Albert Sommers, former Wyoming Speaker of the House, announced Thursday he will attempt to reclaim a seat he formerly held for more than a decade in the statehouse.
“Leadership matters,” Sommers, a lifelong cattle rancher, wrote in a press release. “Right now, the Wyoming House is too often focused on division instead of solutions. We need steady, effective leadership that solves problems—not rhetoric and political theater.”
Voters in 2013 first elected Sommers to House District 20, which encompasses Sublette County and an eastern section of Lincoln County. As a lawmaker, Sommers largely focused on health care, education and water issues. Over six terms, he rose through the ranks, serving in leadership positions and chairing committees focused on education funding and broadband.
In his announcement, Sommers highlighted his legislative work to establish funding for rural hospitals, prioritize “responsible property tax relief,” as well as the creation of the Wyoming Colorado River Advisory Committee within the State Engineer’s Office, “to ensure our water users have a voice in critical decisions affecting the Green River Valley,” he wrote.
As speaker, Sommers was a frequent target of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus as well as the DC-based State Freedom Caucus Network, even getting the attention of Fox News and other national, conservative news outlets. They often accused Sommers of not being conservative enough, and criticized him for keeping bills in “the drawer,” which has long been code for the unilateral power a speaker has to kill legislation by holding it back. (The practice of holding bills has been used to a much higher degree under Freedom Caucus leadership.)
In 2023, Sommers used the speaker’s powers to kill bills related to a school voucher program, banning instruction on gender and sexual orientation from some classrooms and criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors. At the time, Sommers defended his decision to hold back “bills that are unconstitutional, not well vetted, duplicate bills or debates, and bills that negate local control, restrict the rights of people or risk costly litigation financed by the people of Wyoming.”
He reiterated that philosophy and defended his record in his Thursday campaign announcement.
“I am a common-sense conservative who believes in getting things done. I support our core industries—oil and gas, ranching, and tourism—and I will continue to fight for the people and natural resources of Sublette County and LaBarge. I am pro-gun, pro-life, pro-family, and pro-education,” Sommers wrote. “I also take seriously my oath to uphold the U.S. and Wyoming Constitutions, which means I didn’t support bills that violated those constitutions. I read bills carefully and I voted accordingly.”
Following his term as speaker, Sommers stepped away from the House to run for Senate District 14 in 2024. He lost in the primary election to political newcomer Laura Pearson, a Freedom Caucus-endorsed Republican from Kemmerer, who also won in the general election. Her Senate win coincided with the Freedom Caucus winning control of the House.
“That race didn’t go my way, and I respected the outcome,” Sommers said in a Thursday press release. But “the direction of the Wyoming House,” since then, he said, has “raised serious concerns.”
Sommers pointed to the Freedom Caucus and its budget proposal, which, despite a funding surplus, included major cuts and funding denials. Ahead of the session, the caucus said its sights were set on shrinking spending and limiting the growth of government.
In his Thursday press release, Sommers criticized “decisions that cut food assistance for vulnerable children, reduced business opportunities, slashed funding to the University of Wyoming, eliminated resources for cheatgrass control, denied raises for state employees, and removed positions critical to protecting Wyoming’s water rights.”
Most of those proposals did not make it into the final budget bill.
Sommers also pointed to a controversy that dominated the 2026 session after a Teton County conservative activist handed out campaign checks to lawmakers on the House floor. Lawmakers in both chambers unanimously voted to ban such behavior before a House Special Investigative Committee found that the exchange did not violate the Wyoming Constitution nor did it amount to legislative misconduct. A Laramie County Sheriff’s Office criminal investigation is still underway.
But “controversies like ‘Checkgate’ undermined public trust, and decorum in the House deteriorated,” Sommers said.
“Transparency and accessibility will remain central to how I serve,” Sommers said. “As I’ve done before, I will provide regular updates on legislation, seek your input, and clearly explain my votes.”
Incumbent bows out
Rep. Mike Schmid, R-La Barge, currently represents House District 20, but announced Thursday morning that he would not seek reelection.
“It has truly been an honor to serve as your State Representative for House District 20. When I first ran, I had hoped to serve up to three terms and continue building on what I learned during my first term,” Schmid wrote in a Facebook post. “But life can change your priorities. Over the past year, my family has gone through some difficult times. My wife is dealing with serious health issues, and the death of my brother, Jim, just a few short weeks ago have made it clear to me where I need to spend my time.”
In March, Bill Winney, a perennial candidate and former nuclear submarine commander, announced he would run for House District 20.
The official candidate filing period opens May 14.
Kevin Lewis wrote in part: Of course judging somebody because of their political stance is just as bad as judging them by their skin color.
My deceased father served in the greatest anti-fascist struggle in history. Some of you are aware of it. It’s called World War 2. It was because my father and many many others judged Adolf Hitler by his “political stances” and found them atrocious.
I guess Mr. Lewis disagrees with my father and the hundreds of thousands of others who served the Allies in that hellish war.
United States went to World War II not on politics, but on the actions of the Axis. In particular the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Judging people based on their race, religion, political thoughts, disabilities, are all just prejudice. A sign of a person with a closed mind.
