This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
A second Democrat tossed his hat in the ring for one of Wyoming’s U.S. Senate seats.
Political newcomer Billy Benavidez works at the Powder Horn Golf Club in Sheridan.
He told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he is not afraid to take a “wrecking ball” to the politics of Washington, D.C.
“The American people are going to vote for who they like,” Benavidez told the Tribune Eagle. “They want to see someone out of nowhere win and dominate. You can have all the qualifications in the world, but it doesn’t mean diddly-squat if you’re not for the people and by the people.”
Benavidez listed his priorities as dismantling what he calls the “overreaching” government surveillance state, letting a free market drive industry decisions and more public control over public lands.
Benavidez faces former state Rep. James Byrd in the Aug. 18 primary.
Wyoming hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since the 1970s when Gale McGee won reelection. McGee and fellow Democrat John Joseph Hickey served concurrently from 1961 to 1962.
