2010 Wyoming gubernatorial election
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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.
November 2, 2010
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| Turnout | 69.78% Registered 38.17% of Total Population | ||||||||||||||||||||
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County results Mead: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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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, brother of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) [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

- Peterson—80–90%
- Peterson—50–60%
- Peterson—40–50%
- Gosar—<40%
- Gosar—40–50%
- Gosar—50–60%
- Gosar—60–70%
| 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

- Mead—50–60%
- Mead—40–50%
- Mead—<40%
- Meyer—<40%
- Micheli—<40%
- Micheli—50–60%
- Micheli—60–70%
- Simpson—<40%
| 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
| 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 | ||||
By county
| County | Matt Mead Republican |
Leslie Petersen Democratic |
Taylor Haynes Independent |
All Others | Margin | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Albany | 6,374 | 55.6% | 4,352 | 38.0% | 309 | 2.7% | 420 | 3.7% | 2,022 | 17.6% | 11,455 |
| Big Horn | 3,217 | 74.0% | 613 | 14.1% | 394 | 9.1% | 124 | 2.9% | 2,704 | 59.9% | 4,348 |
| Campbell | 6,934 | 61.5% | 1,179 | 10.5% | 2,930 | 26.0% | 231 | 2.0% | 4,004 | 35.5%[a] | 11,274 |
| Carbon | 3,585 | 69.0% | 1,308 | 25.2% | 107 | 2.1% | 196 | 3.8% | 2,277 | 43.8% | 5,196 |
| Converse | 3,202 | 64.8% | 761 | 15.4% | 827 | 16.7% | 152 | 3.0% | 2,375 | 48.1%[a] | 4,942 |
| Crook | 2,048 | 65.3% | 388 | 12.4% | 608 | 19.4% | 93 | 3.0% | 1,440 | 45.9%[a] | 3,137 |
| Fremont | 8,439 | 61.9% | 3,323 | 24.4% | 1,301 | 9.5% | 575 | 4.2% | 5,116 | 37.5% | 13,638 |
| Goshen | 3,493 | 71.7% | 893 | 18.3% | 309 | 6.3% | 176 | 3.6% | 2,600 | 53.4% | 4,871 |
| Hot Springs | 1,596 | 71.9% | 401 | 18.1% | 141 | 6.4% | 82 | 3.7% | 1,195 | 53.8% | 2,220 |
| Johnson | 2,804 | 73.8% | 578 | 15.2% | 301 | 7.9% | 114 | 3.0% | 2,226 | 58.6% | 3,797 |
| Laramie | 19,323 | 64.7% | 7,507 | 25.1% | 819 | 2.7% | 2,235 | 7.5% | 11,816 | 39.6% | 29,884 |
| Lincoln | 4,710 | 71.6% | 1,023 | 15.5% | 592 | 9.0% | 257 | 3.9% | 3,687 | 56.1% | 6,582 |
| Natrona | 15,077 | 65.2% | 5,761 | 24.9% | 1,470 | 6.4% | 829 | 3.6% | 9,316 | 40.3% | 23,137 |
| Niobrara | 753 | 65.4% | 124 | 10.8% | 243 | 21.1% | 32 | 2.8% | 510 | 44.3%[a] | 1,152 |
| Park | 8,312 | 72.4% | 1,813 | 15.8% | 955 | 8.3% | 398 | 3.4% | 6,499 | 56.6% | 11,478 |
| Platte | 2,303 | 60.2% | 905 | 23.6% | 500 | 13.1% | 119 | 3.1% | 1,398 | 36.6% | 3,827 |
| Sheridan | 7,632 | 71.4% | 2,336 | 21.9% | 426 | 4.0% | 290 | 2.7% | 5,296 | 49.5% | 10,684 |
| Sublette | 2,465 | 71.4% | 554 | 16.1% | 335 | 9.7% | 97 | 2.8% | 1,911 | 55.3% | 3,451 |
| Sweetwater | 8,218 | 65.5% | 3,532 | 28.1% | 305 | 2.4% | 495 | 3.9% | 4,686 | 37.4% | 12,550 |
| Teton | 4,407 | 51.6% | 3,856 | 45.1% | 78 | 0.9% | 207 | 2.4% | 551 | 6.5% | 8,548 |
| Uinta | 4,462 | 73.7% | 1,075 | 17.8% | 221 | 3.7% | 295 | 4.9% | 3,387 | 55.9% | 6,053 |
| Washakie | 2,574 | 75.4% | 597 | 17.5% | 135 | 4.0% | 109 | 3.2% | 1,977 | 57.9% | 3,415 |
| Weston | 1,852 | 65.6% | 361 | 12.8% | 490 | 17.4% | 121 | 4.3% | 1,362 | 48.2%[a] | 2,824 |
| Totals | 123,780 | 65.7% | 43,240 | 22.9% | 13,796 | 7.3% | 7,647 | 4.0% | 80,540 | 42.8% | 188,463 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- All 23