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Wyoming primaries shift political power further to the right

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The Cowboy State's Freedom Caucus emerged victorious over the more moderate Wyoming Caucus in Tuesday's primary election. The night, which featured many surprises for the incumbents, marked the end of a heated campaign peppered with out-of-state money, negative mail and slander allegations, signaling a definitive shift to the right in one of America's most conservative states.

While the balance of power in the state Senate remained relatively unchanged, candidates supported by the Freedom Caucus gained at least three seats in the state House of Representatives, leaving them with 29 of the 62 seats in the House.

Whether the Freedom Caucus will take control of the State House depends on the November 5 election.

The primary was the first major election in Wyoming since the elimination of crossover voting in 2023. According to the Wyoming Secretary of State, the state saw its lowest voter turnout since 2016, with only 122,693 votes cast.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came in Western Wyoming, where outgoing House Speaker Albert Sommers lost a three-way race to newcomer Laura Taliaferro Pearson. Sommers has been in the House since 2017 and was one of the most vocal critics of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Other key players on the Wyoming caucus side who lost their elections: Speaker pro tempore of the state House of Representatives Clark Stith of Rock Springs, who lost to Darin McCann, and state Rep. Dan Zwonitzer of Cheyenne, who has served in the House since 2005, lost to first-time candidate Ann Lucas.

Zwonitzer read out the results due to the low voter turnout and the dominance of negative election campaigns.

“It was really hard for me, my dad and so many great politicians to lose their primaries last night. It's significant that we all went down together,” said the Cheyenne politician. “The people who are so angry about social issues are the ones who went to vote… I think that's what really cost a lot of incumbents, the disgruntled voters.” The Freedom Caucus did not escape completely unscathed.

Rep. Jeanette Ward of Casper lost control of the 57th House District to challenger Julie Jarvis. Rep. Mark Jennings lost his battle for the hotly contested 22nd Senate District to Rep. Barry Crago. And Wyoming Republican Executive Director Kathy Russell failed in her bid to defeat incumbent Bob Nicholas.

Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland), vice chairman of the Freedom Caucus, who easily won re-election in the House's 4th District, was proud of the result.

“Overall, I think we've seen a very positive outcome for the conservative voice in the state of Wyoming,” Haroldson said. “The Freedom Caucus is becoming a household name and will change the way we shape the legislative process in the future.”

In Wyoming, it was moderate Republicans who took the biggest hit, as unrest in the primary election led to the ousting of incumbents from a variety of political stripes and significantly weakened the country's leadership.

“I think this is an opportunity to rise to the occasion, to really make a breakthrough and see what the future looks like as we chart a different path forward for the government,” Haroldson said.

Zwonitzer sees this new territory as more of a cause for concern than joy, expressing disappointment at the loss of knowledge about local issues and the discrepancy between campaign issues and the legislative process.

“The loss of institutional knowledge, but also the loss of the eight of us who knew how to keep the Freedom Caucus in check. We were specifically targeted,” Zwonitzer said.

Both US Senator John Barrasso and US Representative Harriet Hageman won clear victories at the federal level.

Cy Neff covers Wyoming politics for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter. @CyNeffNews

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