A general election was held in the U.S. state of Wyoming on Tuesday, November 2, 1982. All of the state's executive officers—the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and superintendent of public instruction—were up for election. Democratic governor Edgar Herschler won a landslide victory on his way to a record third term in office and Democrat Lynn Simons, first elected in 1978 as superintendent of public instruction, won a sizable re-election as well. Republicans held the other statewide offices.
Incumbent Democratic governor Edgar Herschler ran for re-election to a third term. He faced former state house speaker Warren A. Morton in the general election, and defeated him in a landslide to win a third term, the first governor of the state to do so.
Incumbent Republican secretary of State Thyra Thomson ran for re-election to a sixth term. Unopposed in the Republican primary, she faced rancher Leslie Peterson, the Democratic nominee, in the general election. Peterson ran a stronger campaign than any of Thomson's past opponents, and though Thomson ultimately won re-election, she did so by her slimmest margin.
Incumbent Republican State Auditor Jim Griffith ran for re-election to a third term. He won the Republican primary unopposed and was initially set to face no opposition in the general election, as no Democratic candidate filed to oppose him. However, Sid Kornegay, a Democrat who ran for Congress in 1980, announced on the day of the primary that he would seek the Democratic Party's nomination as a write-in candidate.[3] After Kornegay received 11 write-in votes in the Democratic primary, he was offered the nomination, which he accepted.[4] Griffith, who was not seen as vulnerable by the Democratic Party,[3] ended up defeating Kornegay in a landslide, winning 74% of the vote to Kornegay's 26%.
No Democratic candidates filed for State Auditor. However, Kornegay, a Democratic candidate for Congress in 1980 received 11 write-in votes and was offered the nomination, which he accepted.[4]
Incumbent Republican state treasurer Shirley Wittler was unable to seek re-election to a second term due to term limits. Craig L. Thomas, who unsuccessfully ran in the 1978 Republican primary, announced that he would run again, and received Wittler's endorsement.[5] He faced former state representative Stan Smith in the primary, and Smith narrowly defeated him—and by an even narrower margin than Wittler did four years earlier. In the general election, Smith was opposed by Carbon County Treasurer C. R. "Dick" Engstrom. Though Engstrom improved on Democrats' performance from 1978, he still lost to Smith by a sizable margin.
Incumbent Democratic superintendent of public instruction Lynn Simons ran for re-election to a second term. She was opposed in the general election by Republican nominee Gary Elliott, a former member of the Teton County School Board. Simons ultimately defeated Elliott by a significant margin.
