This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has another election-related lawsuit on his hands. He's being sued by gubernatorial candidate Gabe Green. Green is an independent candidate and self described DINO: Democrat in name only.
The lawsuit focuses on residency requirements for gubernatorial candidates.
Green told WPR he was born and raised in Casper and has lived in Wyoming his whole life. However, Green briefly lived in Arizona between 2023 and 2025.
Gray argued that Green's time in Arizona disqualifies him from running for governor of Wyoming. Section 2, Article 4 of the State Constitution of Wyoming lays out the qualifications for governor, including “who has resided five years next preceding the election within the state or territory.”
Green is claiming this violates his rights to free speech and travel under the U.S. Constitution. When asked what his thoughts were on the long-term outcome of the case, Green said he “frankly” doesn’t see how he could run this election cycle. With his claim of a constitutional violation and no way around state law, Green believes his fight is in federal court.
“I wish I could tell you I think the Wyoming Constitution allows me to run. The more I've researched it, it doesn't,” said Green. “But I think the Wyoming constitution is in error.”
Green said the residency requirement should be longer. He gave an example, stating someone who moved from California in 2021 could run this year, whereas a lifelong Wyomingite who temporarily moved out of the state in the past five years could not.
Green also suggested that state constitutional law disproportionately impacts young people, who he suggests may travel when they’re young but would ultimately look to return to the state and involve themselves in politics.
“The goal is, it has to be a federal case, it has to be decided by the federal courts,” said Green.
Gray wrote in a request for comment, “Gabriel Green is disqualified from running for Governor based on his residency in the State of Arizona. We will continue to uphold Wyoming law against the continued lawsuits filed against our office's work on election integrity.”
Gray’s referencing at least two other active lawsuits that could affect who’s on the ballot later this year.
One came from Jimmy Skovgard, who’s running as a Republican for U.S. Senate. He’s arguing that voters have to abandon or disguise their political identities and join the Republican Party’s closed primary, otherwise their vote would have little to no impact due to the party’s supermajority in the state. Lawmakers in 2023 required voters to declare or change their political party affiliation before candidates file to run for office.
Gray is also facing a lawsuit from Victor Miller, who previously tried to run a ChatGPT program called VIC for mayor of Cheyenne. Miller is now attempting to run a similar large language model for U.S. Senate. Gray rejected the AI’s candidacy and Miller sued. Miller’s motion to stop Gray's ballot block was recently denied by a judge in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming.
Green, the independent gubernatorial candidate, said lumping his case with other similar cases is in the interest of the secretary of state and the Republican party trying to "entrench itself firmly in power.”
“It creates a more compelling narrative for his side that all of these lawsuits are just frivolous lawsuits about election integrity, when in reality, all of these have some basis,” he said.
The deadline for independent candidates to file to run in this year’s election is Aug. 24.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
