Incumbent Wyoming GOP Gov. Mark Gordon won his primary Tuesday night, according to Decision Desk HQ election projections.
Former President Donald Trump, who boasts a 181-16 (92%) record among his primary endorsements, did not endorse anyone in the gubernatorial election.
Democrats have all but ceded these offices to Republicans, with just two candidates who do not even have websites running for governor and just one Democrat candidate running for state superintendent.
Gordon will face Democrat Theresa Livingston in November's general midterm election after she defeated retired cabinetmaker and perennial candidate Rex Wilde in the Democrat primary, according to Decision Desk HQ. Livingston is a retired U.S. Bureau of Land Management employee.
Gordon was supposed to face fierce opposition within the GOP for public health measures to limit spread of the coronavirus, causing speculation he would face a tough primary challenge.
He did not. One candidate who may have run against him, Cheyenne natural resources attorney Harriet Hageman, who finished third among five candidates in the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary, decided instead to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. – as she did Tuesday night.
Now, after lifting a statewide mask mandate and other coronavirus restrictions, Gordon is mainly back in his party's good graces.
Last year, he urged the National Rifle Association to move its headquarters from Virginia to Wyoming. In March, he signed a ban on most abortions that briefly took effect a month after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and is now on hold pending a lawsuit contesting the ban. Both moves helped buttress Gordon's right-wing credentials.
And while Gordon has not gone out of his way to praise Donald Trump, neither has he criticized the former president's fight for election integrity.
Even so, three Republicans stepped up to oppose Gordon.
One was Brent Bien, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, Laramie native and University of Wyoming graduate who oversaw Marine operations in Guam. Bien, of Sheridan, campaigned in part on questioning Gordon's coronavirus restrictions.
Also running was Rex Rammell, of Rock Springs, a veterinarian and perennial, unsuccessful candidate for various offices in Idaho and Wyoming. Rammell calls for the state to take control over federal lands.
Douglas oilfield services business owner and Marine veteran James Scott Quick ran on protecting the state's energy industry and giving raises to state employees.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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