Nicky Ouellet: The Road to Cheyenne, our special series previewing the primary elections. For the next four editions of the Road to Cheyenne, we will be focusing in on a region of the state. We’ll [also] dive deeper into some money dynamics in this race.
To help me understand all of this, Wyoming Public Media northwest reporter, Olivia Weitz, and state government reporter, Chris Clements, are joining me. Thanks for being here.
Olivia Weitz: Good to be here.
Chris Clements: Thanks for having us, Nicky.
NO: For the purposes of this show, when we say the nworthwest, we're thinking Cody, Powell, all the way down to Thermopolis, and the Bighorn Mountains are our natural eastern boundary. Now, Olivia, you’ve been talking to people in this area. How are they feeling about this election season?
OW: I talked to voters at a popular coffee shop in downtown Cody and the recreation center. I asked if there are particular races or candidates they’re following, and what issues are most important to people.
NO: What stood out?
OW: Housing and property taxes were a big one. I caught Ernest Gordon at the coffee shop. He’s a therapist here in Cody.
Ernest Gordon: My dad grew up here, I moved here after I got out of the Marine Corps.
OW: He talked about what development looks like in an older town, place, like Cody.
EG: When you go to Jackson, everything’s in uniform. It looks beautiful. It’s so amazing. When you come here it feels a little disorganized, you got a building like this over here, a building like that or over there. I think it’d be nice if there was a little more organization.
OW: Gordon says he’s also concerned about housing.
EG: If I buy a $400,000 house in Cody, Wyoming with interest rates and a VA loan serving my country, I’m paying $2,800 a month to live in that house. That's insane. I don’t know what anyone can do about that, but I can’t buy a house right now.
OW: I also talked to Amy Skates outside of the rec center. She’s an insurance agent. She’s worried about property taxes.
Amy Skates: With the rising cost of everything, that’s a concern to a lot of people.
NO: What else did you hear talking to voters in Cody?
OW: One wanted to see increased school choice. A few people mentioned national issues. One didn’t want Wyoming to become a “sanctuary state” for immigrants.
Jim Ulmer: We’re lucky to be here in Wyoming compared to all of the other places
OW: Another talked about wanting to continue to send support to countries and peoples that the U.S. has already pledged commitments to.
NO: You mentioned that you asked folks if they’re following particular candidates – did anyone drop any names?
OW: Yes. I talked to Jim Ulmer, he’s a retired geologist. He said he supports Rep. Harriet Hagemen because she wants to take grizzlies off the threatened species list.
JU: I just know from living here my whole life there’s way too many.
OW: Ulmer also mentioned Matt Hall, Cody’s mayor, who is running for a house seat. He said he’s “known him for years” and “he’s a Cody person.”
NO: For sure not a scientific poll here, but taking the temp of voters around Cody. Let’s take a quick step back. Chris, remind us, how many Senate and House seats are up for grabs in this primary?
CC: All House seats in the state are on the ballot, as are 15 Senate seats. A big theme this year is how many Republicans are facing primary challenges from their own party.
NO: Right, this is the split between more moderate conservatives in the Wyoming Caucus, versus more far-right conservatives in the Freedom Caucus.
CC: Exactly. The Freedom Caucus got a loose start in 2017. By 2020, they claimed membership of nearly a third of the state House. And, last election, in 2022, they counted roughly 26 members.
NO: That’s almost half of the House’s total 62 seats.
CC: It’s been enough for them to veto bills on introduction. So we’re watching races that could reshape power in Cheyenne between the Wyoming and Freedom caucuses.
NO: Let’s dig into some of those races. Olivia, what’s on your radar?
OW: One of the races I’m following is House Seat 24 in Park County, which includes parts of Cody and the scenic area near Yellowstone National Park. Sandy Newsome, a moderate Republican, held this seat since 2019 but she’s not running again.
NO: Who is seeking her spot?
OW: Newsome is endorsing Matt Hall, a two-term mayor of Cody who voter Jim Ulmer mentioned. Hall has worked in real estate and insurance and for his family’s business. Hall says he has maintained a fiscally conservative budget, even with Cody’s growth, and worked on finding affordable housing solutions at the local level, two things he’d like to continue focusing on in the statehouse.
NO: And who is his opponent?
OW: Hall is running against Nina Webber. It’s Webber’s third attempt to win this seat. She is the current National Committeewoman for the Wyoming Republican Party. She’s worked in the oil and gas and healthcare industries, and served as a county clerk in Hot Springs County. Webber wants to reduce government spending, stop Medicaid expansion and vote against what she calls “radical school curriculum.” According to her website, she is endorsed by anti-abortion and second amendment groups.
Just to note, last year, Webber was accused of reckless shooting in an elk hunting incident. The charges were dropped. Webber said she was the “victim of a political ‘hit job’ by virtue of being the Republican National Committeewoman for Wyoming.”
NO: This race is interesting because it’s a kind of a blank slate.
OW: Yeah, it’s looking like Hall would try to continue what Newsome had done, and Webber would shake things up. But remains to be seen.
In a local newspaper article, Webber said that the Freedom Caucus follows the Republican party platform and that she agrees with their focus on second amendment rights and low taxes, among other issues. She also has said that she’s open to working with both the Freedom Caucus and the Wyoming Caucus.
Meanwhile, Hall’s website says he will “avoid the dysfunctional fights and performance artistry” in the state legislature and that he will focus on cooperation. The Wyoming Caucus backed him in a Facebook post back in March.
