The state’s biggest political question before Tuesday’s primary election was whether the far-right Wyoming Freedom Caucus could gain enough seats to take control of the House, enabling it to slash and burn budgets and pass an extreme agenda on hot-button social issues.
Opinion
Wyoming is closer than I ever thought possible to putting the Freedom Caucus’ two-term Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett) into the Speaker of the House’s chair, with the power to appoint committee chairs and set the legislative agenda.
But there’s hope yet for those of us who abhor the potentially devastating impact of such a sea change. As Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and we won’t know until the Nov. 5 general election if the upstart caucus will have a clear House majority.
This particular numbers game has a lot of nuance. A number of chips still need to fall before any change of power moves the Wyoming Caucus — the more traditionally conservative, and once-all-powerful establishment Republicans — to the back seat.
Last year Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette), chair of the Freedom Caucus, said the group needs about 10 new members to have a consistent voting bloc to pass its legislation in the House. This year it could reliably produce 26 votes, which gave it enough to block any legislation it didn’t like from being introduced during the budget session.
During 20-day budget sessions, it takes a full two-thirds majority of the chamber to introduce non-budget bills, making obstruction easier. In a 40-day general session, the magic number to introduce bills in the House is 32.
The five Democrats in the 62-member House, while having no power to pass legislation on their own, generally sided with the Wyoming Caucus for key votes. Their outsized power last session kept the Freedom Caucus waiting in the wings, and they will play a critical role in this year’s general election.
There are six key races that will help determine if the Freedom Caucus reaches its goal.
Four contests will pit Freedom Caucus Republicans against Democrats. Rep. Ocean Andrew (R-Laramie) will take on Chris Lowry in House District 46.
Rep. Sarah Penn (R-Lander) will face Democrat Ivan Posey in House District 33.
GOP Rep. Jared Olsen, a Wyoming Caucus member, vacated his House District 11 seat in Cheyenne to run for the Senate. Newcomer Jacob Wasserburger won the Republican nomination, and will square off against Democratic former Rep. Sarah Burlingame.
In Cheyenne’s House District 41, Gary Brown defeated moderate Rep. Bill Henderson in the GOP race, and will face Democrat Jen Solis.
Rep. Clarence Styvar won the Republican nomination in House District 12 and has no Democratic opponent. However, independent Joe Ramirez is seeking enough signatures by Aug. 26 to get on the ballot to challenge Styvar.
The same scenario will play out in Sheridan’s House District 51, where Wyoming Caucus member Rep. Cyrus Western decided not to seek reelection. Freedom Caucus candidate Laurie Bratten, who ran unopposed, will likely face former Republican state Sen. Bruce Burns, who could be expected to align with the Wyoming Caucus.
If the Freedom Caucus wins at least half of these key races, it would have enough members to take control of the House. But to keep the magic number to just three, a trio of incumbent Democrats in Albany County — Trey Sherwood, Karlee Provenza and Ken Chestek — would also need to defeat Freedom Caucus hopefuls.
It’s not an easy path to avoiding a Freedom-Caucus-pocalypse, but it’s possible. This is the time for Democrats, independents, and anyone else who doesn’t want the radical right to control the House to join forces for the common good.
That includes traditional conservatives and moderates in the Wyoming Republican Party.
There will be 14 fewer House incumbents, with 10 Wyoming Caucus and four Freedom Caucus members losing their seats Tuesday. The Wyoming Caucus casualties include veteran Republican lawmakers Reps. Dan Zwonitzer, David Northrup of Powell, Tom Walters of Casper and Clark Stith of Rock Springs.
But the Freedom Caucus lost a few of its stars, too. Chief among them was Rep. Jeanette Ward of Casper, the self-described “political refugee from Illinois” who became the focal point of anti-Freedom Caucus sentiment. In addition to supporting a bill to throw librarians in jail for putting LGBTQ-themed books on public shelves, Ward proposed the failed “What Is a Woman Act,” which would define people by gender in state law.
Bear once described Ward as the “Joan of Arc” of the Legislature. GOP challenger Julie Jarvis beat Ward by 183 votes, which isn’t equivalent to being burned at the stake, but the conservative firebrand is likely feeling a bit crispy in defeat.
