Steve Simon announces bid for fourth term as Minnesota Secretary of State

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon is running for a fourth term as the state’s top election official, saying he wants to continue to shield Minnesota voters’ data from a “federal power grab” by the Trump administration and U.S. Department of Justice.

Simon, a Democrat, has fought recent attempts from the DOJ to access the state’s voter rolls, the administration’s push to verify voters’ citizenship status, and other maneuvers he says amount to unprecedented federal encroachment into elections he fears could suppress voters’ rights.

“The freedom to vote for everyday Minnesotans is at stake,” Simon said in an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Simon was elected Secretary of State in 2014 after serving for a decade in the Legislature. He won his first race by a tight margin and the last two by nearly 10 percentage points.

One Republican, former state legislator Tad Jude of Maple Grove, has announced a 2026 bid for secretary of state so far. In a September interview with a St. Cloud radio station, Jude suggested Simon “had something to hide” from federal law enforcement officials.

“Why don’t we have a secretary of state who wants to cooperate with the ... Department of Justice?” Jude said, echoing the sentiments of other Minnesota Republicans.

Simon has argued that the department’s request for sensitive voter registration data, including names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, is “not normal” or legal under federal and state laws. That spat escalated into a lawsuit in the fall.

But Simon and election officials from other states led by Democrats have declined to use the system for that purpose, arguing that it is unproven, could misidentify eligible voters as noncitizens and risk exposing voters’ personal data.

Simon and 11 of his peers recently released a 29-page letter objecting to the system, saying it is “likely to degrade, not enhance, State efforts to ensure free, fair, and secure elections.”

“If it was a plane, you wouldn’t board it because it’s simply untested,” Simon told the Star Tribune.

Simon was in office during the first Trump administration and said he expected officials to again take a keen interest in election matters, especially after Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Even so, Simon said, Trump’s actions this time around have been more “intrusive” and “unprecedented” than he imagined.

Simon, who has championed the importance of bipartisan governance throughout his career, said some of his Republican peers across the country are concerned about Trump’s actions. They just tend to be quieter about it, he said.

Simon had been discussed as a potential DFL candidate for governor until Gov. Tim Walz announced this fall his plans to run for a third four-year term. Asked whether he’d rather be running for governor, Simon said “no.”

“I’m thrilled to be running for re-election, and this is the work I want to do,” he said.

While no Minnesota governor has ever served three four-year terms, voters have been kinder to secretaries of state who try to stick around. Simon has been in office for more than a decade, and two of his predecessors served at least 24 years.

Polls also show a large majority of the state’s residents appear to be confident in the state’s elections system. He also touted the state’s “sky-high” turnout rate and several recent legislative wins, including allowing teens to pre-register to vote and extending voting rights to residents on felony parole and probation.

Simon, though, said he won’t take another successful election for granted.