2010 Wyoming Governor - Mead vs. Petersen

Like many Mountain West states, Wyoming is staunchly Republican at the presidential level. It hasn’t sent a Democrat to Washington as part of its congressional delegation since 1976 (fun fact: it is one of only two states that has always had a single-member congressional delegation).

Like many Mountain West states, however, the politics of the state are more complicated at the gubernatorial level. Republicans have only managed to win a gubernatorial race in Wyoming three times in the last 40 years. The present governor, Democrat Dave Freudenthal, was narrowly elected in 2002 and overwhelmingly re-elected in 2006. There was some speculation that he would run for a third term after the state Supreme Court threw out the state’s term limits for legislators, but he ultimately chose not to seek to extend the ruling to the governorship.

Instead, the race will be between former United States attorney Matt Mead, and former state Democratic chair Leslie Petersen. This is a tough year to run as a Democrat in any state, much less in one as Republican as Wyoming tends to be. Petersen will have to run a flawless race to prevent the Republicans from electing only their second governor since 1974.