April 1st, 2026 Len’s Political Note #801 Cisco Aguilar Nevada Secretary of State
2026 General Election
Cisco Aguilar
Cisco Aguilar
Among the many unfortunate consequences of Donald Trump’s presidency the distrust that has developed among the public regarding voting results. In general, the bulwarks for protecting voting are the Secretaries of State.
The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State tells us: “… in most states, [the Secretary of State] … is responsible for voter registration, expanding voting access administratively, maintaining voter rolls, and administering elections.” These Democrats are proud of their success in expanding the voter rolls by expanding voter access. They express disdain for their Republican opponents who focus on preventing people from voting.
The Republican response is a national one – The SAVE Act, which would abolish general mail in voting and would require American citizens to show documents like a passport or birth certificate to register to vote plus one of a very limited kind of photo ID to actually vote. To solve a nonexistent problem, the Brennan Center for Justice explains these requirements would disenfranchise millions because “more than 21 million Americans lack ready access to those documents. Roughly half of Americans don’t even have a passport. Millions lack access to a paper copy of their birth certificate,”
The SAVE Act would turn decision-making about who meets the requirements for voting over to the federal government while having no obligation to inform individuals whose name they remove from the voting rolls.
Followers of Donald Trump who believe he lost the 2020 election as a result of fraud have failed, in court suit after court suite, recount after recount, to demonstrate fraudulent acts. Some of these election deniers have become Republicans running, where they live, for Secretary of State. Because accusations are so often actually confessions, it is hard to feel confident that these election deniers will behave with integrity if elected as Secretary of State.
So far, there have been no Democratic claims of fraudulent behavior by Republicans in elections. Nor is there evidence of any systematic voting by those not eligible to vote in either Republican states or Democratic states.
Cisco Aguilar, the Democratic Secretary of State of Nevada – one of the states where candidates win partisan races by the narrowest of margins – has demonstrated how carefully he pursues ineligible voters.
In Nevada, because races are so close, we can see the importance of both encouraging legitimate voters to vote and pursuing those who should not vote. Take a look at how close the statewide votes in Nevada were In 2022:
Governor: Republican Joe Lombardo defeated the Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak by 1.51% — 48.81% to 47.3%
Lt. Governor: Republican Anthony Stavros defeated the Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Cano Burkhead by 3.66%. 49.41% to 45.75%
Secretary of State Democrat Francisco Aguilar defeated Jim Marchant by 2.28% — 48.95% to 46.67%
State Treasurer Incumbent Democrat Zach Conine defeated Republican Michele Fiore by 1.7%. 47.7% to 46%
State Controller. Republican Andy Matthews defeated Democrat Ellen Spiegel by 4.13% — 50.06% to 45.93%
Attorney General. Incumbent Democrat Aaron Ford defeated Republican Sigal Chattah by 5.89%. 52.25% to 46.36%
The 2020 and 2024 Senatorial elections were equally close, as was the 2024 Presidential election
2022 US Senate: Incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto defeated Republican Adam Laxalt by .77% — 48.81 to 48.04%
2024 US Senate: Incumbent Jackie Rosen defeated War Veteran Sam Brown by 1.65% — 47.87% to 46.22%
2024 Presidential election. Donald Trump carried Nevada against Kamala Harris by 3.1% — 50.49 to 47.49%
These close races should be a sign of a healthy democracy. Because of the toxic views about fraudulent voting, those close racing become warnings about the fragility of our democracy. The proposed SAVE Act is one indication of a dangerous Republican attack on American Democracy. Jim Marchant, who was the Republican nominee in 2022, is running again for Secretary of State. He is not alone. The Republicans will have several candidates from which to choose on June 9.
Jim Marchant is an election denier. He believes that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and was robbed of that victory by way of fraud. He adds to that belief. In 2020, he ran for Congress, won the Republican primary, and lost the general election to Steve Horsford, who still represents Nevada 04. Despite losing by almost 5%, Jim Marchant claims he lost the race through fraud. He lost his lawsuit on that topic, but still insists the election was fraudulent.
