Stephanie Thomas once did her homework by candlelight and was too shy to raise her hand in class. Now a national leader on elections, she is the first Black woman re-elected Connecticut's Secretary of the State, winning 63.46% of the vote. Her victory comes as Black women make history across the country.
HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- As a girl, Stephanie Thomas sometimes did her homework by candlelight because her family couldn't afford electricity. She was so shy she never raised her hand in class, from kindergarten through 12th grade. This week, voters re-elected her Connecticut's Secretary of the State with 63.46% of the vote, up from 55.2% in 2022, when she became the first Black person elected to the office. Now the first Black woman re-elected to the post, Secretary Thomas joins a wave of historic statewide victories for Black women across the country.
Learning to Be Heard
Growing up in New Jersey, Secretary Thomas found solace in libraries. She was still shy in college and stuttered until about age 27. So she made a rule: do whatever she feared most. That meant stepping onto a fashion-show runway and jumping out of a plane.
"What you see in front of you, I created for myself," Secretary Thomas has said.
She went on to build a career advising nonprofit organizations and running her own small business before entering politics in 2018.
"I do believe if you can see it, you can be it," said Secretary Thomas. "Black women have long kept this democracy running by registering voters, working the polls and showing up. Now more of us are leading the offices that protect it. When people see themselves in the institutions that serve them, they believe those institutions belong to them, too."
Protecting Voters Under Pressure
When the Trump administration demanded Connecticut voters' private data, including Social Security and driver's license numbers, Secretary Thomas refused, a position a federal judge upheld. Connecticut also faced election-related threats, including suspicious letters and white powder sent through the mail.
"This year brought new laws, updated equipment, more ways to vote, and plenty of attempts to rattle us. Yet the 2026 election went smoothly, from the first absentee ballots sent to the final count," said Secretary Thomas. "That's the result of months of preparation and the hard work of every registrar, town clerk, poll worker, and volunteer in all 169 towns. Fear didn't win in Connecticut. Voters did."
A National Voice on Elections
Secretary Thomas's leadership extends beyond Connecticut. She serves as Treasurer of the nonpartisan National Association of Secretaries of State. In July, the association gave its 2026 national innovation award to her office's Next Gen Elections program, which trains college students to work the polls.
In 2025, she testified before Congress on balancing voter access with election security. She is also Vice Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and a member of the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center's executive session on elections and election administration.
"A lot of people are framing election administration issues as partisan issues, but that's not true," Secretary Thomas has said. "I sit at all the tables on both sides of the aisle."
Heading into the 2028 presidential election, Secretary Thomas will use her national roles to share what works in Connecticut, defend locally run elections and help prepare the people who run them for the pressure ahead.
The Next Four Years: A Civics Revolution
Secretary Thomas will push for funding to expand her office's civics education programs and sustain residents' engagement with government beyond Election Day. "On election night, I shared an idea I'm excited about: a civics revolution," Secretary Thomas said. "It means all of us actively learning how government works for us and how to take part in it." For the girl who never raised her hand, the goal now is to help others understand their government and have a voice in shaping it.
About Stephanie Thomas
Stephanie Thomas is Connecticut's 75th Secretary of the State. In 2022, she became the first Black person elected to the office. Voters re-elected her in 2026 with 63.46% of the vote.
Secretary Thomas refused federal demands for Connecticut voters' private data, a position a federal judge upheld. She led the rollout of early in-person voting and universal access to absentee ballots and secured $20 million to modernize Connecticut's election equipment. She also advocated for laws allowing her office to investigate business hijacking and launched Be a Light to help businesses fight human trafficking. Secretary Thomas has also reformed civic education in Connecticut with her award-winning Next Gen Elections program, the development of Power of Civics, an online learning management system available in English and Spanish, and her Civically Engaged Organization (CEO) program that encourages businesses and nonprofits to be civic leaders in their communities.
She serves as Treasurer of the National Association of Secretaries of State and Vice Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. In 2025, she testified before Congress on voter access and election security.
Before becoming secretary, she represented Norwalk, Wilton and Westport in the state legislature, ran a small business and spent nearly 30 years advising nonprofit organizations on strategy and fundraising. In her second term, she is leading what she calls a civics revolution: helping every Connecticut resident learn how government works and how to take part in it.
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SOURCE Stephanie Thomas
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