2010 Wyoming gubernatorial election

See also: 2010 United States gubernatorial elections

The 2010 Wyoming gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the governor of Wyoming. Party primaries were held on August 17.

2010 Wyoming gubernatorial election

← 2006 November 2, 2010 2014 →
Turnout	69.78% Registered 3.82% 38.17% of Total Population 1.04%
Nominee Matt Mead Leslie Petersen Taylor Haynes Party Republican Democratic Independent Popular vote 123,780 43,240 13,796 Percentage 65.68% 22.94% 7.32%
County results Mead:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Governor before election Dave Freudenthal Democratic Elected Governor Matt Mead Republican

While it was initially thought that term limits would prevent incumbent Democratic governor Dave Freudenthal from running for re-election, the constitutionality of the term limit law has been questioned, leaving the possibility that if Freudenthal had successfully challenged the law, he might have been able to run for a third term.^[1] On March 4, 2010, Freudenthal announced he would not run for a third term.^[2]

Republican Matt Mead flipped every county from Democratic to Republican as he won by getting around two-thirds of the votes polled.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Pete Gosar, teacher, commercial pilot, state employee and small business owner^[3]
• Al Hamburg, retired painter and perennial candidate
• Leslie Petersen, former Teton County Commissioner and Chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party^[4]
• Rex Wilde, cabinet maker
• Chris Zachary, former psychiatrist

Declined

• Larry Clapp, attorney and former mayor of Casper
• Dave Freudenthal, incumbent governor (Term Limited but there was speculation that he might challenge the law)
• Paul Hickey, attorney
• Mike Massie, State Senator^[5] (ran for Superintendent of Public Instruction)^[6]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Leslie Petersen	Pete Gosar	Al Hamburg	Chris Zachary	Rex Wilde	Undecided
WTE/Aspen Media & Market Research[7]	July 26–29, 2010	34%	9%	5%	1%	4%	39%
Casper Star Tribune[8]	July 26–28, 2010	30%	22%	2%	1%	<1%	45%

Results

Results by county:

Peterson

•   Peterson—80-90%
•   Peterson—50-60%
•   Peterson—40-50%

Gosar

•   Gosar—<40%
•   Gosar—40-50%
•   Gosar—50-60%
•   Gosar—60-70%

Democratic primary results^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Leslie Petersen	10,785	47.2
	Democratic	Pete Gosar	8,409	36.8
	Democratic	Chris Zachary	1,139	5.0
	Democratic	Al Hamburg	1,092	4.8
	Democratic	Rex Wilde	1,042	4.6
	Democratic	write-ins	384	1.7
Total votes			22,851	100

Republican primary

Candidates

• Alan Kousoulos, 19-year WYDOT supervisor
• Matt Mead, former U.S. attorney
• Rita Meyer, Wyoming state auditor
• Ron Micheli, former state representative and former director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture
• John Self, candidate for governor in 2002 and 2006
• Colin M. Simpson, Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives
• Tom Ubben

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Rita Meyer	Matt Mead	Colin Simpson	Ron Micheli	Alan Kousoulos	Undecided
WTE/Aspen Media & Market Research[7]	July 26–29, 2010	23%	18%	10%	20%	1%	25%
Casper Star-Tribune[10]	July 26–28, 2010	27%	24%	17%	12%	2%	18%

Results

Results by county:

Mead

•   Mead—50–60%
•   Mead—40–50%
•   Mead—<40%

Meyer

•   Meyer—<40%

Micheli

•   Micheli—<40%
•   Micheli—50–60%
•   Micheli—60–70%

Simpson

•   Simpson—<40%

Republican primary results^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Matt Mead	30,308	28.7
	Republican	Rita Meyer	29,605	28.0
	Republican	Ron Micheli	27,630	26.1
	Republican	Colin Simpson	16,722	15.8
	Republican	Alan Kousoulos	566	0.5
	Republican	Tom Ubben	432	0.4
	Republican	John Self	295	0.3
	Republican	write-ins	202	0.2
Total votes			105,760	100

General election

Candidates

• Matt Mead (R)
• Leslie Peterson (D)
• Mike Wheeler (L)
• Taylor Haynes (Write-in)

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Cook Political Report[11]	Safe R (flip)	October 14, 2010
Rothenberg[12]	Safe R (flip)	October 28, 2010
RealClearPolitics[13]	Safe R (flip)	November 1, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball[14]	Safe R (flip)	October 28, 2010
CQ Politics[15]	Safe R (flip)	October 28, 2010

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Matt Mead (R)	Leslie Petersen (D)
Rasmussen Reports[16]	September 30, 2010	61%	25%
Rasmussen Reports[17]	August 18, 2010	58%	24%
Rasmussen Reports[18]	June 22, 2010	49%	22%

Results

Wyoming gubernatorial election, 2010^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Matt Mead	123,780	65.68%	+35.67%
	Democratic	Leslie Petersen	43,240	22.94%	−47.05%
	Independent	Taylor Haynes	13,796	7.32%
	Libertarian	Mike Wheeler	5,362	2.85%
	Write-in		2,285	1.21%
Majority			80,540	42.74%	+2.75%
Turnout			190,822
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Big Horn (Largest city: Lovell)
• Campbell (Largest city: Gillette)
• Converse (Largest city: Douglas)
• Crook (Largest city: Sundance)
• Fremont (Largest city: Riverton)
• Goshen (Largest city: Torrington)
• Hot Springs (Largest city: Thermopolis)
• Johnson (Largest city: Buffalo)
• Lincoln (Largest city: Kemmerer)
• Natrona (Largest city: Casper)
• Albany (Largest city: Laramie)
• Niobrara (Largest city: Lusk)
• Park (Largest city: Cody)
• Platte (Largest city: Wheatland)
• Sheridan (Largest city: Sheridan)
• Sublette (Largest city: Pinedale)
• Sweetwater (Largest city: Rock Springs)
• Carbon (Largest city: Rawlins)
• Uinta (Largest city: Evanston)
• Teton (Largest city: Jackson)
• Laramie (Largest city: Cheyenne)
• Washakie (Largest city: Worland)
• Weston (Largest city: Newcastle)