Kentucky’s next Secretary of State is Republican Michael Adams. Adams, an election lawyer with ties to prominent conservative politicians, defeated Democrat Heather French Henry, a former state government official and Miss America.
The Secretary of State is Kentucky’s top election official, and also oversees administrative functions such as maintaining business filings.
Adams is an election lawyer in Louisville and serves as counsel for the Great America Committee, a political action committee created by Vice President Mike Pence.
Gov. Matt Bevin appointed Adams to the State Board of Elections, a post he resigned earlier this year to run for secretary of state.
Adams told WFPL last month he is proud of his connections to federal politicians.
“I think it's a good thing for me to have those relationships, it would help Kentucky to have me in this office and help me get the support that we need from from Washington to help fund our improvement of our infrastructure in Kentucky,” Adams said.
He also said he is able to work with individuals from both parties and would not serve as Secretary of State in a partisan manner.
Adams will succeed Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, who is term-limited and could not seek reelection. The Secretary of State’s office has been under scrutiny in the past year, following accusations that Grimes improperly accessed voter registration data. After that, the Republican-led legislature made the Secretary of State a non-voting member of the State Board of Elections.
Both Adams and Henry said they would support restoring voting rights to the Secretary of State on the State Board of Elections in the future.