Albert Sommers is a fine fellow. But his actions as speaker had consequences in the House that hurt the House as an institution. He pushed a divide that has not existed since 1913 when that picture near the entrance of the House was broken over someone’s head and the divided House that has 2 pictures illustrating the divide.
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/riot-12th-wyoming-legislature-fisticuffs-house-floor
You see this everyday on WyoFile. with comments meant to deride people with a different stance. Freedumb Caucus, fascist… people cheer when someone on the right or on the left gets shot. Is that what you want Paul? A deep tribalism that ignores individuals and judges people because of their identity, and not their actions.
Think it through Paul. You just called myself a fascist supporting Hitler. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When in reality, I love my country and Wyoming. I have served with my time , my money and my actions. I volunteered to serve my country in the Navy in very dangerous duty on a submarine. I honor the men that fought in WWII that served on submarines by taking the action to follow in their footsteps.
Identity politics is divisive politics. It uses the broad brush that racism uses. it does not seek solutions rather it seeks division. That was my point. I can work with people on the right or on the left and often I see people on the right fully supporting people on the left.
What do you think when Steve Johnson HD 8 and a freedom caucus member cosponsors a bill to support a school with Senator Rothfuss a democrat? Both were deeply disappointed when the bill failed.
Your identity politics fails in that example. People practicing those identity politics on the right would say Senator Rothfuss is wrong, and people on the left practicing the same identity politics would call “freedumb” caucus member Steve Johnson wrong. But they are both on the same bill fighting for better education of Wyoming Children and a better University of Wyoming.
Paul, their actions matter. Your identity politics do not.
Rejecting politicians (and their fanboys) who support christian nationalism and a wannabe authoritarian president is not identity politics.
Yes, I am on the right side of the political spectrum. That means that I will be attacked because of it…. Chuck Davis. Of course judging somebody because of their political stance is just as bad as judging them by their skin color. That would be the persistent racism of the Democrat party since Jefferson all the way up to Johnson. Identity politics is the broadest brush of all. It divides and harms the discussions that would be far better if they were reasoned and vigorous.
Unknown to Chuck Davis, I am often a supporter of people on the left when I agree with them. Which is often. I have friends like Anthony Bouchard and Sara Burlingame. Both of whom question my taste in friends when the others name comes up. I have spoken at length with many Speakers of the House.
Rory Cross
Bill McIlvain
Colin Simpson
Pete Jorgensen
Ed Buchanan
Tom Lubnau
Kermit Brown
Steve Harshman
Eric Barlow
Albert Sommers
Chip Neiman
I have found all to be knowledgeable. Some were not good as speaker. Kermit Brown, Steve Harshman and Tom Lubnau were awful dealing with education and the executive branch. They damaged education greatly in the state. SF-104 ripped the state apart with an unconstitutional bill.
Sommers biggest accomplishment was division. That will last for decades. He hurt the institution. Consider his summarily dismissing ethics complaints. I know of three that were handled confidentially per the rules. All summarily dismissed despite the seriousness. There were quite a few that were sent to the press and became public instantly. Those were all summarily dismissed, and never properly investigated or prosecuted. It made the House appear to be unaccountable. It sent bad messages about the body.
Consider the ethics complaints involving John Romero. He threatened three female legislators with death. That stained his tenure as Speaker with a really bad decision to summarily defend bad behavior.
Or involving Karlee Provenza when she posted a meme on Facebook. That ethics complaint should have been prosecuted to the fullest. Why? Because political speech is the most treasured speech in America and I would have defended her vigorously. It should have been prosecuted to drive home the point. That would have been an affirmative defense of the house, not just of a single legislator.
He split the body aligning a Wyoming Caucus against a Freedom Caucus. He did not pick chairmen based on ability or to advance the House as an institution by distributing chairmen for the whole body. He picked sides.
Chuck Davis, you want to play the same politics of division and identity, rather than seeing that there can be common ground on many fronts. So while you ponder this comment… I think I will hang with Kermit and Ray, pondering why it is good to be different… not bad at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YyjHidYtMw
Your thousand word comments only prove that you support far right nonsense.
If a hyper partisan sycophant doesn’t like a candidate (for whatever reason), it makes the decision that much easier for the non-kool aid drinking voter.
What a relief to have a candidate with common sense (which isn’t very common these days…) running to represent my neighbors and me! I’ve known Mr. Sommers for over 20 years and he’s still the steady, knowledgeable, respectful man I met in 2004. Sommers is truly concerned about Wyoming. He’s not a freedom caucus goof with weird policies crafted by some Washington, DC Overlord. His candidacy is good for our entire state.
Many thanks WyoFile and Maggie Mullen for this very good news. Sommers is absolutely the best example of good (but not big) government. That’s a rarity these days with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus running the House.
Probably the worst House Speaker in Wyoming history.
If people like you don’t approve, that’s all the more reason to support him.
When it comes to electing the wrong people for public offices, Wyoming could probably do a lot worse than reinstalling Albert Sommers…
… and will inevitably do just that. ( To Wit: I’m writing from Park County )
If the freedumb caucus doesn’t like him then he’s probably pretty good.