ETHETE—Desirae Sylvia had never done anything like this — she’s not really into politics. But there she was on a Saturday morning in October, setting up art supplies and tables in a community hall on the Wind River Indian Reservation for a poster-making rally to support House District 33 Democratic candidate Ivan Posey.
“A lot of people are rooting for him, and especially the Native American population,” Sylvia said. Having a Native American in state office representing the reservation tribal communities, “that’s huge for us.”
The prospect was alluring enough to motivate Sylvia, who works at Pizza Hut in Lander, to wade into political activism. Others followed suit this fall with pro-Posey rallies and events on and off the reservation. Democratic-aligned groups contributed to get-out-the-vote efforts.
Posey, an enrolled Eastern Shoshone member and former Eastern Shoshone Business Council member who works in tribal education, is challenging incumbent Republican Sarah Penn, a nurse practitioner who lives in Fort Washakie, for the statehouse seat.
Though Wyoming is a red state, it’s not a long shot to run as a Democrat in District 33; the seat has changed hands between parties several times in recent years. It’s also bounced between Native and non-Native representation. Posey would reflect the district demographic majority if he won.
In addition, Posey stands to be the sole Indigenous lawmaker in the Wyoming Legislature. Sen. Affie Ellis (R-Cheyenne), a Navajo lawyer who’s been in office since 2017, will retire at the end of the year, leaving open the possibility of no Native representation.
Voter turnout in District 33 was low in the 2022 general election, with fewer than 2,000 votes cast in the race that Penn prevailed in over left-leaning Northern Arapaho incumbent Andi LeBeau.
That relative apathy could change this cycle. Penn established herself as a reliably right-wing vote and advocate in the statehouse, raising her profile with the powerful Wyoming Freedom Caucus and making her a favorite among its supporters. Posey’s candidacy, meanwhile, has energized reservation residents like Sylvia and Democrats statewide.
Add to the mix that the race may prove pivotal in determining the legislative balance of power between the hard-line Freedom Caucus and the traditionally conservative Wyoming Caucus and its allies, and Wyoming political junkies are closely watching HD 33.
The candidates
Penn touts the fact that she’s not a career politician as a plus. Her husband is a teacher on the reservation and her three children attended reservation schools. She initially felt moved to run for the seat by what she saw as unconstitutional mandates during the COVID pandemic, according to her campaign website.
Posey was born and raised on the reservation. The youngest of 13 children and a U.S. Army veteran, Posey served on the Eastern Shoshone Business Council for more than 20 years. He is the Tribal Education Coordinator for Central Wyoming College and serves on several boards, including the Wind River Development Fund.
The candidates’ platforms and priorities emerged during an Oct. 8 candidate forum in Riverton. The forum was notably civil, and the candidates agreed that property taxes are top-of-mind for many of the district’s off-reservation voters, education is a major concern on the reservation and jurisdictional boundaries complicate several of the district’s issues.
Differences also emerged: Penn, who often cites the U.S. Constitution, favors small government. She has concerns about Wyoming election security due to the use of electronics, she said, and believes the federal government has overreached when it comes to public land. She doesn’t believe the government should fund early childhood education, does not support Medicaid expansion and is staunchly pro-life.
“We should be tasked with protecting that life,” Penn said. “Life is life, and it should be protected from conception until natural death.”
Looking ahead, Penn said she wants to continue working on medical freedom measures, government transparency and securing funding to address illegal dumping in Fremont County.
Among the bills she sponsored in the Legislature:
- House Bill 115 – Donated blood-mRNA disclosure. This bill would have required blood donors to disclose vaccination status. It did not pass.
- House Bill 61 – Fiscal accountability and transparency in education. This bill would have mandated school districts to issue annual reports on resources spent on DEI or social activism-related programs. It also would have prohibited school districts from requiring employees and students to use a student’s preferred pronoun if the pronoun doesn’t align with their biological sex. It did not pass.
- House Bill 49 – By the people act. This bill would have required audio or video access to public meetings if practicable and specified that public comment be offered and minutes made public. It did not pass.
In terms of balancing the needs of reservation and off-reservation pieces of the district, Penn said, she held around eight town hall meetings during her term to hear concerns. She is reachable by phone and will make herself available to those who want to talk to her, she told WyoFile in an email.
Posey, meanwhile, isn’t overly concerned about election security, he said, as Wyoming has had very few instances of voter fraud. He supports Medicaid expansion and early childhood education. He does not think the government should tell a woman what to do in terms of reproductive health care.
“I am pro-life, but I don’t think it’s government’s role to make the decisions for a woman in terms of reproductive health so I believe that it’s still a woman’s choice,” he said.
