November 9, 2022 |
Wyoming voters did not have to wait long for election results. Two minutes after the polls closed Tuesday night, the Associated Press declared Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon a winner in his bid for a second term in office.
Gordon’s real challengers were not so much his relatively unknown opponents, but the challenges he faced during his first term in office. In the end, Gordon came through the COVID-19 crisis and the economic crisis that followed relatively unscathed.
In August, he defeated three GOP hopefuls, Brent Bien, Rex Rammell and James Scott Quick, to secure the Republican nomination for governor with more than 60% of the vote.
In the general, Democrat Theresa Livingston and Libertarian Jared Baldes together didn’t make much of an impression with voters.
Gordon sailed to an easy win. Unofficial results have Gordon with 136,216 votes. Livingston picked up 26,543. The libertarian had 7,771, fewer than the 10,849 write-in votes.
Also shoo-ins for the state’s top positions were Rep. Chuck Gray of Casper, who won his unopposed bid for Secretary of State. Incumbents Curt Meier, the state treasurer, and Kristi Racines, the state auditor, also ran unopposed in the general election. All three are Republicans.
In the race for superintendent of public instruction, Megan Degenfelder cruised to an easy win over Democrat Sergio Maldonado.
Harriett Hageman won the U.S. House race. Hageman, who won the endorsement of Donald Trump early on, blew past Democrat Lynette Greyull with triple the number of votes — 126,487 to 41,167. Hageman will replace Liz Cheney in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Carbon County – State House race
House District 47 Robert Davis easily defeated Lee Ann Stephenson. The Republican from Baggs picked up 2,636 votes in all to 656 for the Democrat from Riverside.
House District 47 sprawls across the rural areas of two counties. Davis coasted to the easy win with 1,949 to Stephenson’s 525 in Carbon. The totals in Sweetwater were 687 to 131 in Sweetwater.
House District 15: Republican Donald Burkart won re-election with 1,552 votes to 602 for Libertarian challenger Patrick Gonzales.
Senate District 11: Incumbent Larry Hicks defeated Constitutional candidate Michael Ray Williams 4,153 to 1,104. No Democrat filed for the Senate seat.
In the county races, Alex Bakken will be the new sheriff. Bakken, a Republican, defeated Democrat Mike Morris with 71% of the vote: 3,340 to 1,293.
Other county-wide races were uncontested.
Brittany Nyman will be county coroner.
Sarah Chavez Harkins was elected county attorney.
Gwynn Bartlett was re-elected county clerk.
Travis Moore and Willing John Johnson will each retain their seats on the county board of commissioners.
Lindsey West was re-elected county treasurer.
Renee Snider retains her seat as county assessor.
Mara Sanger was re-elected county clerk of district court.
Contested races – local level
In Encampment, challenger Shannon Fagan defeated incumbent mayor Greg Salisbury 127 to 88.
In the mayoral race in Hanna, John Ostling defeated Oats Briggs 126 to 110.
Elk Mountain mayoral race: incumbent Morgan Irene retains his seat, defeating Bonni Bruce 63-32.
Medicine Bow: William Bailey defeated incumbent Sharon Biamon 54 to 41.
Saratoga: Chuck Davis will be the new mayor next year, defeating D’Ron Campbell with 448 votes to 240.
Rawlins City Council: New faces will join the governing body
Ward 1: Bruce Sielaff defeated long-time councilman Debari Martinez 212 to 129.
Ward 2: Tanya Lewman won with 392 votes to 290 for incumbent Linda Smith.
Ward 3: Steve Sanger comes back to the governing body with 484 votes to 249 for Cheryl Hulme.
Jacqueline Wells retains the at-large seat, defeating Elizabeth McDonald, 1,063 to 747.
A local ballot issue for residents of the non-incorporated areas of the county — the formation of a fire district — passed with 68.4% of the vote. The fire district board will include Courtney Ney, Homer Beach and Jim Piche with four year terms. Pat Waliser and Cory Nuhn were elected to the fill the two-year seats on the fire district board.
The 1% sales tax passed with 64.3% of the vote.
The 2% lodging tax passed with 79.1% of the vote.
In all, 4,789 votes were cast in Carbon County for the General Election. Most of those, 3,407 were cast on Election Day. Turnout was 81.72%, according to Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett.
Clerk Bartlett told Bigfoot 99 that her office sent out 1,465 absentee ballots and had received 1,375 back by Tuesday. Around noon on Tuesday, the clerk said that she expected to receive more by the 7 p.m. deadline. She was right. Another seven were turned into her office by the deadline.
Some of the races will be recounted today, including those where write-in votes could make a difference. The Sinclair Town Council race will be recounted because of a tie between two of the candidates.
The final canvass of the vote count will be on Thursday when the clerk’s office declares the official results.
Two constitutional amendments appeared on every Wyoming General Election ballots yesterday
Amendment A would allow for the legislature to invest funds from any political subdivision in the state, including county, city, town or school district, in capital stock options. The Wyoming Constitution allows the state to invest state funds in equities, such as the stock of corporations, but does not allow funds from local government entities to be invested under laws yet to be enacted by the legislature. Any such law would require, according to the ballot measure, would require a 2/3 vote of all the members of each of the two houses. The amendment passed with 103,366 voting for and 76,697 voting against it. The amendment was the result of House Enrolled Joint Resolution No. 2 passed by the 2021 Wyoming Legislature.
Constitutional Amendment B asked voters to increase the mandatory retirement age of district court judges from age 70 to age 75. Amendment B failed with 115,812 voting against and 74,633 voting for. The amendment was the result of action taken by the legislature during this year’s budget session with Joint Resolution No. 1.
Click here to view the 2022 General Election Unofficial Results from the Carbon County Clerk
Pictured above: File photo of the polls on Election Day at the Grand Encampment Opera House. Photo by Bigfoot 99.
