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 ...

. Party primaries were held on August 17. While it was initially thought that term limits would prevent

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an 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 seeking re-ele ...

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 D ...

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 *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 (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 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 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 s ...

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 new ...

''
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 combine ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''
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 state in the 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 southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

2010

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 ...