How much does Chuck Gray have in common with former President Donald Trump? Let’s count the ways Wyoming’s secretary of state has followed in his political idol’s footsteps, which has led to distrust in a voting system that’s one of the most secure in the country.
Gray has perfectly copied Trump’s “play the victim” strategy on many occasions: attacking opponents and doubling down on his claims, even if critics offer overwhelming evidence that proves him wrong. Trump’s universal response is to “deny, deny and deny again” all charges, label them fake news and blame the liberal elite.
Opinion
Gray is the staunchest defender Trump has in Wyoming, and it’s not a close competition. When Colorado tried to keep Trump off the 2024 GOP presidential ballot because he incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Gray was the first GOP secretary of state to file an opposition brief.
“We must push back against the far-left lunacy that is gripping our nation,” Gray said. “From rampant inflation to illegal immigration, the fabric of our country and even Wyoming is at serious risk of being torn to pieces by left-wing crazies intent on turning America into an authoritarian state.”
Both Trump and Gray had extraordinary financial help from their conservative fathers, though Gray’s experience certainly pales bigly in comparison to his mentor’s. According to the New York Times, real estate mogul Fred Trump gave his son at least $413 million over the course of his lifetime.
Gray worked at his father Jan Gray’s Casper radio stations. WyoFile reported that state campaign finance records show the elder Gray donated $700,000 to his son’s campaign in 2022.
Before they launched their political careers, both men were broadcasters. Trump hosted the popular NBC show “The Apprentice.” Gray had his own conservative talk show on his dad’s KVOC radio station.
The pair took the same route in higher education. Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with a B.S. in real estate in 1968. Gray got his Wharton degree 44 years later, a B.S. in economics. And since 2020, both men have been shoveling BS about how the presidential election that year was supposedly “rigged” against Trump.
Last week, Gray squared off against the state’s 23 county clerks over a campaign promise he made to get rid of all ballot drop boxes. Eleven counties used them in 2020, dropping to seven in 2022. Since Trump lost the presidency, Gray has claimed — without an iota of credible evidence — that Wyoming has “tremendous problems” with its elections.
The secretary sent the County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming a letter incorrectly telling them using drop boxes to collect ballots is illegal under state law. He encouraged clerks to end the practice beginning with the primary election’s 28-day absentee voting period that starts July 23.
Gray argued that the fact most counties do not use drop boxes is “further legal evidence” that the practice is unlawful, because the election code must be universally enforced.
The clerks disagreed, forcefully telling the secretary that the election code leaves many decisions up to locally elected officials, including electronic pollbooks, election equipment, vote centers, precinct boundaries and absentee ballot processing. The latter includes whether to maintain ballot drop boxes, which are under 24/7 video surveillance.
“Our great state offers a myriad of differences from one corner to the next and for that reason a blanket solution does not always serve those distinct populations in the most practical manner,” the association responded.
In more direct language: Chuck, your office may be responsible for supervising state elections, but you’re not in charge of everything.
Why does Gray get so bent out of shape over the drop box issue? Is it because he traveled across the state during his secretary of state campaign hosting free showings of “2000 Mules,” a highly discredited 2022 documentary that had MAGA fans shrieking non-stop that it proved the election theft?
The premise of the film directed by right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza — pardoned in 2018 by Trump after he plead guilty to the felony of facilitating illegal campaign contributions — is that hundreds of teams of people were paid to be so-called “mules,” who stuffed illegally cast ballots for Joe Biden in swing state drop boxes.
“2000 Mules” is again making headlines, but with news not favorable for Trump. Salem Media Group, the company responsible for the film and a related book, recently said it will no longer distribute them. It also apologized to a man who filed a defamation lawsuit against the company after law enforcement cleared him of all voter fraud charges. He said the lies prompted threats of violence against his family.
In February, True the Vote, a nonprofit group that did the research for D’Souza, admitted to a Georgia judge that it had no evidence to support its claims of illegal ballot stuffing.
Not surprisingly, Gray has remained silent on the admissions of the film’s distributor and the research outfit. But he decided to push forward with his latest attacks on drop boxes soon after.
Gray’s response to Trump’s “Big Lie” that he actually won the 2020 election by a landslide has at least been consistently absurd. As a Wyoming House representative from Casper, Gray proposed legislation to grant the Wyoming Legislature the power to audit elections. In a state where his hero won 70% of the vote, Gray is still convinced there’s something shady about the results!
The measure failed, and hopefully someone pointed out that all county clerks automatically do an audit after each election. Former Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, who resigned in 2022 to become a Torrington judge, countered unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud in Wyoming, and made Gray look foolish.
In 2020, Buchanan said county clerks conducted pre-and-post election tests of voting equipment and found 100% accuracy in all 23 counties.
“I have great confidence in the way our machines work,” Buchanan told Wyoming Public Media. “And I especially appreciate the fact that we have paper ballots to back up those machine results.”
I wish the current secretary of state would express confidence in the state’s elections, instead of running around like Chicken Little screaming the sky is falling. His relentless fear mongering over issues like ballot drop boxes naturally leads to voter distrust in election results.
Many of Wyoming’s veteran poll workers are retiring from a public service job they loved doing before politicians like Trump and Gray started making voters question their integrity.
In a trend that should disturb Wyoming voters, Gray is following Trump’s lead on the issue of local control. It’s a hallmark of the Republican philosophy of governing, but the duo only believes in it until it doesn’t work out for them.
Trump proposes broad “solutions” that involve massive federal overreach, like his recent promise to punish pro-Palestinian college protesters by kicking them out of the country. The idea of letting colleges each decide the best course of action locally goes against his authoritarian way of dealing with problems.
Gray wants control over Wyoming’s county clerks by making them do his bidding and abandoning ballot drop boxes, rather than doing what works best for voters in their communities. I’m proud of them for standing up to his bullying tactics. Unlike the secretary, they are trying to make it easier to vote, and refuse to follow edicts from a clueless official who clearly wants to make it more difficult to cast a ballot.
Gray is proving that he’s always on Trump’s side, even when it hurts Wyomingites by pushing unnecessary roadblocks to a voting system that is safe, fair and accurate.
As Judge Judy would say, Chuck Gray “is an idiot”! We don’t have problems with elections in Wyoming, our county clerks do a great job.
Standing just left of center looks far-left to someone standing so far-right.
To all you people that voted for Chuckee.
Please remember his stupidity when he runs for governor on his daddy’s dime
The Wharton Twins certainly do have similarities in spades; but shoveling is an action verb and I doubt very much that either one of those snowflakes is adept at operating a manual excavating implement. That said, I will have to admit that both sure can hold their own in the poo flinging arena armed with nothing more than silver spoons in their delicate little hands…
Absolutely loved your comment. It put some levity in an otherwise serious subject. Thank you
I’d like to recognize Julie Freese, the Fremont County Clerk, who bravely stood up for the voters of Fremont County. To me, she is a hero.
The real problem is that Wyoming is on Trumps side. That’s how we end up with clowns like Gray.