Matt Mead

On February 17, 2015, Mead vetoed legislation intended to prevent the state from permanently confiscating an individual’s property through civil forfeiture until after a felony conviction had been attained. The legislation, Senate File 14, gained strong popular support and passed through the Wyoming Legislature, with majorities in excess of 2/3 in both houses. An attempt to override the veto failed.

In late January 2013, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill, a Republican, announced that she would be a candidate in Wyoming's 2014 governor's race. A Tea Party favorite, Hill would face Mead in the Republican primary on August 19, 2014. Earlier in January, Mead had signed legislation sharply reducing the responsibilities of Hill's office, making the position largely ceremonial.

Mead named Rich Crandall, a moderate Republican member of the Arizona State Senate and a political ally of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, to fill the newly established position of "director" of the Wyoming Education Department, a position that had most of the powers formerly held by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In January 2014, the Wyoming Supreme Court rebuffed Mead and declared that the legislature had overstepped its constitutional powers when it stripped Hill of most of her office duties. Mead unsuccessfully appealed the decision, and Hill resumed her duties in May 2014, just a few weeks before the beginning of the gubernatorial primary campaign.

Mead handily won re-nomination in the 2014 Republican primary, with 53,626 votes (55 percent), compared to Dr. Taylor Haynes' 31,490 (32 percent), and Hill's 12,443 (13 percent). In the November 4 general election, Mead handily defeated Pete Gosar, the former Democratic Party state chairman and the brother of a Republican U.S. representative from Arizona, Paul Gosar. In the same election, Republican Jillian Balow, backed by Mead, won election to succeed Hill as the education superintendent.

On October 26, 2012, Mead named Buffalo, Wyoming, businessman and rancher Mark Gordon as the state treasurer, to succeed Joseph B. Meyer, who died in office.

In 2010, Mead won the Republican gubernatorial primary with 30,272 votes, defeating State Auditor Rita Meyer, who polled 29,558 votes, despite Meyer's endorsement by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Fort Bridger rancher Ron Micheli finished third, with 27,592 votes; State House Speaker Colin M. Simpson finished fourth with 16,673 votes.

Mead's campaign emphasized his support for gun rights. He opposed gay marriage and abortion, but stated that there should be exceptions to allow an abortion when the woman's health or life is at stake and in cases of rape and incest. On November 2, 2010, Mead easily defeated Leslie Petersen, the former chairwoman of the Wyoming Democratic Party, receiving 72% of the vote to Petersen's 25%.

In 2001, Mead was appointed United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming by President George W. Bush. He served until June 2007, when he resigned to seek the Senate seat vacated by the death of fellow Republican Craig L. Thomas. His resignation was required under the Hatch Act of 1939.

Mead's mother, Mary, was the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 1990. Considered an expert horsewoman, she died in 1996, on her 61st birthday, in a horseback accident while working cattle in Grand Teton National Park. In 2003, Mead and his brother and sister put their family ranch in the park up for sale; the price was said to be $110 million.

Mead, the son of Peter Bradford Mead and Mary Elisabeth Hansen Mead, was born and reared in Jackson, Wyoming. Mead graduated in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in radio/television from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas where he was a member of the Bengal Lancer fraternity among other pursuits. He earned a J.D. degree from the University of Wyoming College of Law at Laramie. After law school, he served as a county and federal prosecutor and also practiced in a private law firm.

Matthew Hansen Mead (born March 11, 1962) is an American federal prosecutor, businessman, and politician who served as the 32nd Governor of Wyoming from 2011 to 2019 as a Republican.