Scott Gessler was born in Detroit, Michigan, his parents moved many times during his childhood but settled in a small suburb outside of Chicago, Illinois.

In 2004, he argued the successful case before the state supreme court keeping presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the Colorado ballot.

Gessler continued his military service, joining the 12th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

[citation needed] When Gessler announced his candidacy for Colorado Secretary of State in late 2009, he did not face any opposition in the Republican party primary elections.

In the general election, Gessler challenged Bernie Buescher, the Democratic incumbent[5] and Amanda Campbell, who was a member of the Constitution Party.

[7][8][9] In the lead-up to the 2012 elections, Gessler sent letters to voters who also showed proof of non-citizenship at their recent driver's license application.

He countered the criticisms of the campaign by saying his office "had spent $1.1m registering Colorado voters, an initiative which netted more Democrats than Republicans, and that the state's electoral roll was cleaner than ever.

'"[10] An investigation and hearing conducted by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission resulted in a unanimous 5–0 vote finding that Gessler violated the state discretionary fund statute by spending roughly $2000 in government money on travel surrounding a political event, the Republican National Lawyers Association meeting in Sarasota, Florida in August 2012.

As the race continued Bob Beauprez poured hundreds of thousands of dollars from his personal fortune into his campaign and emerged the winner of the primary election.