Zach Montellaro for Politico:

Secretaries of state have never gotten more attention than now. Yet Steve Simon is still introducing himself to the voters who elected him four years ago in Minnesota.

It’s emblematic of a broader challenge for Democrats trying to beat back a wave of Trump-aligned candidates for the roles. The once-obscure offices have been on the front lines of politics for two years, after then-President Donald Trump tried to sway state election officers to subvert the results of the vote in 2020. His followers then backed pro-Trump candidates running for the posts this year.

But despite Democrats sounding alarms and raking in cash, there is mounting evidence that voters are still not dialed in on a slate of these key battleground campaigns. The race to be the top election official in several 2024 swing states remains tight — including in Minnesota, where the Democratic governor has a polling lead on the same statewide ticket as Simon.

“Mr. and Mrs. Minnesota are not getting up every day saying, ‘Gee, I wonder what’s going on with the secretary of state’s office right now,’” Simon told POLITICO at a coffee shop in his hometown west of Minneapolis. “And so I do think that someone running for this office generically — me or anyone else — every four years, you’d have to treat it as an exercise of introducing or reintroducing yourself.”