Jim Marchant would exceed the requirements of the SAVE Act. He would eliminate voting by mail, eliminate all early voting, eliminate all electronic voting. He would replace electronic voting with hand counted ballots. He believes that electronic voting machines are susceptible to fraud, that the 2020 fraud that defeated Donald Trump was a product of the use of the Venezuelan-based Dominion Voting System machines.
Notwithstanding Fox’s willingness to pay $787 million to Dominion rather than see what a jury might require them to pay for making the same claim, Marchant believes now deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and billionaire Goerge Soros manipulated the machines to award votes for Trump to Joe Bidens. Even though Hugo Chavez’s successor Nicolas Maduro is in Donald Trump’s custody, Trump is not pursuing that claim.
Cisco Aguilar has been a lawyer and a businessman with a particular interest in sports. He was trained for politics by a partisan Democrat. After he got his degrees from the University of Arizona (BA, JD, MBA), Cisco Aguilar worked as a law clerk for Harry Reid, the US Senator from Nevada and, depending on the vote count, the minority leader or the majority leader in the Senate.
After his work with Harry Reid, Cisco Aguilar focused on being a lawyer in realms that touched on public policy. He was general counsel for the Nevada system of higher education. He served on a variety of boards and became head of Agassi Graf, a management company in the name of two international tennis stars. He also personally owns a sports technology company.
Cisco Aguilar decided he could turn to electoral politics. By 2024, having been elected Nevada’s Secretary of State, he dealt with complaints about illegal voting. His office investigated 180 claims of double voting. Most were accidents of one kind or another, but 8 cases were turned over to the Attorney General. The office looked at more than 300 complaints of fraud and 130 cases of voting workers violating electoral integrity through electioneering or in other ways.
What was clear, as the Nevada Secretary of State did its work, there was no wide-spread voter fraud. Cisco Aguilar’s office investigated every complaint because every violation is a serious matter and, presumably, these violations have become a particularly sensitive topic. We should expect every Secretary of State’s office to undertake these kinds of investigations. So far, there has not been a shred of evidence of wide-spread violations in Nevada or in any other state.
Cisco Aguiiar is running for reelection in 2026. He is running as someone who knows how to do the job in the right way. He will need your support whether he faces Jim Marchant again or someone less extreme and less dangerous to American democracy. DONATE. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/041626fr or https://secure.actblue.com/donate/protect2024 or https://secure.actblue.com/donate/agsosblue26
Other Secretary of State Candidates
Western States
Arizona
Incumbent Adrian Fontes v. either State Rep Alex Kolodin or state GOP Chair Gina Swoboda. See Len’s Political Note #773 DONATE to Adrian Fontes. He is a defender of election integrity in a very competitive state.
California
Incumbent Shirley Weber v County Supervisor Don Wagner. Formerly a state rep, Shirley Weber was appointed as Secretary of State in 2020 to replace Alex Padilla, who had been appointed to the US Senate. DONATE to Shirley Weber’s campaign though she is not particularly vulnerable.
Colorado
With the incumbent, Jena Griswold, running for Attorney General, both Democratic candidates describe their outreach to voters and resistance to ICE. Jessie Danielson is a state Senator; Amanda Gonzalez, a county clerk. Three Republicans are running – a publisher, a political consultant, and the owner of a matchmaking agency.
Idaho
No Democratic opponent has surfaced against Republican incumbent Phil McGrane in Idaho.
New Mexico
Two Democratic county clerks, Amanda Lopez Askin and Katharine Clark are running to replace the incumbent Maggie Toulouse Oliver who is running for Lt. Governor. Soil and Water Board Member Ramona Goolsby is the Republican candidate.
Wyoming
At this moment, with the Republican incumbent Secretary of State either retiring or running for another office, Democrat Bryan McCarty, a retired internal auditor in the locomotive industry, is the only candidate for the office. Before the Republicans find themselves a candidate or two, give Bryan McCarty a head start. DONATE via cash app: https://givebutter.com/bgmc4wysos-g5MgABHkep6F6dgC3MOZgZZmIaYYOTldKe1ReDQHhdQqZnNTPK38JiFI_hzQEAucMS_aem_lJdWx8FKJdhExIGyE0VAHA
It would be great to have a breakthrough and elect a Democrat to a statewide office in Wyoming.
Running for Secretary of State, he supported a bill to make harassing electoral workers a felony.
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