The 2008 United States Senate special election in Wyoming took place on November 4, 2008, at the same time as the regular election to the United States Senate in Wyoming. There was a special election to fill the remainder of the unexpired senate term of the late Craig L. Thomas, who recently died. Republican John Barrasso

John Barrasso

John Anthony Barrasso is the junior U.S. Senator from Wyoming and a member of the Republican Party. He was appointed to the Senate following Craig L. Thomas's death and won a special election in 2008 to fill the remaining four years of Thomas's term....

 was appointed by Governor Dave Freudenthal

Dave Freudenthal

David Duane "Dave" Freudenthal , is an American politician who served as the 31st Governor of Wyoming. A Democrat, he was reelected to his second term on November 7, 2006, and announced on March 4, 2010, that he would not attempt to seek a third term as Governor.-Education and early...

, and won the Republican primary unopposed, and went on to win the general election to fill the remainder of the term.

Background

Speculation about potential Republican challengers had included the other finalists to succeed Thomas, Cynthia Lummis

Cynthia Lummis

Cynthia Marie Lummis Wiederspahn is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. She is a member of the Republican Party. She previously served as a state representative , state senator , and state treasurer .-Early life:Lummis was born on September 10, 1954 in Cheyenne...

 and Tom Sansonetti

Tom Sansonetti

Thomas Lawrence Sansonetti, known as Tom Sansonetti , is an attorney and a government official from the U.S. state of Wyoming. He now resides in Greenwood Village, a suburb of Denver, Colorado....

; as well as former state House Speaker Randall Luthi

Randall Luthi

Randall B. Luthi is an attorney and rancher from Freedom, in northwestern Lincoln County in western Wyoming, who served as a Republican in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1995—2007. He was the Speaker for his last two-year term, 2005—2007. Prior to 2005, he had been the House...

, and former U.S. Attorney Matt Mead

Matt Mead

Matthew Hansen "Matt" Mead , is the 32nd and current Governor of Wyoming.-Early Life:Mead is the son of Peter Mead and Mary Hansen Mead , the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 1990, and the grandson of the late Governor and U.S. Senator Clifford P. Hansen...

.

Candidates

• Nick Carter, attorney
• Keith Goodenough, Casper
  Casper, Wyoming
  Casper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming , according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316...
  
   city councilman, former Wyoming State Senator

Results

Results

Polling

Poll Source	Dates administered	Carter	Barasso
Research 2000/Daily Kos	September 22-September 24, 2008	34%	58%

Results

External links

• Elections from the Wyoming Secretary of State
• U.S. Congress candidates for Wyoming at Project Vote Smart
  Project Vote Smart
  Project Vote Smart is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States...
  
  
• 2008 Wyoming Senate race from CQ Politics
  Congressional Quarterly
  Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
  
  
• Wyoming U.S. Senate - Class I Class II from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign contributions for Wyoming congressional races from OpenSecrets.org
  Center for Responsive Politics
  The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...
  
  
• Official campaign websites
  • John Barrasso, Republican incumbent candidate (Class I)
  • Nick Carter Democratic candidate (Class I)