2023 Kentucky Secretary of State election

For related races, see 2023 United States secretary of state elections.

The 2023 Kentucky Secretary of State election took place on November 7, 2023, to elect the Secretary of State of Kentucky. Incumbent secretary of state Michael Adams won re-election to a second term after he defeated Democratic nominee Buddy Wheatley. Primaries were held on May 16, 2023.

2023 Kentucky Secretary of State election

← 2019 November 7, 2023 (2023-11-07) 2027 →

Nominee Michael Adams Buddy Wheatley Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 787,198 510,743 Percentage 60.6% 39.3%

County results Congressional district results State senate district results State house district results Adams:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Wheatley:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Secretary of State before election Michael Adams Republican Elected Secretary of State Michael Adams Republican

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Michael Adams, incumbent secretary of state^[1]

Eliminated in primary

• Stephen Knipper, former Erlanger city councilor, nominee for Secretary of State in 2015 and candidate in 2019^[2]
• Allen Maricle, former state representative (1994–1998)^[3]

Results

Results by county:

  Adams

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Knipper

•   40–50%
•   50–60%

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael Adams	171,288	63.9
	Republican	Stephen Knipper	70,993	26.5
	Republican	Allen Maricle	25,772	9.6
Total votes			268,053	100

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Buddy Wheatley, former state representative (2019–2023)^[4]

Declined

• Neville Blakemore, construction executive and candidate for state treasurer in 2015^[5]

Endorsements

Buddy Wheatley

Organizations

• United Mine Workers of America^[6]
• Kentucky State AFL-CIO^[7]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[8]	Likely R	June 21, 2023

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Michael Adams (R)	Buddy Wheatley (D)	Undecided
Public Opinion Strategies (R)[9][A]	July 19–20, 2023	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	48%	24%	26%

Debates

2023 Kentucky Secretary of State debate^[10]

No.	Date	Host	Link	Republican	Democratic
P  Participant   A  Absent    I  Invitee
				Michael Adams	Buddy Wheatley
1	October 19, 2023	WLKY	YouTube	P	P

Results

2023 Kentucky Secretary of State election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Michael Adams (incumbent)	783,695	60.59%	+8.33%
	Democratic	Buddy Wheatley	509,308	39.38%	−8.36%
	Write-in		460	0.04%
Total votes			1,293,463	100.00%

By congressional district

Adams won 5 of 6 congressional districts.^[11]

District	Adams	Wheatley	Representative
1st	69%	31%	James Comer
2nd	66%	34%	Brett Guthrie
3rd	41%	59%	Morgan McGarvey
4th	63%	37%	Thomas Massie
5th	73%	27%	Hal Rogers
6th	57%	43%	Andy Barr

Notes

1. Poll commissioned by the Republican State Leadership Committee

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear