Republican Thyra Thomson was the first woman elected to serve as Wyoming’s Secretary of State. The widow of a popular Wyoming politician, U.S. Rep. Keith Thomson, she first ran for office in 1963 and was not only able to transfer her late husband’s popularity into an electoral victory for herself, but also held the position for an astounding 24 years. She retired in 1987.
Thomson witnessed gender discrimination while working in state government, noting the irony of this fact given that Wyoming, known as the Equality State, was the first state to grant women the right to vote. In 1974, she was elected president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, an organization for state securities administrators who are charged with the responsibility to protect consumers who purchase securities or investment advice.
As secretary of state, Thomson served as acting governor when Wyoming Governors Clifford P. Hansen, Stanley K. Hathaway or Ed Herschler were out of state.