The Park County Commission will be full of familiar faces after the two incumbents and the current treasurer won the three spots in the Republican primary Tuesday night. 

It was a victory for the list of candidates championed by more moderate and business trade groups over that of the county GOP and other more conservative groups. 

Scott Steward, the current chair, was the top vote getter with 19.54% (4,779 votes) of the vote, followed by current treasurer Barb Poley at 17.2% (4,208) and two-term commissioner Lloyd Thiel at 14.53% (3,554). 

The race featured 10 candidates — two more filed but dropped out — and two incumbents seeking three open seats. Two term commissioner Dossie Overfield declined to run for another term. 

State Sen. Dan Laursen came in fourth with 10.39% (2,541) of the vote, a little over 1,000 votes behind Thiel, finishing as high as second in a number of Powell area precincts. He was followed by fellow Park County GOP endorsed candidates Karin Richard (9.12%, 2,230), a Cody business owner running for the second time, and Tim Lasseter (8.77%, 2,146), who has been heavily involved in the county GOP since moving to the area nearly a decade ago and previously ran for county clerk. 

He has also repeatedly expressed his frustration that, in his view, Wyoming and Park County are much less conservative than he had thought when moving to the area. 

“Wyoming and Park County is blue,” he posted on his campaign page. “I told you a couple years ago it was purple. It is now blue. Celebrate your liberal democrat wins tonight. They will not last.”

Richard also made a statement on Facebook, congratulating Steward, Poley and Thiel for their wins.

Powell real estate appraiser Andrew Whitlock, who came in second or third in a couple Powell area precincts, finished with 7.96% (1,946), former three-term commissioner Bucky Hall 7.03% (1,719), real estate broker and planning and zoning board member Duncan Bonine 4.39% (1,075) and Cody resident Joseph Baugher 0.88% (216). 

In early and absentee voting Steward was the top vote getter at 21.13% of the vote (2,215) with Poley second with 19.56% (2,050) and Thiel third with 14.59% (1,529).

Laursen had the fourth most early and absentee votes at 8.84% (927), followed by Richard at 8.45% (886) and Lasseter at 8.03% (842). 

The race featured many chances for voters to hear from candidates, including multiple forums for all candidates and smaller events for certain groups, such as those endorsed by the Park County Patriots and Park County GOP, which made the controversial move to endorse candidates in the primary this election. 

While Laursen, Lasseter and Richard secured the party’s endorsement and those of other more conservative groups generally favoring smaller government, incumbents Steward and Thiel along with Poley were the top picks of other groups aiming for a more moderate position, such as Real Republicans of Park County, which also endorsed former three term commissioner Hall. 

Steward, of Cody, went into the race seeking a second term on the board. He won his first term with the largest share of the vote in 2022 after retiring from a decades-long stint as Park County sheriff. He previously told the Tribune one of his major reasons for running for a second term was to complete the years-long work of adopting new land use regulations and then being able to put those new rules into effect. 

“I appreciate the confidence from the public and the votes, and I’m ready to serve another four years,” Steward said Tuesday night. “I just want to continue to strive forward and help the community as best as I can.” 

He generally won precincts in the Cody, South Fork, North Fork and Meeteetse areas as well as some of the rural areas between Cody and Powell. 

Poley, of Cody, the county’s longtime treasurer, said previously she wanted to run for the commission to continue the work that has been done, and has the financial experience to assist in the future, especially as inflation and property tax relief programs have led to tighter budgets in recent years. 

“It’s really humbling, honestly, that they’re entrusting me to do this commissioner job,” she said Wednesday morning. “This was on my bucket list and something that I really look forward to serving the community with.”

She said she’s been asking Planning Director Joy Hill questions about the new development standards and regulations and “am always in the commissioners’ faces” to learn more about the job. 

“I just am looking forward to being on that board,” she said. “I think it’ll be outstanding.”

Poley won in the upper South Fork and finished second in a large amount of precincts across the county.

Thiel, the Clark contractor and rancher, previously said his main reason for running, to protect the way of life he and previous generations have been able to live in Park County for his descendants, hasn’t changed. Tuesday night he said he was pleased with the election and the board members he’ll be serving with during his next term, mentioning Steward’s knowledge and Poley’s revenue experience, “Barb will be a great replacement for Dossie … I think we’ve got a good group and hopefully we’ll do what the people want.”

“I look forward to another four years,” he said, adding that he thanks everyone who voted for him. “There’s definitely some things we need to finalize … especially with the DSR, there will be some hiccups along the way we can hopefully finalize and work out, and those are things that won’t happen by the end of the year, but in the next couple of years. I’m looking forward to it.”

Thiel won precincts generally in the Powell , Sunlight, Clark and Garland areas.