Republicans look to likely wins in Wyoming

STATE STATS

Voter makeup: As of the state’s August primary, there were about 225,000 registered voters in Wyoming. This is down roughly 12 percent compared to a decade ago despite a nearly 4 percent growth in the number of residents since 2010, according to census data. Only about half of the state’s population has registered to vote. About 80 percent of voters register with the Republican Party, which has had firm control of the federal and state offices for decades. Democrats make up just over 10 percent, and unaffiliated voters account for about 8 percent. Republican rolls grew by 8 percent in the last decade, while the number of Democrat and unaffiliated registered voters each fell more than 50 percent in the same period. Switching parties for primaries is a long-held tradition in Wyoming, especially for Democrats trying to influence Republican nominations in the state where the GOP has a trifecta and triplex. Under a law passed last year, voters cannot change party affiliation in the three months before the primary.

Voting: Same-day registration is allowed in the Cowboy State. Absentee ballots, available 28 days before the election (45 days for military or overseas voters), must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Wyoming voters must show identification when voting. If casting an absentee ballot, voters must only include a photocopy of identification their first time voting by mail. Military and overseas absentee voting began Sept. 20, and early voting for all other residents starts Oct. 8.

PRESIDENTIAL

Wyoming is reliably red, having elected Republicans for president since 1968. Former President Donald Trump received all 29 of the state’s bound delegates. In 2020, Trump carried the state with 72 percent of the popular vote and secured its three electoral votes. President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary in April before bowing out of the race. The state’s Democratic party unanimously pledged its 17 delegates to Kamala Harris.

U.S. SENATE

One of two Senate seats is being contested. Incumbent Republican John Barrasso, 72, was first appointed to the Senate when the incumbent died in 2007. He was elected to finish the term in 2008, and reelected in 2012 and 2018, each time with more than 65 percent of the vote. As chair of the Senate Republican Conference, he is the third-ranking Republican in the upper house and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Barrasso has criticized the Biden administration’s energy policies and encouraged increased oil and gas production on federal lands. He supports the lumber industry and encouraged the U.S. Forest Service to release more land for tree harvesting. Barrasso also proposed spending pandemic funds to complete the wall along the border with Mexico and is a staunch supporter of Israel.

Democratic candidate Scott Morrow, 70, ran unopposed in the primary. The career union representative is also a martial arts champion, and he raised five children as a single father. He is now president of a retired postal workers union. Morrow has called for expanding Medicaid, allocating more federal funds for first-time homebuyers and schools, passing the Equal Rights Amendment, raising the minimum wage, and reinstating Roe v. Wade. Morrow is a long-shot candidate against the well-financed, Washington-insider incumbent.

U.S. HOUSE

Wyoming holds only one at-large seat in the U.S. House. Republicans have held the office since 1979.

• Republican candidate Harriet Hageman, 62, defeated incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney in 2022 in a race that was largely seen as a referendum on Cheney’s loud criticisms of Trump. The fourth-generation Wyomingite is a lawyer who challenged federal overreach in court and is a staunch Trump ally. Hageman serves on the committees on natural resources and the judiciary. She has introduced legislation to rein in regulatory agencies and overhaul the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The co-chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus also co-sponsored a bill to restrict federal proposals for managing natural resources in the state.

• Democratic candidate, Kyle Cameron, 63, is a longtime grant writer, volunteer leader, and political activist who ran unopposed in the primary. She has staked her campaign on improving worker rights, increasing federal transportation funding, combating climate changes, and increasing access to contraceptives and abortions.

• Libertarian Richard Brubaker and Constitution Party candidate Jeff Haggit also received enough votes in the primary to be on the ballot.

JUDICIAL ELECTIONS

Chief Justice Kate Fox, appointed to the Supreme Court of Wyoming in 2014, and Justice John Fenn, appointed in 2022, are seeking to keep their jobs. The governor appoints Supreme Court justices from a list of three candidates provided by the judicial nominating commission. After a year in office, voters choose in the next general election whether to retain the judge for a full eight-year term. Fox has already served one full term, while Fenn is up for his first retention vote. All justices have been appointed by Republican governors.

Dig deeper:

• Read Lauren Canterberry’s report about Liz Cheney endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

• Read or listen to Nick Eicher and Mary Reichard explain the legal dispute at the U.S. Supreme Court and the decision regarding healthcare for Native Americans in Wyoming.

• Read Leah Savas’ report from December about court challenges to pro-life laws in Wyoming and other Western states.

Visit the WORLD Election Center 2024 to follow our state-by-state coverage between now and November.