Rep. Gary Brown, a Republican lawmaker from Cheyenne with a criminal history including felony intimidation and harassment, lost his seat in the Wyoming House by a landslide in Tuesday’s primary.
Brown mustered about 28% of the vote, while his Republican opponent Erin Edwards won 72%.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, who pleaded guilty to drunk driving a month before the election, successfully defended his seat, narrowly clinching a victory with 50% of the vote to his opponent’s 48%.
Both incumbents have criminal histories that surfaced in the run-up to the primary elections.
In December, a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy stopped and arrested Allemand in Buffalo after a caller reported a possible drunk driver. The deputy then watched Allemand abruptly stop just short of hitting a passing vehicle at an intersection, authorities said at the time. Allemand, who faced Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer in the primary, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol on July 15.
Allemand’s DUI case surfaced previous domestic battery and trespass charges from when the lawmaker lived in Kansas in the 2000s.
The domestic battery charge stemmed from a 2001 incident in which Allemand allegedly “unlawfully, willfully and intentionally [caused] physical contact with another person … in [a] rude, insulting or angry manner,” according to court documents. The charge was dismissed after Allemand, a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, completed a one-year diversion program, according to court documents.
Allemand told WyoFile in July that the charges were dismissed because the incident “never happened.”
Then in 2009, Allemand was accused of violating a protection order after he was charged with criminal trespass for allegedly appearing at an address that was off limits to him by court order, and with harassment for allegedly calling the victim 27 times the same day, according to court records.
He pleaded no contest — meaning he didn’t admit guilt but nonetheless accepted the court’s punishment — to the protection order violation and was sentenced to six months in jail and a $200 fine. The other charges were dropped. Instead of serving jail time, he was granted 12 months of “non-reporting” probation requiring him to avoid contact with the victim, to obtain a domestic violence assessment and to follow any resulting recommendations, the plea deal states. Allemand told WyoFile in July that he knew “nothing about” the incident and charges.
Allemand’s Republican opponent, Boyer, is originally from Alabama and moved his family to Wyoming in 2016 because of “low taxes and less regulation,” he wrote in response to WyoFile’s candidate questionnaire. He works in the oil industry transporting crude. Though initially political allies, Allemand and Boyer clashed last year over a proposed nuclear microreactor manufacturing project that divided the Natrona County community.
Brown, meanwhile, served prison time in Colorado for felony intimidation, according to court documents and police records. Court documents show that in 1991, Brown was charged with two felony intimidation counts stemming from alleged harassment of an ex-girlfriend and a friend of hers in Larimer County, Colorado, where he lived at the time.
Prosecutors later brought additional charges against Brown — one felony count of criminal attempt to commit first-degree arson and one felony count of second-degree burglary of a dwelling. Police reports indicate that the property at the center of the case was Brown’s ex-girlfriend’s house in Loveland.
Three of the four charges were dropped in 1992, according to court filings, when Brown agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of intimidating a witness and victim. He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison. Wyoming restored his right to vote and hold public office, according to a copy of a certificate issued on Nov. 8, 2023.
Brown had other brushes with the law, including a 2013 conviction for misdemeanor harassment.
While Brown is not listed as a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, he regularly votes alongside the caucus and co-sponsors legislation with its members.
Brown’s Republican opponent, volunteer firefighter Edwards, ran on a platform that focuses on limited government, personal responsibility, supporting law enforcement and protecting constitutional freedoms, according to Cap City News. She vowed to support Wyoming industries such as agriculture and energy while protecting public lands.
Both Edwards and Allemand face Democratic opponents — Cheyenne Democrat Stacy Becker and Bar Nunn Democrat Keenan Morgan, respectively — in November’s general election.
WyoFile reporter Maggie Mullen contributed to this story.
