Robert Short, a three-term county commissioner in Converse County, has won the Republican nomination for Secretary of State.
Campaigning on the slogan “Make the Secretary of State’s Office boring again” Short defeated three Republican opponents.
His slogan is a nod to the years of controversy surrounding Secretary of State Chuck Gray.
Those clashes peaked in January, when Gov. Mark Gordon grew frustrated with Gray at a public meeting and asked the latter, “Do you need to step outside?”
Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chair and state Rep. Rachel Williams, who was endorsed by the Wyoming Republican Party state central committee, finished a DISTANT SECOND? With WHAT, followed by former congressional staffer CJ Young and academic advisor Qwenton Eagle Oviatt. Short will face Democratic nominee Bryan McCarty in the general election.
The winner of the general election will hold Wyoming’s second-highest state elected position, and will be tasked with governing the state when the governor can’t. The secretary of state also oversees state elections and business filings, and is an administrator of election law and campaign finance broadly.
Short told Cowboy State Daily in a March phone interview that he wants to listen to county clerks and work well with them, since they’re the elections officers closest to the action in each county. He’d “love” to see more transparency and safeguards in Wyoming business filings, he said.
Odds And Ends
Short said he’s lived in Wyoming most of his life – other than a stint when he had to leave amid the economic collapse of the mid-1980s.
He left for 20 years to gain education and skills “before coming back here, to the greatest state on the planet,” he said.
He grew up in Glenrock, and was trained in electrical engineering and computer science.
His background is in technology, electrical distribution systems, general contracting, and building electrical systems, he said.
He’s worked in the retail and agricultural sectors across the state.
Short and his wife Janella have four children.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
