Today is Wyoming Primary Election Day. Wyoming Public Radio reached out to representatives of three voting blocks in the state. We asked them what they were watching out for today and what they are potentially concerned about.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Kamila Kudelska: We’ll start with Sen. Fred Baldwin. He tends to align with the more moderate wing of the Wyoming GOP, the Wyoming Caucus. He represents western Wyoming, including all of Sublette County, most of Lincoln County and parts of Sweetwater and Uinta counties. He’s been in the Senate since 2017 and is not seeking reelection.

Are there any trends you're keeping an eye on or things of note?

Fred Baldwin: The trends that I'm seeing is that there are much more personal attacks than I've seen in the past campaigning, much more money spent, mostly by out of state PACs (Political Action Committees), rather than the candidates themselves.

But as far as trends and what's going to happen, boy, I think it's very unpredictable.

KK: Have you ever seen it be so unpredictable before?

FB: I think it's fairly, fairly common knowledge that most of this boils down to a division in the Republican party. It's much more notable this time than it's been in the past. So, yeah, I think it's been unpredictable in the past, but I think it's not been as divisive and competitive as what we're seeing this time.

KK: You mentioned the out of state PACs putting a lot of money into this primary. Some lawmakers have filed lawsuits, [regarding] some of the literature going out to voters. Are you worried?

FB: I do share their concern and their worry. I think that a lot of the information wasn't necessarily true and it was sensational type things that were said on the flyers.

I think that it affects the election because I've heard people ask, “Well, you know, this flier says this about X candidate, is that true?”

So some people are looking at them and it may affect the outcome of the election.

KK: As you’ve mentioned, the Wyoming GOP seems pretty divided at the moment. We could see more of that as we head into the general election. Can you talk a bit about that and what that might mean for the state legislature?

FB: I've never been as embarrassed for the debate on the floor of the Senate as I was last year. A lot of that boiled down to the division between the very conservative, or what I'd like to call ultra conservative, Republicans versus the more moderate traditional Republicans.

During the last session, the division became more visible, more notable and it affected policy more than I think it's ever affected policy. I believe if we become too radical and there becomes too much of a majority of radical people that it's going to take a dire turn. We're going to lose funding for some of our programs that are really necessary for things like mental health programs and for a lot of the health care programs.

I mean, everybody wants to pay less taxes, but we've got to do it in a responsible way. I want to pay less property taxes, but I also want my schools funded. I also want my fire department, my county road and bridge, all those things funded.

We can't privately contract out snow plowing on our highways, for instance. It won't happen. We can't get enough employees to do the things that we have to do now.

Society as a whole, Wyoming citizens will suffer if the approach has become too radical as proposed by some of the members of the Freedom Caucus.

KK: Are there any issues with voting or wrinkles you think might happen or you're watching for in the primaries themselves?

FB: I'm very hopeful that there's no issues. I have a fear after the testing of the ballot machines was done in Laramie County. I have a fear that there's going to be more challenges. I don't think there's any problems. I'll be honest with you. I think our voting system worked well. I think the machines work well.

I don't think there's any invasion of those machines, but I do fear there's going to be challenges. Quite honestly, hand counting, hand tabulating, anything will be much more inherent with mistakes than machine counting. So I have that fear. I'm hopeful that won't happen.

KK: That was Sen. Fred Baldwin of Kemmerer.

Next I spoke with Rep. John Bear. He’s the chairman of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. He represents House District 31, which covers the eastern side of Gillette. He’s held the seat since 2021. He’s running uncontested in the primary and general.

Are there any trends you're keeping an eye on or, or things of note?

John Bear: I do see where it's probably the most competitive election that I've seen in a long time. It's good to see that there are very few races that are not competitive at this point.

KK: We’re talking about the Republicans within the primary, right?

JB: Yes, which in Wyoming really is the election because we're truly a one party state. We have a super, super majority of Republicans in Wyoming. So really the competition is between moderate to progressive Republicans and conservative Republicans.

KK: Is there anything that you think would make for a big surprise or upset with the primary election results?

JB: I would be shocked if there is a really large majority of either conservatives or progressive Republicans, because I really think that it's probably going to be a small adjustment from where we've been. If I look at the track record, the number of conservatives has been increasing. So I would anticipate that to continue that trend. Therefore, we would see probably six or so more conservatives, which would split the House right down the middle between progressive Republicans combined with Democrats versus conservative Republicans.

KK: Any issues with voting or wrinkles you think might happen that you're watching for?