The Freedom Caucus did remarkably well for a coalition that only had about eight or nine members when it was formed in 2020. The leader of that movement, then-Rep. Tim Hallinan of Gillette, lost in 2022. Another founding member, Rep. Mark Jennings of Sheridan, lost his Senate bid Tuesday when he was defeated by Rep. Barry Crago, a member of the Wyoming Caucus.
Thirty of the House candidates endorsed by the Freedom Caucus won their GOP primaries. But 12 didn’t, including Kathy Russell, executive director of the Wyoming Republican Party. She took on Rep. Bob Nicholas, a Wyoming Caucus member in Cheyenne who co-chairs the powerful Joint Appropriations Committee.
But if the Freedom Caucus wins control, Nicholas will likely be replaced by Bear, who will lead the charge to cut state budgets past the bone. Look for public education, social services, mental health, and the University of Wyoming to get hit hard, but they will have a lot of company.
Anti-LGBTQ bills, additional abortion restrictions, and more public money for private and religious schools will also be in our future.
If you think your vote doesn’t matter in Wyoming elections, please think again. In House District 62, the Freedom Caucus candidate, Kevin Campbell, outpolled Edis Allen by only seven votes. Allen was endorsed by the Americans for Progress-Wyoming, a conservative group that backed mostly moderate candidates.
Bob Wharff of Evanston is another primary winner who complicates the narrative about the far-right’s hold on the Legislature. The former Freedom Caucus member when he previously served in the House, was chastised by Bear for “abandoning” true conservative causes and running a losing 2022 campaign for the Senate.
Although Wharff aligns with most Freedom Caucus positions, he had many negative things to say about Bear when he was taken to the woodshed two years ago. Bear may not be able to count on him for every vote, but I imagine he’ll make an effort to get Wharff back in the fold. Even if that isn’t successful, it doesn’t really matter if Wharff is a card-carrying member or not.
Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point. It needn’t, if enough people show up at the polls in November who don’t want Wyoming to swing even farther to the right.
The freedom caucusers are serious whackos that will ruin Wyoming. They are not Republicans and should not be called republicans. For all of you people that are writing in favor of them I am guessing you are cult followers that worship the Orange God.
I was born in Wyoming and have lived her 68 years. I have voted for many Republican and many Democrats. The freedom caucus represents themselves not the people of wyoming. Wyoming is about helping neighbors, helping friends
Coming together as a state. The FC is tearing people apart, tearing family’s apart. They do not represent the constitution. By the way are founding fathers did not expect us to follow them forever. They wanted us to grow and change and advance.
The freedom caucus is ripping our state apart. They will put us back 50 or 100 years or more. Remember separation of Church and State. Remember Women’s Rights.
Remember healthcare and let’s talk Mental health. That will all be gone.
You want your children educated well well forget that under the freedom caucus.
Without taxes we can’t exist. Wyoming Tsx structure is very fair. The freedom caucus want to cot them.
The freedom caucus has no ideas. They follow the great orange one. All you people that have moved into the state for example from California please go back home. Hopefully Jeanette Ward can go somewhere else. Recently I was in Casper and nobody I talked to in Casper Liked her. This was both Democrats and Republicans. She makes our state look stupid. She is another Bobert another Marjorie T. Greene. She has a big mouth and she doesn’t know when to shut up. Maybe she can find a nice deserted island to live on and can scream all she wants.
TO Harold comes last. You are suppose to use your real name and that is not yours. Man up or maybe Woman up and use your real name.
To Wyofile. You need no check out Harold. If it’s not his real name he should not be allowed to post
Having the opportunity to live in a “far right” (a.k.a. “freedom loving”) state is exactly why I left California for Wyoming. Keep up the great work, Freedom Caucus.
So glad that Wyoming can be your Far Right Wing Utopia. Did you think to ask the longtime residents if that’s what they want? We happened to get by pretty well since 1890. Well enough that you found it an attractive place to relocate. But, now that you’re here, you want to change it to be a Bastian of Christian Nationalism. No one asked you to come here, and we don’t care what you think. The “Freedom Caucus” may have won this battle, but the war is far from over.
It’s embarrassing that the state of Wyoming has become a refuge for the ignorant and bigoted refuse.
It’s amazing that politicians following what the Founding Fathers set forth are now considered “far right”. They’re far right because of how FAR LEFT others have went.
Thank you for naming names. I’m looking up all Wyoming Freedom Caucus candidates and donating. They’re only “far right” because you are so far left.
Just saw your comment after I left mine. EXACTLY on point.