Share this:

Wyoming’s Republican Party strengthened its supermajority in Tuesday’s general election, picking up seats in the Legislature and retaining all five statewide elected offices as well as the state’s congressional delegation. 

Voters swayed especially to the right in the Legislature, where in 17 races Democrats failed to gain a single seat previously held by Republicans. Additionally, Republicans flipped two of the only seven House seats held by Democrats — Reps. Chad Banks (D-Rock Springs) and Andi LeBeau (D-Riverton) both lost their seats. The GOP also picked up House seats previously held by Libertarian Marshall Burt (Green River) and Jim Roscoe (Wilson), an independent who did not run for reelection.

In the Senate, the body’s only two Democrats — Sens. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) and Mike Gierau (D-Jackson) — were able to hang on against Republican challengers. In the House, Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie) held her seat against Republican challenger Bryan Shuster. 

Trump-backed Harriet Hageman won Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives against Democrat Lynnette Grey Bull. 

Gov. Mark Gordon will serve a second term after he defeated Democrat Theresa Livingston and Libertarian Jason Baldes. Wyoming’s other two incumbent statewide officials — State Auditor Kristi Racines and State Treasurer Curt Meier — ran unopposed. Both will also serve a second term in office. Also running unopposed, Rep. Chuck Gray (R-Casper) won his bid for secretary of state. Democrat Sergio Maldonado lost to Republican Megan Degenfelder in the race for superintendent of public instruction. 

A record number of independents and third-party candidates ran for legislative seats this year. However, all 17 of those candidates lost their bids, including incumbent Rep. Burt, who was the only third-party lawmaker at the statehouse. Libertarian candidate Bethany Baldes, who challenged incumbent Rep. Ember Oakley (R-Riverton), also lost her race. 

Bob Strobel, who ran as an independent for House District 22 after Rep. Roscoe did not seek re-election, lost to Republican Andrew Byron. Altogether, the losses mean the statehouse will no longer have any unaffiliated or third-party lawmakers. 

Six out of seven Democratic seats in the House had Republican challengers — two of which flipped to the right.

Former lawmaker Sarah Burlingame was one of 13 Democrats that challenged Republicans for House seats. Burlingame lost to Tamara Trujillo for House District 44, according to unofficial election results from Laramie County. The seat had previously been held by Rep. John Romero-Martinez (R-Cheyenne). 

After facing a write-in campaign from a candidate he had beaten in the primary election, Sen. Ogden Driskill (R-Devils Tower) won another term and is expected to become Senate President. He secured 4,785 votes over 1,579 write-in votes, according to unofficial SOS results. 

Voters faced two constitutional amendments on the ballot. Constitutional Amendment A was approved to lay the groundwork for municipalities to invest in stocks in the same manner the state does. Constitutional Amendment B, however, failed to get enough votes. It would have raised the required retirement age for Wyoming Supreme Court justices and district court judges. 

At press time, results from the secretary of state’s office were unofficial. 

Maggie Mullen reports on state government and politics. Before joining WyoFile in 2022, she spent five years at Wyoming Public Radio.

Join the Conversation

6 Comments

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Looks like we are going to have to see how Soviet style single party government works in Wyoming. My guess is that it will work about as well as it did in the Soviet Union.

    Reply

  2. I wish this story included a listing of ALL the legislature seats, candidates, and votes. Or, a link to such a list. This is an analysis with partial data. Thank you.

    Reply

  3. It’s going to be a tough place to live for awhile as the far right takes rights away and strips education down to “readin ’,ritin’, and Rithmatic” -keep our children ignorant like they are so they keep their base.they won’t support teachers or schools.
    Watch out infrastructure rot away. Governor Gordon and other sane republicans will have a tough time getting anything done.

    Reply
    1. Reply
  4. Reply
    1. Reply