On my first day in the state, I was shown around the state capitol in Cheyenne by state Rep. Lori Millin. We first went to Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office. I had never before encountered a governor with an open door policy. But in Wyoming, I learned you could simply walk in and ask to see the state's chief executive and there was a good chance you would get in. It was probably the most refreshing thing I had ever seen in state level politics and something more governors should probably try to emulate.  

 

   In my ten month tenure as the Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director, I learned a lot about the state's politics by studying the electoral terrain, meeting different people and, yes, making mistakes. It was quite an experience and I will never forget it. Many may ask what kind of lessons can an outsider provide to the people of Wyoming? Here’s what I learned about Wyoming politics, present and future.

   First of all, Wyoming elections are extremely local and personal. This will come as no shock to anyone from Wyoming. Former Wyoming United States Sen. Alan Simpson made that same observation years ago. But it is a contrast to other states where I have studied and lived.

   People in Wyoming want to see and hear from their office holders from Governor all the way down to their local state representative. Local allegiances are often more important than party affiliation. I leaned of legislators who would support each other because they lived in the same county even though they were from different parties. For them, geography was more important than party registration.

   In Wyoming, elections are won and lost not by the flashiest negative campaign ad or by winning a sign war, but by how many people a candidate has gone out on the road and met face-to-face. Even though Wyoming is growing by leaps and bounds, that part of electoral strategy will not change for a while. Successful campaigns still have to get their candidates out to be seen by the voters. The use of new technology can supplement this, but campaigns that ignore the personal touch, no matter what party they represent, are making a huge mistake.

   Secondly, growth in this state has been massive and the new voters coming with that growth must be actively engaged. Population centers are still located in the larger cities of Casper and Cheyenne. However, the growth of Sheridan, Campbell, and Johnson Counties in northeast Wyoming along with other energy-booming counties in the southwest, must be reckoned with any winning statewide campaign. Gillette, for example, is scheduled to overtake Laramie as the third largest city by the 2010 census. Campbell County soon will pass Sweetwater County in population. Anyone who has tried to get lodging in Campbell County knows this to be true. This is a dramatic shift for a state where campaigns have depended on the historical population centers of Casper, Cheyenne and Laramie to win elections.

   These "new voters" will have an impact in any election in those boom counties as well as statewide races. Many come from states like Michigan, Texas, Ohio, and Louisiana where voting patterns are very different from those in Wyoming. They are mostly competitive two-party states whereas, in Wyoming, elections are usually decided at the Republican primary level.

   In order to reach out to these new residents, candidates must be able to empathize with their problems. The newcomers left their homes for new opportunities and fresh starts in Wyoming. They are not very interested in past state elections results, traditional party roles and Wyoming’s unique history. They are interested in the here and now. They are able to compare Wyoming government with the governments of their home states and see things in clearer contrast than those voters who have never left Wyoming. Many will enjoy Wyoming's low tax rates and extreme beauty and never leave. At the same time, they may be looking for Wyoming's government to take a more active role in providing infrastructure, services, and educational opportunities than the government has done in the past.

   Aspiring office holders, of course, cannot forget about longtime Wyomingites. Candidates have to engage the arriving new voters while still playing to the original Wyoming voters who still make up the overwhelming majority of this state. Wyomingites have deep pride in their state and are suspicious of those who might tamper with its culture and natural resources. At the same time, most feel that the state's most important resource is its booming energy industry. That presents quite a balancing act for state politicians, one that Gov. Freudenthal and the late Senator Craig Thomas performed very well in the past. Their campaigns should serve as lessons to all future candidates.

 

On the campaign trail with Governor Freudenthal, 2006. Image is courtesy of www.govdave.com

Finally, there is money. Historically, successful campaigns in Wyoming can budget for relatively small amount of money and still be successful. That may remain true in some local elections. However, I think many campaigns in Wyoming are about to skyrocket in costs. This is due to a number of factors. There are a lot of new wealthy citizens that now reside in the state. This includes Teton County's wealth from upper class retirees and energy industry executives relocating offices and operations into the state.

 

   High paying energy jobs will also encourage upper middle class citizens to pump their own money into campaigns. Driving this even higher are the extremely lenient campaign finance laws in state elections (Wyoming currently ranks 50th in campaign disclosure according to The Campaign Disclosure Project). The diverse political backgrounds of these residents will cause both primaries and general election costs to go up.

   No further evidence is necessary than the advertisements that have already started popping up on statewide television for the August primary election and record fundraising numbers for some campaigns. Emphasizing this is a recent action by the Wyoming Republican Party creating the "Wyoming Republican Legislative Trust". Their initial goal of raising $250,000 for elections sends a clear signal to everyone in the state that the price of elections in Wyoming just went up.

All these trends bear watching closely in the 2008 elections. I believe this year's elections could serve as a sort of crossroads in Wyoming politics. Legislative races will prove to be more competitive than in the past and this will spill over into the 2010 county level races as population changes start making an impact. Wyoming is changing rapidly and this will be reflected in its political system.

Editor’s Note: Alabama native Brandon Owens left the political wars in the south for Wyoming, where he served for 10 months as Executive Director of the Wyoming Democratic Party. Owens, who departed the Wyoming job in April, now works as a political campaign consultant in Reno, Nevada.