© 2024 Wyoming Public Media
800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240
Wyoming Public Media is a service of the University of Wyoming
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Transmission & Streaming Disruptions
Follow Wyoming Public Radio as we cover the Equality State and U.S. elections online and on-air.

Cynthia Lummis Becomes First Woman To Win Wyoming Senate Seat

Cynthia Lummis

Cheyenne Republican Cynthia Lummis has won the U.S. Senate race in Wyoming. Lummis is a seasoned political figure in the state who served in the U.S. House for eight years from 2009 to 2017 and before that in the state legislature. 

When Sen. Mike Enzi announced his retirement, she ran against Laramie Democrat Merav Ben David, an ecology and zoology professor at the University of Wyoming who worked to put climate change at the center of the campaign.

Lummis said she had very different ideas on the issue from her opponent. For instance, Lummis disagrees with Ben David that climate change is driven by human activities.

"We have to recognize that most of the activities of climate change are caused by nature, not by mankind. And we're going to have to adapt to the fact that nature itself is causing most of climate change."

Lummis said she plans to work to heal the country's divisiveness by modeling courteous interactions and keeping communication open with her Democratic peers.

Lummis will be the first woman to serve as a U.S. Senator in Wyoming history.

Also, it was a historic race since all the candidates for Wyoming’s delegation in both parties were women. Liz Cheney ended up successfully winning a second term to represent Wyoming in the Legislature. Cheney beat out challenger Lynette Greybull, a Democrat from the Wind River Reservation.

 

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
Related Content