[4] During the campaign, Brown attracted widespread support from the Republican establishment and outraised Cloud, but she narrowly defeated him in the primary, which the Casper Star-Tribune called "the biggest upset of the election.

"[5] No Democrat filed for the race, but former State Senator and then-Casper City Councilman Keith Goodenough won 31 write-in votes, despite not being a candidate.

He campaigned on ditching the state's beleaguered standardized testing regime[13] and attacked Hill for releasing her education plan only weeks before the election.

[14] Popular Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal endorsed Massie as the general election started, and criticized the state's Republican leadership for its inaction in fixing education problems.

[15] He also won the endorsement of the Casper Star-Tribune, which praised his "clear handle on what needs to happen at the Department of Education" and argued that he was "the right person at the right time for this very demanding job."

[18] Despite Massie's strength as a candidate, however, he was unable to overcome the state's significant Republican lean, and lost to Hill in a landslide, winning only 39% of the vote to her 61%.