Final 2022 Statewide Wyoming Primary Election Results
Republican lawmaker Chuck Gray and challenger Megan Degenfelder won their Republican primary races for Secretary of State and State Superintendent on Tuesday.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney was defeated in the Wyoming Republican Primary by attorney Harriet Hageman on Tuesday. According to the Wyoming Secretary of State's Ofice, Cheney got a little over 49,000 votes to Hageman's 113,000. Several other lesser-known candidates drew a few thousand votes between them.
But while former President Donald Trump's candidate may have picked up a win in the state's Republican congressional race, a Trump endorsement was not enough to pull incumbent Brian Schroeder over the finish line to victory in the GOP Primary for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Schroeder, who was appointed to finish out the remainder of the term of former schools chief Jillian Balow when Balow left to take a similar job in Virginia, fell to challenger Megan Degenfelder by a margin of 59,301 to 55,746 with several other candidates also picking up a few thousand votes.
While Schroeder may have had Trump in his corner, Degenfelder had the support of Wyoming politicos Sen. Cynthia Lummis and former Sen. Al Simpson. Schroder had been outspoken in his opposition to the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Wyoming schools as well as what he called federal "social engineering" on other issues, including non-discrimination policies giving LGBTQ students the ability to file complaints over alleged unfair treatment.
Degenfelder has also out against the teaching of Critical Race Theory but tended to focus more on what she termed as ''empowering parents'' as opposed to political hot-button issues in her campaign.
Degenfelder will face Democrat Sergio Maldanado in November.
Conservative Rep. Chuck won the race for Secretary of State to replace the outgoing Ed Buchanon. Gray defeated State Sen. Tara Nethercott of Cheyenne by roughly 12,000 votes in a campaign that had turned somewhat acrimonious in the closing days.
Gray touted his work in support of legislation requiring identification to vote and said guaranteeing election security was his primary objective if elected. No Democrat ran in that party's primary for the office.
Governor Mark Gordon cruised to a relatively easy win over a field of lesser-known candidates in the GOP Gubernatorial primary. Gordon more than doubled the number of votes garnered by HIS closest challenger, Brent Bien. Perennial candidate Rex Rammel, who claimed he would take over public lands managed by the federal government if elected, finished a very distant third in that race.
Here are the unofficial statewide vote totals from Tuesday's Wyoming Primary election according to the Wyoming Secretary of State's office. The results will not become official until they are certified by the state canvassing board.
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