Jim Byrd Touts Qualifications For Wyoming Secretary Of State

Wyoming Representative James Byrd says his experience both in the Wyoming Legislature and private business combine to make him well-qualified to serve as Secretary of State.

In an interview with Glenn Woods on KGAB AM in Cheyenne on Friday, the Democratic candidate for the state's second-highest office said his decade as a state lawmaker representing a Laramie County House District have given him a good idea of how state government works.

But he says his private sector experience as a small business person as well as in the oil and gas industry also are important qualifications. ''I'm not just some guy who sat in an office his whole life, never getting my fingernails dirty," Byrd says.

He also says his 15 years as a network engineer working on cybersecurity is an important qualification as well in view of the current national concerns about hacking and election security. On another subject, Byrd says it's important to understand that as a "Wyoming Democrat" his political orientation is very different than that of much of the national Democratic party.

He says in Wyoming most people, and even ''the bulk of the Democratic party" are "two or three clicks to the right" politically speaking. You can see the entire interview Byrd conducted on KGAB in the video attached to this article.

Byrd faces Republican Incumbent Ed Buchanan in November. Buchanan was appointed to the post after Republican Ed Murray resigned from the position following allegations that he sexually harassed two women prior to becoming Secretary of State.