When asked about specific legislative topics, Posey provided few details, instead saying he will get more up to speed if he’s elected. But he would like to address mental health needs, he said, and he stressed the importance of cooperation and civility.
“The roar of divisiveness sometimes overshadows the voice of the people, in my opinion,” Posey said. “To get things done, you have to work together. I view myself as an independent thinker, and I will listen, I will take all sides and I will make my position.”
The district
Stretching over 100 miles from the Wind River Range south of Dubois to the northern Red Desert, House District 33 is diverse in both its populace and its geography. The slender district encompasses the major reservation towns of Fort Washakie, Ethete and Arapahoe. It stops short of the Riverton city limits and narrows in its midsection to exclude Lander but encompasses the small non-tribal communities of Atlantic City, Crowheart and Hudson.
All told it covers 2,966 square miles and houses roughly 9,500 residents.
District representation has changed hands between Republicans and Democrats, as well as enrolled tribal members and white ranchers. Penn assumed office in 2023 after beating Democratic incumbent Andi Lebeau. LeBeau had won the seat in 2018, besting Republican rancher Jim Allen. Allen, meanwhile, had beaten LeBeau in 2014.
The last time voters were asked to elect a representative, fewer than 2,000 votes were cast. That was down nearly 25% from the 2018 election, when 2,579 votes were cast, and was the lowest general election turnout in the last decade.
Campaigning
Voter turnout is a big part of the Posey team’s strategy. Advocates cite several obstacles to tribal residents voting — from difficulty getting rides to the polls to indifference in voting for a state body they don’t see as truly representing their interests.
Early on, the Fremont County Democratic Party created “commit to vote” cards as a way to incentivize people to vote for Posey. “The people of the Wind River Reservation deserve representation,” the cards read, before taking a dig at the incumbent. “Current House District 33 Representative Sarah Penn spends more time mouthing extreme MAGA talking points than fighting for you!”
A political action committee called Common Sense for HD 33 also took aim at Penn, accusing her of voting against seniors, kids, schools and ranchers in favor of an extremist national agenda.
She addressed that PAC during the forum, saying it mischaracterized several of the bills she either supported or opposed.
“I just want to say that I was elected two years ago on the faith and hope that I would take a different approach to how government should be involved in our lives,” Penn said. “And I think … to have a PAC dedicated totally to opposing me, is evidence that I have upheld that promise.”
Penn didn’t employ specific get-out-the-vote programs during her campaign, she told WyoFile, and instead opted to “just meet people where they are — at home, through door knocking!”
Posey’s campaign schedule included more organized public events; he appeared at town halls in off-reservation communities like Atlantic City, did a meet and greet in Lander and attended a campaign-sponsored event in Fort Washakie.
Not your typical event
That event, a masquerade party, took place on a Saturday night in mid-October. Shortly after doors opened, people of all ages streamed into Rocky Mountain Hall donning Halloween costumes. Bagged meals and candy were available on a table up front. Three drum circles provided music as participants paraded around showing off their costumes, and an emcee reminded the crowd to vote for Posey.
It didn’t resemble a typical campaign event. But the Halloween-themed party was designed for his reservation constituents, Posey said, who prefer family oriented gatherings.
Aurelia Blackburn, 20, organized the event with 19-year-old Kalijah Day. Posey is Blackburn’s grandfather, but she also wanted to help him because she admires his community-oriented spirit, she said.
“I think he has a lot of support,” Blackburn said. He will have to overcome the support Penn carries, Blackburn said, and his supporters will have to overcome their own hurdles.
“People being able to go vote, getting a ride to vote, would be the biggest challenge for him,” she said.
It will be interesting to see how much out of state money the Freedom Caucus spent through all of their surrogates to try and prevent the Reservation from being represented by an enrolled tribal member. Representative Penn (who now states in her mailers that she lives in Lander rather than the Reservation) was a sponsor of several other bills that may be of interest to voters in HD33. One in particular, (HB124 https://wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2024/HB0124 ) would have prevented the Wyoming Department of Health adopting measures for vaccination to prevent or arrest the progress of smallpox. A review of her votes on the budget amendments is also very enlightening (https://wyoleg.gov/2024/Digest/HB0001.pdf). You can’t honestly say you support something if you vote against the funding that would make it possible. I encourage all voters to look deeper than the high gloss mailer cards we are being buried under and see how candidates vote, not what they say.
Good luck Mr. Posey. I don’t live in your area so I can’t vote for you, but I would if I could. It’s time to clean out the unfreedom caucus.