Matt Mead

Vorlage:Infobox officeholder

Matthew Hansen Mead, known as Matt Mead (born March 1, 1962), is the Wyoming Republican gubernatorial nominee in the general election set for November 2, 2010. He faces Leslie Petersen, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party, who vowed if elected to continue the policies of outgoing Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal.

Mead won the nomination with 30,272 votes, having defeated State Auditor Rita Meyer, who polled 29,558 votes. The Fort Bridger rancher Ron Micheli, finished in a strong third position with 27,592 votes. State House Speaker Colin M. Simpson trailed in fourth place with 16,673 votes.^[1]

Petersen defeated political newcomer Pete Gosar, 10,759 to 8,397 votes, respectively, along with several other minor candidates.^[1]

Mead is a former United States Attorney based in the capital city of Cheyenne. He served under appointment of U.S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2007. He is the grandson of the late Governor and U.S. Senator Clifford P. Hansen. In 2007, Mead resigned as U.S. Attorney to seek the seat vacated by the death of his fellow Republican Craig L. Thomas. His resignation was required under the Hatch Act of 1939. He lost in the Republican State Central Committee by fourteen votes on the third ballot from being one of the three candidates from which Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal could make his selection. Freudenthal chose state Senator John Barrasso of Casper. Barrasso won a special election in 2008 to fill the remaining four years of Thomas' term.

Mead is the son of Peter Mead and Mary Hansen Mead (1935-1996), who was the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 1990. Mary Mead, considered an expert horsewoman, was killed in a horseback accident while working cattle in Grand Teton National Park. Mead grew up in Wyoming. He has an older brother, Bradford Scott "Brad" Mead, a Jackson attorney, and an older sister, Muffy Mead-Ferro of Salt Lake City, Utah, who is the author of Confessions of a Slacker Mom.^[2]).

Mead is married to the former Carol L. Mintzer (born ca. 1965), and the couple has two children.

References

↑ ^a ^b "It's Mead by a Hair". Wyoming Tribune Eagle, abgerufen am 18. August 2010.
↑ Muffy Mead-Ferro: Confessions of a Slacker Mom. Da Capo Lifelong, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7382-0994-4, S. 152.