NO: Another race in your area I’m eager to hear more about [is] House District 50, the eastern portion of the city of Cody, Clark, Ralston, Heart Mountain and Sunlight/Crandall.
OW: Rachel Rodriguez-Williams is seeking a third term and this is the first time she’ll face a primary challenger. Rodriguez-Williams is a very visible member of the Freedom Caucus. She was the primary sponsor of the so-called Life is a Human Right Act and the trigger law that banned abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
NO: Who’s trying to oust her?
OW: David Hill. He’s an attorney based in Cody. His campaign website highlights his frustration with party in-fighting. He wants those abortion bans to go into effect. He also wants to expand access to mental healthcare, limit access to social media for minors, reign in property taxes, and he lists a slew of what he groups as personal freedoms. He opposes “red flag” gun laws and wait periods, opposes vaccine requirements and supports securing national borders. He wants to see lawmakers bring their unique perspectives and values to the capitol, and not vote in lockstep as part of factions.
NO: Let’s turn to the Senate. Of course, the Freedom Caucus is only an entity in the House, but many senators align with the Freedom Caucus’s priorities and they work in tandem at times. Tell me about the race in Senate District 18, that’s Park County, where a more far-right Republican is trying to defend the seat against a more moderate Republican.
OW: Tim French has held that seat since 2021. He aligns with the Freedom Caucus. He’s cosponsored bills that ban gender transitioning for minors and bar transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports. He’s pushed for a smaller state budget, lower property taxes, boosting school choice and Second Amendment rights.
French won his last primary in 2020 pretty handily over three others. This year, he’s facing a challenge from Landon Greer. Greer has been on the Cody City Council for eight years. He owns Asphalt Quality Paving, a company his father started. In interviews with local papers and on his campaign website, he says his main goal is to preserve Wyoming’s legacy for his children, he has eight, and future grandchildren.
NO: Why is he running now?
OW: He’s said he’s been thinking about running for years and it just felt like it was time. He wants to be a conservative voice and promote civility. He also backs lowering property taxes. He supports reducing regulations and fostering a business environment that keeps young people in the state.
NO: Another example of party infighting there. As we talk about the different caucuses in the state, Chris, you’ve been digging into finances for PACs [political action committees]. You recently reported that the biggest donor to the Wyoming Caucus last year was from Cody.
CC: Yeah, that was Jessica Case. She’s a school board trustee in Cody who donated $20,000 to the PAC. Case told me she’s been frustrated with the direction that politics are heading in Wyoming.
Jessica Case: I was concerned about people advocating for national agendas instead of local issues.
CC: Case also told me she’s most excited about local candidates running for office, like Cody Mayor Matt Hall.
NO: My understanding is the Freedom Caucus PAC had two top donors.
CC: I’ll start out by saying neither of those donors responded to requests for comment on their motivations for giving. One donor was Dan Brophy, a former commodities trader who lives in Wilson. He and his wife, Carleen, successfully sued the Secretary of State in 2014 to kill a limit on political contributions in Wyoming. Brophy also wrote an op-ed in Cowboy State Daily in 2021 that chastised Wyoming’s federal reps for not coming out against the results of the 2020 presidential election. He claimed that the election was riddled with voter fraud, though there’s no evidence to support that and numerous state and federal courts have disagreed with that conclusion.
The other donor was actually a trust operating on behalf of businessman Jay Kemmerer. Kemmerer is interesting to me because he hosted a fundraiser for the National House Freedom Caucus in Jackson in 2021, which generated a lot of controversy. He also recently sold Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
NO: Got it, so two big donors from Teton County. I want to dig into something our guest on the last Road to Cheyenne segment said. This was Andrew Garner, he’s a political science professor at the University of Wyoming. He talked about two different styles of campaigning: retail politics and air wars. Retail being the man on the street, volunteers knocking on doors, word of mouth. While air wars is more spendy: TV and radio advertisements, billboards, that kind of thing. He said retail politics is more effective in Wyoming.
CC: Right. Andrew told me recently that it comes down to so-called air wars as often being impersonal and somewhat ineffective in Wyoming, and in the U.S. more broadly. He pointed to field studies that political scientists across the country have done since the 2010s to see which campaign strategy was more effective. He said these studies tend to show two tactics work best:
Andrew Garner: One is providing information to voters, not necessarily about policy or about the candidates, but about where to vote, how to vote, when to vote, sort of the things they need to more effectively, turnout and vote. The other is more of a personal touch.
CC: Think knocking on doors, leaving handwritten notes. Part of the problem is that TV and radio ads cost a lot, and more rural races in our state tend to be operating on a smaller budget. That said, there’s a lot of nuance around choices like this.
AG: Think about a rural area where you have a huge geographic space and a few people spread out. Well now think about how much it costs in gas to contact every one of those voters, it may not now be cost effective. And so the radio ad may actually be more cost effective.
CC: Keep in mind, though, that many campaigns in Wyoming specifically don’t feel the need to operate using either strategy because of how safe their seats are, in general.
NO: How intriguing. Well, that’s a wrap for this edition of the Road to Cheyenne. Thanks for being here with me Chris and Olivia.
If you have a question about voting, the electoral process, specific races or candidates, feel free to give us a call and leave us a voicemail, at 307-766-4314. We may use your voicemail on the show, or you can fill out this form to ask any questions.
The Road to Cheyenne will be back on the next Open Spaces, July 12, and will be looking at the northeast part of the state. Thanks.
