CHEYENNE—Casper-based businessman Reid Rasner has officially announced his candidacy for Wyoming’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the second entrant into the race following Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s announcement at the end of 2025.
Rasner, a conservative Republican who previously unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Sen. John Barrasso in 2024 in the Senate primaries, is entering the race with a personal commitment of $1 million to his campaign to spread his self-described “America First” platform to voters across the state.
According to a news release, Rasner is a fourth-generation Wyomingite who hopes to dismantle the status quo in Washington, D.C. He stated he hopes to work alongside President Donald Trump to “codify every piece of his agenda into law.”
“I am a proud and unapologetic America First conservative who will work with President Trump to deport criminal illegals, get fentanyl out of our communities, stop Democrat extremists and protect what makes Wyoming great,” Rasner wrote.
A staunch conservative
Rasner’s policy goals focus heavily on economic independence, border security and traditional conservative values, according to his website.
A central pillar of Rasner’s platform is domestic energy dominance. He advocates for Wyoming’s fossil fuel energy industry, specifically supporting Trump’s “Drill, Baby, Drill” policies for oil and gas, revitalizing the coal industry and investing in uranium mining in Wyoming. His vision for the state also includes transforming Wyoming into a national hub for financial technology, using the state’s business-friendly laws and lower taxes to attract global companies.
Rasner’s website outlines several other political views. This includes advocating for term limits to ensure citizen legislators over lifelong politicians, cutting federal government spending he sees as wasteful and defending the right to bear arms, including firearm safety education in schools.
He also maintains that life begins at conception. His social media post criticized Tuesday’s Wyoming Supreme Court decision upholding the legality of abortion in Wyoming.
2026 election and implications
Rasner’s entry into the 2026 race comes at a time of significant transition for Wyoming’s federal delegation. The landscape shifted in December when Republican U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced that she would not seek a second six-year term.
This prompted current Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman to announce her intent to launch a bid for the Senate, a move that quickly garnered an endorsement from Trump.
The open seat in the House has already attracted other high-profile contenders.
Secretary of State Gray announced his bid for the seat on Dec. 29, running as a “MAGA conservative.”
In his 2024 GOP bid for U.S. Senate, Rasner earned around 25,000 primary votes, or about 24%.
TikTok bid and defamation lawsuit
Rasner’s announcement follows a turbulent year in the headlines, defined by a high stakes business bid and an ongoing legal battle. In early 2025, Rasner garnered international attention for a reported $47.45 billion bid to purchase TikTok after the platform was ordered to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Rasner proposed moving the social media giant’s headquarters and data centers to Wyoming or South Dakota.
However, by July, Rasner announced a “pause” on the acquisition, citing Chinese foreign policy and TikTok parent company ByteDance’s refusal to include the app’s core algorithm in the sale. Later, Rasner also cited comments made online that he said harmed his business reputation, ultimately leading to the failure of the deal.
This has resulted in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against former Wyoming State Sen. Anthony Bouchard. The lawsuit, filed in July, stems from social media posts in which Bouchard alleged that Rasner had a record of sexual misconduct while teaching at Casper College.
Rasner has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them a “malicious lie.”
In late 2025, an affidavit from Casper College President Brandon Kosine revealed that an exhaustive search found no reports of sexual misconduct or investigations involving Rasner at the school.
While the legal proceedings are ongoing, Rasner has indicated he will continue to seek legal action against those who shared those messages on social media.
“I’ve spent my career in the private sector getting things done, and I’m ready to take that know-how and the values of Wyomingites to Congress to Make America Great Again. I hope to earn your support as I crisscross the state,” Rasner wrote in his campaign news release.
At the time of publication, Rasner has yet to file for the race, and Gray is the only candidate to have officially filed so far.
In 2025, a campaign finance account emerged for Rasner under the office of governor. However, he never announced the run and confirmed he is not seeking to put together a bid for Wyoming governor in 2026.
(WyoFile editor’s note: In December, Bouchard filed a third party complaint against WyoFile, seeking to join the news outlet in the Rasner v. Bouchard litigation. WyoFile never alleged sexual misconduct on the part of Rasner.)
WOW! Are there that many people in this state that adore and are blind to the agenda these humans(?) stand for?
No surprise here as he’s been promoting himself and his business for a very long time across multiple media. Name recognition works, that’s how trump got elected. Seeing he’s a trump supporter and actually thinks the president is implementing an America first agenda (he’s not) is all I need to know so NO.
What a dream come true!’
A full tilt boogie ULTRA MAGA CAGE MATCH…Gray vs. Rasner…the loser will naturally cry “rigged and fraudulent” and demand a full investigation and won’t accept the results no matter what.
….or how about, THE BIG WYOMING LIE-OFF (with special guest George Santos)…the winner gets an all tax payer expenses paid vacation to Washington D.C. and an opportunity to meet the all time world champ DONALD J TRUMP!!
With masked goon squads roaming the country, prices soaring, and the rest of the world now hating us, come on Wyoming, we can do better than this….can’t we??
Whoever runs the Wyoming GOP establishment will keep providing these “winners”, and the people will vote for them. Too bad the Democrats cant offer an acceptable alternative.
That’s for sure Chad….and Paul, I don’t see the resemblance between the two men that you’ve noticed. To the best of my recollection, Craig Thomas was a moderate, decent, honorable man.
Oh good, another died in the wool Trump supporter. Just what Wyoming and America needs. At least he has not said that he wants to sell public lands. What happened to the Wyoming I knew growing up where Republican politicians could rightly be called moderates?
Wow, did he pick that picture for PR? Mega church pastor\Politician look that screams “do not trust!”.
interesting.
who ever wins the primary will be the favorite to replace barrasso.
rasner remind’s me of former senator caig thomas !
He wants our public lands. He wants to take the rights from Wyoming Women. He wants to kill environmental laws. Just say no to this Barrasso, Hageman, and Lummis clone.