The recount results are in and nothing has changed in the House District 22 race in Northeast Wyoming. Allen Slagle won the Republican nomination by the same 13 votes as he originally did in Tuesday night’s primary election.
Wyoming law requires any state race returning a margin of victory of less than 1% between the winning candidate and their nearest challenger to undergo a recount. Slagle had beaten Williams by 0.4%.
“It shows it was a good race and both candidates worked hard,” Slagle told Cowboy State Daily Friday afternoon.
Slagle beat out State Rep. JD Williams, R-Lusk by 1,718 to 1,705 votes. Prior to the recount being performed, Williams said it didn’t need to occur and trusted the initial results of the election. He didn’t expect any numbers to change and said he is not aware of any fraudulent activity occurring in Wyoming’s elections.
“People don’t appreciate our elections like they should,” Williams said. “It’s a process that works great. When you hear about other places, it makes you glad that you live here in Wyoming. I’m not aware of any compromised elections in Wyoming, but then again, I live under a rock as far as politics goes.”
Slagle said he likewise, wasn’t nervous when the recount was called and didn’t expect it to change much as he has “pretty good confidence” in the state’s elections. He said he was able to pull out the win by door knocking and making as many connections as he could with constituents.
Williams, a first-term legislator who was appointed in 2021, does not consider himself a politician. The day after losing the election on Wednesday, he had some injury added to insult, as a horse fell on top of him.
“I wasn’t feeling too good,” he said.
Williams said it’s a lot easier to tell people what they want to hear rather than the truth.
During an Aug. 9 forum, Williams said he wouldn’t accept an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, despite supporting his policies, as he expressed concern Trump’s support would blur his loyalty between national and state-level interests.
“I might feel obligated to play that same game he has to play,” Williams said during the forum. “I don’t think that fits Wyoming. What if I lost the election? Then what? I might feel obligated to challenge the results.”
Williams has said he won’t always adhere to the Wyoming Republican platform, while Slagle has made that commitment.
“I decided to run for House District 2 because we need more Conservative voices in Cheyenne to stand for liberty and maintain the Wyoming way of life,” Slagle said on his campaign website.
