Michael Owens (Georgia)

float:right;
border:1px solid #FFB81F;
background-color: white;
width: 250px;
font-size: .9em;
margin-bottom:0px;

} .infobox p { margin-bottom: 0; } .widget-row { display: inline-block; width: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; } .widget-row.heading { font-size: 1.2em; } .widget-row.value-only { text-align: center; background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.value-only.white { background-color: #f9f9f9; } .widget-row.value-only.black { background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; } .widget-row.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Republican { background-color: red; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Libertarian { background-color: #f9d334; color: black; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Green { background-color: green; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-key { width: 43%; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; } .widget-value { width: 57%; float: right; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; } .widget-img { width: 150px; display: block; margin: auto; } .clearfix { clear: both; }

Michael Owens (Democratic Party) ran for election for Georgia Secretary of State. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 24, 2022.

Owens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Michael Owens lives in Mableton, Georgia. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years. Owens earned a D.B.A in business administration from California Intercontinental University, a master’s degree from the business school at Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in computer and electronic technology from North Carolina A&T State University. He also attended the Emerging Leaders Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and earned an advanced certificate after the completion of the national security program at the United States Army War College.^[1]

Owens’ career experience includes working in cybersecurity. In 2018, he was named U.S. Information Security Officer for Equifax after its cybersecurity breach. He was also selected to join the Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary, which describes itself as “a volunteer organization aimed at increasing Marine Corps cyberspace readiness.”^[2]^[1]

Owens was the chairman of the Cobb County Democratic Party in Georgia. As of 2022, he was Secretary of the Veterans & Military Families Caucus with the Democratic Party of Georgia and a partner with the Truman National Security Project. He also founded the South Cobb Voter Empowerment Project in 2013, which describes its mission as “to help the community make more informed decisions when they go to the ballot to vote for an individual or issue.”^[3]^[1]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Georgia Secretary of State

Incumbent Brad Raffensperger defeated Bee Nguyen, Ted Metz, and Brenda Nelson-Porter in the general election for Georgia Secretary of State on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Brad Raffensperger (R)	53.2	2,081,241
	Bee Nguyen (D)	44.0	1,719,922
	Ted Metz (L)	2.8	108,884
	Brenda Nelson-Porter (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	0.0	154

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,910,201
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Georgia Secretary of State

Bee Nguyen defeated Dee Dawkins-Haigler in the Democratic primary runoff for Georgia Secretary of State on June 21, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Bee Nguyen	77.0	198,511
	Dee Dawkins-Haigler	23.0	59,310

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 257,821
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia Secretary of State

Bee Nguyen and Dee Dawkins-Haigler advanced to a runoff. They defeated Michael Owens, Floyd Griffin, and John Eaves in the Democratic primary for Georgia Secretary of State on May 24, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Bee Nguyen	44.3	309,437
✔	Dee Dawkins-Haigler	18.7	130,278
	Michael Owens	16.4	114,621
	Floyd Griffin	10.8	75,423
	John Eaves	9.8	68,233

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 697,992
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Manswell Peterson (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State

Incumbent Brad Raffensperger defeated Jody Hice, David Belle Isle, and Torri M. Hudson in the Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State on May 24, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Brad Raffensperger	52.4	611,616
	Jody Hice	33.3	389,447
	David Belle Isle	8.8	103,272
	Torri M. Hudson	5.4	63,646

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,167,981
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2020

Georgia's 13th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Republican primary)

Georgia's 13th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Georgia District 13

Incumbent David Scott defeated Becky E. Hites and Martin Cowen in the general election for U.S. House Georgia District 13 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	David Scott (D)	77.4	279,045
	Becky E. Hites (R)	22.6	81,476
	Martin Cowen (L) (Write-in)	0.0	0

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 360,521
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 13

Incumbent David Scott defeated Keisha Sean Waites, Michael Owens, and Jannquell Peters in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 13 on June 9, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	David Scott	52.9	77,735
	Keisha Sean Waites	25.5	37,447
	Michael Owens	13.2	19,415
	Jannquell Peters	8.4	12,308

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 146,905
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 13

Becky E. Hites defeated Caesar Gonzales in the Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 13 on June 9, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Becky E. Hites	68.6	20,076
	Caesar Gonzales	31.4	9,170

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,246
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2014

See also: Georgia's 13th Congressional District elections, 2014

Owens ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Georgia's 13th District.^[4] Owens was defeated by incumbent David Scott in the Democratic primary on May 20, 2014.^[5]

**U.S. House, Georgia District 13 Democratic Primary, 2014**
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
David Scott Incumbent	82.2%	29,486
Michael Owens	17.8%	6,367
Total Votes		35,853
Source: Georgia Secretary of State

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Michael Owens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Owens' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Michael is an internationally renowned expert in cybersecurity and served eight years in the Marine Corps. Michael has held leadership roles at some of the largest companies in the world responsible for tackling critical cybersecurity, data privacy, and technology issues. In 2017, after two Russian cybersecurity attacks left more than 225,000 Ukrainians without power, Michael was selected as one of the top 16 cybersecurity experts and policymakers from around the world to be featured speakers and advisors at the inaugural Global Cybersecurity Summit in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2018, after the largest Cybersecurity breach in history, Equifax recruited Michael to help transform the Global Security team as their U.S. Information Security Officer. In 2021, Michael was named one of the Global Top 100 Leaders in Information Security.

