2022 Wyoming Secretary of State election
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The 2022 Wyoming Secretary of State election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the Secretary of State of Wyoming. On April 18, 2022, incumbent Republican Edward Buchanan announced that he would run for re-election, but on May 17 he reversed this decision, choosing not to seek a second term.[1][2] State Representative Chuck Gray won the Republican nomination on August 16 with the backing of former president Donald Trump. He is a supporter of Trump's claim that he won the 2020 election. Gray was unopposed in the general election.[3][4]
Republican primary
[edit]Candidates
[edit]Nominee
[edit]- Chuck Gray, state representative[3]
Eliminated in primary
[edit]- Mark Armstrong, geologist and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020[3]
- Tara Nethercott, state senator[3]
Withdrew
[edit]- Edward Buchanan, incumbent secretary of state[2]
- Dan Dockstader (remained on ballot), President of the Wyoming Senate (endorsed Nethercott)[5]
Endorsements
[edit]- U.S. presidents
- Statewide officials
- Max Maxfield, 20th Secretary of State of Wyoming[6]
Campaign
[edit]Both Tara Nethercott and Chuck Gray made "election integrity" a campaign focus, though with competing approaches to the subject.[7][8][9]
Chuck Gray was described by the Associated Press as "one of Wyoming's most Trump-like legislators". He briefly entered the 2022 House of Representatives election against Liz Cheney after her vote to impeach Trump over the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, but failed to secure Trump's endorsement and withdrew to run for secretary of state. Gray attended the 2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit, and has advocated banning ballot drop boxes and instituting mandatory hand-counted election audits. He advocates the false position that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump and has hosted screenings of Dinesh D'Souza's election conspiracy film 2000 Mules across the state. He has accused the media of refusing to cover evidence of electoral fraud. Gray was endorsed by Trump in August.[7][8][9][3][6]
Tara Nethercott affirmed the 2020 election as secure, saying "there has been no objective evidence to indicate that the 2020 presidential election was stolen," and "continuing allegations to the contrary are undermining our country". Nethercott served on the 2017 Plan for Aging Voting Equipment Task Force, and her approach to election integrity involved shifting to machines without internet connectivity and streamlining the processing of absentee ballots. In 2022, she voted for a law that gave clerks the option to process absentee ballots received before election day. Gray voted against the bill, calling it an "awful piece of legislation".[8][9]
Days before the August 16 primary election, Chuck Gray's campaign sent text messages to primary voters claiming Tara Nethercott was being sued for slander, was being investigated for violations of campaign finance law, and voted for a $30,000 pay raise for herself. In a fact check, WyoFile determined all three allegations to be untrue. Nethercott had previously sent mailers to voters criticizing Gray for personally loaning $300,000 to one of his previous campaigns. Given Gray's reported annual income of $11,000, the source of the funds was unclear. Former secretary of state Max Maxfield, who endorsed Nethercott, filed a federal complaint against Gray alleging the money had come from a political action committee rather than his finances. Gray countered that the money was an inheritance from his grandfather. When reached for comment by WyoFile about the anti-Nethercott texts, Gray declined to comment on the texts and instead accused Nethercott of lying in her mailer.[10][11][12]
Results
[edit]
- 40–50%
- 50–60%
- 60–70%
- 40–50%
- 50–60%
- 70–80%
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Chuck Gray | 75,972 | 48.3 | |
| Republican | Tara Nethercott | 63,069 | 40.1 | |
| Republican | Mark Armstrong | 14,304 | 9.1 | |
| Republican | Dan Dockstader (withdrawn) | 3,698 | 2.3 | |
| Write-in | 410 | 0.3 | ||
| Total votes | 157,453 | 100% | ||
General election
[edit]Predictions
[edit]| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[14] | Safe R | December 1, 2021 |
| Elections Daily[15] | Safe R | November 7, 2022 |
Results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Chuck Gray | 147,402 | 91.57 | ||
| Write-in | 13,573 | 8.43 | |||
| Total votes | 160,975 | 100.0 | |||
| Republican hold | |||||
References
[edit]- ^ Wolfson, Joshua (April 18, 2022). "Secretary of State Buchanan will seek reelection". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
- ^ a b Eavis, Victoria (May 17, 2022). "Buchanan pursuing judgeship, not seeking second term". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Greenwood, Max (August 17, 2022). "Trump-backed candidate wins Wyoming secretary of state nomination". The Hill. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ Axelrod, Tal (August 17, 2022). "Trump-backed election denier wins GOP nod to be Wyoming secretary of state". ABC News. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
- ^ Hall, Jasmine. "Dockstader drops out of secretary of state race, endorses Nethercott". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Trump gives endorsements to three Wyoming candidates". Oil City News. Casper. August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ a b Gruver, Mead; Anderson, James (August 15, 2022). "Several statewide offices contested in Wyoming GOP primary". Associated Press. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c Nelson, Caleb (August 10, 2022). "Tara Nethercott Challenges Chuck Gray on Election Integrity". Big Horn Radio Network. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c Mullen, Maggie (June 15, 2022). "Election integrity front and center in secretary of state race". WyoFile. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ Koshmrl, Mike (August 15, 2022). "'Blatantly untrue' texts target Nethercott ahead of primary". WyoFile. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ Eavis, Victoria (August 2, 2022). "Former secretary of state files federal complaint against Rep. Chuck Gray". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ Eavis, Victoria (August 9, 2022). "Secretary of state candidate Chuck Gray describes source of campaign loan". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ "Statewide Candidates Official Summary – Wyoming Primary Election August 16, 2022" (PDF). Wyoming Secretary of State. p. 5. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ "Secretary of State Races: More Important Than Ever in 2022, and More Complicated, Too". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ Solomon, Zack (November 7, 2022). "Elections Daily Secretary of State Ratings". Elections Daily. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ^ "Statewide Candidates Unofficial Summary - Wyoming General Election - November 8, 2022" (PDF). Secretary of State of Wyoming. November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.