INDIANAPOLIS (AP): Indiana’s new secretary of state has started her 2022 election campaign for the position a little more than a month after being appointed to the office.

Republican Holli Sullivan announced Monday she was seeking a full four-year term to “defend the integrity of Indiana’s elections.”

Sullivan is the state Republican Party’s vice chair and was in her seventh year as a state representative from Evansville when Gov. Eric Holcomb appointed her as secretary of state in March. Sullivan replaced Republican Connie Lawson, who resigned with nearly two years left in her elected term.

The secretary of state’s office oversees election issues statewide, along with registering businesses and regulating the securities industry.

The Republican and Democratic nominees for the office will be decided during their party’s state conventions in the summer of 2022. Republicans have won every secretary of state election since 1994.