mailed and it was too late to implement the rule for the 2026 cycle.

SourceElection Law Blog, “Notable That a Number of Current Republican Chief Election Officers Tell Supreme Court That Mail Ballot Rules Cannot Be Implemented for 2026,” September 2026 [exact publication date not confirmed]. https://electionlawblog.org/2026/notable-that-a-number-of-current-republican-chief-election-officers-tell-supreme-court-that-mail-ballot-rules-cannot-be-implemented-for-2026/SourceAtlanta Journal-Constitution, “Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger urges Supreme Court to reject Trump’s mail-in ballot plan,” September 2026 [exact publication date not confirmed]. https://www.ajc.com/politics/2026/09/georgia-secretary-of-state-raffensperger-urges-supreme-court-to-reject-trumps-mail-in-ballot-plan/Other current officials on the brief included Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson (Utah), Secretary of State Michael Adams (Kentucky), Secretary of State Michael Howe (North Dakota), Secretary of State Monae Johnson (South Dakota), Secretary of State David Scanlan (New Hampshire), and Secretary of State Scott Schwab (Kansas) — the Republican secretaries of state of four additional states.

Current Status and Ongoing Relevance

Current status: Active (serving as Georgia Secretary of State; term expires January 2027; not seeking re-election).

Raffensperger is not term-limited — Georgia imposes no term limit on the Secretary of State, and the state constitution’s two-consecutive-term limit (Art. V, § I, ¶ I) reaches only the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. He is leaving office because he ran for governor in 2026 and did not advance out of the Republican primary, not because he was barred from seeking re-election. In an August 26, 2026 interview with WABE, he stated the office is being left “much better than we found it.”

Significance:

• Evidentiary role: The recorded January 2, 2021 call remains the most direct evidence of a sitting president personally pressuring a state official to change vote totals.
• Institutional resistance across two administrations: Rejected pressure from the first Trump administration; is now the named defendant in the second Trump administration’s DOJ lawsuit seeking Georgia’s sensitive voter file.
• Complexity: Defended the 2020 election results against Trump while championing SB 202 restrictions that voting rights organizations argue suppress minority turnout — both true, both documented, and both material to any complete account of his tenure.

Factual correction requests: If you believe information in this profile is incorrect, please contact factcheck@patriot.university with your name (optional), the specific claim, and any supporting documentation. We review all submissions and correct verified errors promptly.

Sources

1. Rev.com, “Donald Trump Georgia Phone Call Transcript with Brad Raffensperger,” January 3, 2021 (full recording and transcript of the January 2, 2021 call). https://www.rev.com/transcripts/donald-trump-georgia-phone-call-transcript-brad-raffensperger-recording
2. Axios, “Flashback: The call that got Trump in trouble in Georgia,” August 15, 2023. https://www.axios.com/2023/08/15/trump-georgia-election-interference-call
3. Georgia General Assembly, SB 202 — Election Integrity Act of 2021, enrolled bill text as signed March 25, 2021. https://legiscan.com/GA/text/SB202/id/2322603
4. Georgia Recorder, “Appeals court disqualifies Fulton DA Fani Willis from prosecuting Georgia Trump case,” December 19, 2024. https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/12/19/appeals-court-disqualifies-fulton-da-fani-willis-from-prosecuting-georgia-trump-case/
5. Georgia Recorder, “DA Fani Willis loses appeal in quest to lead Fulton County election interference case against Trump,” September 16, 2025. https://georgiarecorder.com/2025/09/16/da-fani-willis-loses-appeal-in-quest-to-lead-fulton-county-election-interference-case-against-trump/
6. 11Alive (WXIA-TV Atlanta), “Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announces campaign for governor,” September 17, 2025. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/brad-raffensperger-2026-campaign-for-georgia-governor/85-63e31779-013b-4c62-88dc-959d3cad613d
7. United States v. Raffensperger, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Case No. 1:26-cv-00485, complaint filed January 23, 2026 (docket verified via CourtListener API, September 10, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72193752/united-states-v-raffensperger/
8. Georgia Recorder, “Federal judge tosses out DOJ lawsuit seeking sensitive voter data in Georgia,” January 23, 2026. https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/01/23/federal-judge-tosses-out-doj-lawsuit-seeking-sensitive-voter-data-in-georgia/
9. Politico, “Another Trump enemy falls as Brad Raffensperger loses Georgia primary,” May 19, 2026. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/19/raffensperger-loses-georgia-governor-primary-00929036
10. WABE, “Rick Jackson, Burt Jones headed to a runoff in the Republican primary for Georgia governor,” May 20, 2026. https://www.wabe.org/rick-jackson-burt-jones-headed-to-a-runoff-in-the-republican-primary-for-georgia-governor
11. Rough Draft Atlanta, “Brad Raffensperger forms Election Integrity Task Force,” August 12, 2026. https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/08/12/raffensperger-forms-election-task-force/
12. Georgia Recorder, “Raffensperger launches bipartisan election integrity task force ahead of Georgia’s midterms,” August 12, 2026. https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/08/12/raffensperger-launches-bipartisan-election-integrity-task-force-ahead-of-georgias-midterms/
13. WABE, “Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger: ‘We are leaving things much better than we found it,'” August 26, 2026 [exact publication date not confirmed]. https://www.wabe.org/secretary-raffensperger-we-are-leaving-things-much-better-than-we-found-it/
14. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger urges Supreme Court to reject Trump’s mail-in ballot plan,” September 2026 [exact publication date not confirmed]. https://www.ajc.com/politics/2026/09/georgia-secretary-of-state-raffensperger-urges-supreme-court-to-reject-trumps-mail-in-ballot-plan/
15. Election Law Blog, “Notable That a Number of Current Republican Chief Election Officers Tell Supreme Court That Mail Ballot Rules Cannot Be Implemented for 2026,” September 2026 [exact publication date not confirmed]. https://electionlawblog.org/2026/notable-that-a-number-of-current-republican-chief-election-officers-tell-supreme-court-that-mail-ballot-rules-cannot-be-implemented-for-2026/
16. Constitution of the State of Georgia, Art. V, § I, ¶ I — two-consecutive-term limit, which reaches the Governor and Lieutenant Governor and not the Secretary of State.

Related Profiles

• Brian Kemp — Political Accountability Profile
• Donald Trump — 45th and 47th President of the United States
• Mark Meadows — Political Accountability Profile
• John Eastman — Political Accountability Profile

Corrections

Correction [2026-09-10]: (legal claim) Clarified that the January 6 Committee issued formal criminal referrals to the Justice Department rather than directly recommending criminal charges.

Correction [2026-09-10]: The quotation “the data you have is wrong” was attributed to Ryan Germany, general counsel to the Secretary of State’s office. Raffensperger said it: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong”. Source: Rev.com, “Donald Trump Georgia Phone Call Transcript with Brad Raffensperger,” January 3, 2021.

Correction [2026-09-10]: Raffensperger’s closed-door appearance before the House Select Committee was dated June 14, 2021. The Committee was not created until June 30, 2021 (H.Res. 503); the interview, lasting roughly four hours, took place on November 30, 2021. Source: CNN, “Georgia secretary of state spoke with January 6 committee about election lies,” November 30, 2021.