U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo) speaks during a June 2, 2021 press conference. (Michael Cummo/Wyoming Tribune Eagle/Wyoming News Exchange)

Wyoming’s Sen. John Barrasso will run for Republican whip in the U.S. Senate — a position that would make him the chamber’s No. 2 ranking Republican. 

He had previously been considered a front-runner to take the Senate GOP’s top post after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced last week that he would be stepping down from the position in November. 

“I have had time to reflect on how I might best serve the Republican Conference and our country,” Barrasso said in a statement Tuesday. 

“After a lot of thought, I will ask my colleagues for their support and help to work for them as the Assistant Republican Leader.”

Barrasso, currently the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, serves as the Senate Republican Conference chairman, though he’ll soon be term-limited out of the job. The Casper physician has been in the Senate since 2007.

As whip, Barrasso would be the No. 2 Republican after the minority leader. The minority whip — a job that’s important to daily floor activity in the Senate — counts heads and gathers party members for quorum calls and votes, and also sometimes stands in for the minority leader. 

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo) speaks to an audience before the antler auction begins at Elk Fest in Jackson May 20, 2023. (Natalie Behring/WyoFile)

In a letter to his colleagues announcing his run for whip, Barrasso said he believes there’s a need for change among Senate Republicans. 

“One thing that is clear to me is that the Republicans in the Senate need to break from where we are now,” Barrasso wrote to his colleagues. “We need change. We need to stand up and fight aggressively for our Republican priorities.” 

If elected whip, he vowed to push for transparency, putting “consensus within our Conference ahead of deal-making among a few.” He also aims to align the conference’s priorities with the priorities of voters. 

“Between now and November, I will be doing everything I can to help us win the majority in the Senate. We will then prove to our voters that we are listening,” Barrasso wrote. 

Current Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and former Republican whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) are in the race for the Senate Republicans’ top leadership position, though there’s a chance other candidates will jump into the fray. 

Maya Shimizu Harris covers public safety for WyoFile. She was previously a freelance writer and the state politics reporter for the Casper Star-Tribune.

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  1. Reply

  2. John Barrasso is morally unfit as a US Senator or as a physician for what it matters. He clearly has no moral compass and can not distinguish right from wrong. He, like Cynthia and Harriet are Putin’s useful idiots. The least populated state is represented by people that accomplish nothing.. so fitting!

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  3. Our three federal ‘Reps” are clowns. They all worship the orange menace and talk propaganda. They don’t have a courageous bone in their body. They also want to control your wives and daughters bodies.

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    1. Well stated.

      When Freudenthal appointed Barrasso, he stated that his choice was made based on the likelihood he would never be elected to the office. Boy was he wrong. He apparently had no clue regarding Wyoming’s love affair with fascism. Barasso and Hageman are positively frightening!

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    2. My biggest complaint about sen Barrasso is that as a physician he should be promoting expanding Medicaid in the state of WY. He knows health care is not fair as it is and Medicaid would help people without jobs that provide insurance. There are plenty of people who have to forego preventative health care or even urgent health care because of the costs. That’s something I think he should be doing……

      Reply