Throughout his career, Michael has been driven by public service and been a leader in his community. From 2016–2019, Michael served as the innovative, ground-breaking Chairman of the Democratic Party of Cobb County—a historically red county in metro Atlanta and the state’s third-largest county. Michael has a D.B.A in Business Administration from CalUniversity, a Masters’ degree from the Business School at Georgia Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Science in Computer & Electronic Technology from NC A&T State University, and was selected to attend the first-ever Emerging Leaders Program class at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Protect every eligible citizen’s right to vote and increase voter participation and accessibility.
Bolster our state’s cybersecurity and guard against foreign interference in our elections while fix our statewide election system.
Transform and modernize the Secretary of State's office by better supporting small businesses, entrepreneurs, and veterans

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for our freedom, protecting individuals and businesses from cybersecurity attacks, and advocating for the voices of the people. Georgia’s election system is part of our nation's critical infrastructure and we must treat it as such by electing someone who has experience in fighting for this country and protecting its critical information and systems.
Georgia’s election system is part of our nation's critical infrastructure and we must treat it as such by electing someone who has experience in fighting for this country and protecting its critical information and systems. I believe in voting rights, poll access, and the urgent need to end the disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories that are plaguing our nation.

I will work to make the Secretary of State's office more responsive to the citizens it serves, to support job creation and economic development across industries

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Michael Owens did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2014

Owens listed the following issues on his campaign website:^[6]

Technology

Excerpt: "Government has long lagged behind the private sector when it comes to utilizing technology to enhance service offerings. We have to redefine the future of our country within the Information Age to ensure we remain the technological leaders of the world."

Jobs

Excerpt: "Create Jobs Now by giving tax credits to companies that bring jobs and earnings back to the United States. As a Congressman, I would support our main drivers of economic growth and employment, small businesses, by providing tax credits to encourage the hiring of more workers."

Education

Excerpt: "Prepare our Children to Compete in the Global Economy by incorporating technology and foreign language classes into the standard curriculum from grades K-12...Make Higher Education More Accessible by reinvesting in our universities and by allowing students to reduce educational debt through service-oriented careers after graduation."

Veterans

Excerpt: "Honor the Courage and Sacrifice of our Veterans and Military Families by providing them the job opportunities and health care they deserve when they return home, and by reallocating defense spending from costly, ineffective, and outdated weapons programs back to training and developing our service members."

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Michael Owens campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2022	Georgia Secretary of State	Lost primary	$106,161	$0
2020	U.S. House Georgia District 13	Lost primary	$45,530	$31,001
Grand total			$151,691	$31,001
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

External links

   .contact_entity {font-size: 1.5em ;margin-top: 0.6em; margin-bottom: 0em;margin-right: 0.5em;}
   .contact_office { margin-top: 0.3em; margin-bottom: 0em;margin-right: 0.5em;}
   .external_links_table { width: auto !important; }
   @media (max-width:600px) {
       .contact_entity {font-size: 1.0em ;margin-top: 0.6em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 0.5em;}
       .contact_office { font-size: 0.8 em; margin-top: 0.6em; margin-bottom: 0em;margin-right: 0.5em;}  
   }

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Georgia Secretary of State

Personal

Footnotes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Michael Owens," February 12, 2022
↑ Marines, “Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary,” accessed April 28, 2022
↑ Facebook, "South Cobb Voter Empowerment," accessed April 28, 2022
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named run
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named prim
↑ Michael Owens for Congress: "Michael's 7 Point Plan for Progress," accessed March 17, 2014

[interview-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Michael Owens," February 12, 2022

[2] Marines, “Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary,” accessed April 28, 2022

[3] Facebook, "South Cobb Voter Empowerment," accessed April 28, 2022

[run-4] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named run

[prim-5] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named prim

[6] Michael Owens for Congress: "Michael's 7 Point Plan for Progress," accessed March 17, 2014

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

	v • e State of Georgia Atlanta (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? \| Elections in 2025 \| How to vote \| How to run for office \| Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? \| U.S. President \| U.S. Congress \| Federal courts \| State executives \| State legislature \| State and local courts \| Counties \| Cities \| School districts \| Public policy

Michael Owens (Georgia)

Biography

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Georgia Secretary of State

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Georgia Secretary of State

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia Secretary of State

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Georgia District 13

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 13

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 13

2014

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

2020

2014

Campaign finance summary

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2024 Elections

2024 Election analysis

2025 Elections

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

SITE NAVIGATION