JB: I don’t believe so. I think there were some issues there last week that came to light, but I do believe that the secretary of state and the county clerks worked to mitigate that issue. I look forward to a very secure and transparent election on Tuesday.

KK: What do you think, if anything at all, is different in this election cycle compared to the last?

JB: We do see more money involved in this election cycle. There's no doubt that you see more PAC efforts. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus had their own PAC. The Wyoming Caucus, which I call the more progressive wing of the Republican legislature, had a PAC. So there were a lot of different efforts going on.

The governor had a PAC, which many of these PACs were way more active in this election than they've been in the past. So I think you're seeing a lot more effort outside of the candidates campaign than we've seen in the past.

KK: Some lawmakers, I'm sure you're aware of this, have filed lawsuits regarding some of the mailings going out to voters. Do you share their concerns or not?

JB: I don't like outside money. I do believe it should be the people of Wyoming that are trying to get the word out.

When it comes to the legal challenges, I think we'll see those fall apart, much like the legal challenges against Trump. I do believe that is lawfare, which is trying to stifle freedom of speech.

KK: How do you hope the next session will turn out compared to the last?

JB: I would really hope, as I always do, that the legislature would be more closely a representation of the people of Wyoming. I do believe that no matter what the outcome, that's more likely to happen because more and more people are becoming familiar with what's happening in Cheyenne.

So I do believe that that will put pressure on legislators to be more representative of their constituency. And I think that's a great thing.

KK: That was Rep. John Bear, chair of the state Freedom Caucus.

Lastly, I spoke to Sen. Chris Rothfuss. He is a Democrat. He has represented Laramie since 2011. His seat is not up for reelection this year.

Are there any trends or things of note that you've been keeping an eye on?

Chris Rothfuss: I think this primary is really going to tell us a lot about the direction of the Wyoming Legislature for the next few years. There's obviously been a tremendous tension over on the majority side between the Wyoming Caucus and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. And this election will decide which way the people of Wyoming want to go.

KK: What do you think would make for a big surprise or upset?

CR: I think one that is plausible, and maybe a different race where we have a challenger on the Senate side, with Rob Hendry running against Charlie Scott [in Senate District 30].

You’ve got Charlie Scott as the longest serving member of the Wyoming Legislature, and you've got Rob Hendry as an established [Hot Springs] county commissioner that's quite popular in the community. That's a race that I think we're all watching because that would be a big change for the Wyoming Legislature.

That's one that I guess would be surprising, maybe not from the standpoint of it being an election upset, but just for what that would do for the Wyoming Legislature, to not have Sen. Scott in the general election later in the fall.

KK: Any issues with voting or wrinkles you think might happen or you're watching for?

CR: I don't have any concerns. I think our county clerks are exceptional. They do the job. I think the Secretary of State's office tries to overstate the problems that are out there. But really, if we just let our our high quality county clerks do their job as they have for many, many years, that won't have any problems with the elections other than those that have recently been engineered by the Legislature to further restrict access to voting, such as the elimination of crossover voting to deny and suppress voter turnout.

KK: Some lawmakers filed lawsuits related to mailers going out to voters. Do you share their concerns?

CR: What is happening with the deluge of external mailers and external funding, what's happening in the state of Wyoming, is really a disservice to our election process.

I would encourage all voters to take whatever mailers they receive in the mail and throw them directly into the trash. Honestly, they tend to be fraught with disinformation and misinformation intentionally by those that are sending them – again, based on out-of-state interests that are not reflecting what the people of Wyoming want, but what national interest groups want to see the state of Wyoming become. That would be regrettable if we actually move further down that path.

We've seen real erosion of the quality of the election process over the past few years due to these large out-of-state lobbyist groups that purport that they support freedom, when in reality, they're just trying to manipulate the people of Wyoming and their interests.

KK: Is there anything different in this election cycle compared to the last couple?

CR: Hostility has certainly arisen and that's unfortunate. We really focused over the years, in my view, on collegiality and treating each other with respect and kindness.

That is certainly not the case, based on the way the mailers are going out. That's unfortunate. We are basically becoming national politics due to these outside influences. I don't know anybody that really likes national politics more than they like the way that Wyoming has been doing things for years.

I wish we could go back about a decade and try to restore the Wyoming approach to elections and to politics and to the legislature, where we were doing things right the Wyoming way, as opposed to this national push.

Primary polling stations in Wyoming are open until 7 p.m. See live election results here.