The 2010 Wyoming gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the

Governor of Wyoming A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

. Party primaries were held on August 17. While it was initially thought that

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

would prevent

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

Democratic Governor

Dave Freudenthal David Duane Freudenthal (born October 12, 1950) is an American attorney, economist, and politician who served as the 31st Governor of Wyoming from 2003 to 2011. Freudenthal previously was the United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming ...

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. On March 4, 2010, Freudenthal announced he would not run for a third term. Republican candidate

Matt Mead Matthew Hansen Mead (born March 11, 1962) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 32nd Governor of Wyoming from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the United States Attorney for the ...

defeated Democratic candidate Leslie Petersen in the general election. Freudenthal won all counties in 2006, this was reversed in this election when Mead won all counties.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Pete Gosar Peter Thomas Gosar (born December 29, 1967) is an American politician. Gosar was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Wyoming in 2014 but lost to Republican Matt Mead. Gosar also served as chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party and as chair of ...

, teacher, commercial pilot, state employee and small business owner *Al Hamburg, retired painter and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

*Leslie Petersen, former Teton County Commissioner and Chair of the

Wyoming Democratic Party The Wyoming Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Wyoming, headquartered in Cheyenne. The party was strong during Wyoming's territorial days but suffered a decline in its early statehood. It rose to prominence again from th ...

*Rex Wilde, cabinet maker *Chris Zachary, former psychiatrist

Declined

* Larry Clapp, attorney and former Mayor of

Casper Casper may refer to: People * Casper (given name) * Casper (surname) * Casper (Maya ruler) (422–487?), ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque * Tok Casper, first known king of Maya city-state Quiriguá in Guatemala, ruling beginning in 426 * David ...

, incumbent Governor (Term Limited but there was speculation that he might challenge the law) *Paul Hickey, attorney * Mike Massie,

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

(ran for Superintendent of Public Instruction)

Polling

Results

2010 WY gubernatorial Democratic primary

Republican primary

Candidates

*Alan Kousoulos, 19-year WYDOT supervisor *

, former

U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

Rita Meyer Rita C. Meyer (born 1951) is an American politician who served as Wyoming State Auditor from 2007 to 2011. Instead of seeking a second term as auditor in 2010, Meyer ran unsuccessfully as a candidate in the 2010 Wyoming gubernatorial election. ...

, Wyoming State Auditor *

Ron Micheli Joseph Ronald Micheli, known as Ron Micheli (born May 30, 1948), is a former director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture who also served from 1977-1992 in the Wyoming House of Representatives. He ran a strong third-place finish as a candi ...

, former

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

and former director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture *John Self, candidate for governor in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* Colin M. Simpson,

Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives The Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Wyoming House of Representatives. The Speaker has historically been a member of the majority party who is the ''de facto'' leader of their party. The current Hou ...

*Tom Ubben

Polling

Results

General election

Candidates

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

Predictions

Polling

Results

References

External links

Elections
at Wyoming Secretary of State
Candidates for Wyoming State Offices
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

Campaign contributions for 2010 Wyoming Governor
from ''Follow the Money''

from OurCampaigns.com
2010 Wyoming Gubernatorial General Election: Matt Mead (R) vs. Leslie Petersen (D)
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Wisconsin Governor
from ''

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

''
2010 Wyoming Governor - Walker vs. Barrett
from ''

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political ...

''
2010 Wisconsin Governor's Race
from ''

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

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''
Candidates: Wyoming Governor
at ''Decision 2010'' at ''

Wyoming PBS Wyoming PBS (formerly known as Wyoming Public Television) is the PBS member network in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It currently consists of flagship KCWC-DT (channel 4) in Lander (serving Riverton); full-power satellites KWYP-DT (channel 8) in ...

'' ;Official campaign sites (Archived)
Matt MeadLeslie Peterson
{{US Third Party Election

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...