Current:Home > Contact-usPolitical newcomers seek to beat U.S. House, Senate incumbents in Wyoming-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Political newcomers seek to beat U.S. House, Senate incumbents in Wyoming
View Date:2024-12-23 18:29:33
Republicans will decide in Wyoming’s primaries Tuesday whether to stick with long-serving U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and the first-term congresswoman who ousted Liz Cheney two years ago, Harriet Hageman.
As in the Republican primary, Democratic candidates with no previous political experience are running for U.S. House and Senate. Unlike in the GOP contests, those two Democrats are unopposed.
Meanwhile, the primary in super-conservative Wyoming — the state that has voted for Donald Trump by a wider margin than any other — is also the first time Democrats are barred from switching party registration at the last minute to participate in the livelier Republican contest. A new law bans “crossover” registration at the polls and for three months before primary day — potentially cementing the Republican dominance that has rendered Democrats nearly extinct.
The Republican-dominated Legislature passed the law in 2023 amid GOP grumbling that Democrats changing parties skewed GOP primary outcomes.
The Republican races have been low-key affairs compared to two years ago, when Hageman took on Cheney and denied her a fourth term by a more than 2-to-1 vote margin.
Cheney lost Republican support in Wyoming as a critic of Trump in a race watched far and wide. Recruited and endorsed by the former president to run against Cheney, Hageman went on to win office handily.
She’s served on the House Natural Resources and Judiciary committees in her first term.
Now, Steven Helling is running against Hageman in part as an opponent of new nuclear power amid plans to build a sodium-cooled reactor outside Kemmerer in western Wyoming.
This is Helling’s second run for Wyoming’s lone congressional seat. In 2022, he ran as a pro-Trump Democrat. He finished a distant third in the Democrats’ three-way primary.
Barrasso is seeking a third, full term after rising to prominence in the Senate.
He is chair of the Senate Republican Conference, the third-ranking position among Senate Republicans, and a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
He’s been an outspoken critic of President Joe Biden’s administration’s policies on immigration, fossil-fuel development and air pollution regulations.
An orthopedic surgeon and former state lawmaker from Casper, Barrasso is challenged by Reid Rasner, a financial adviser from the Casper area.
Rasner has been campaigning on a platform similar to Barrasso’s but argues for term limits. He criticizes Barrasso’s donations from defense contractors and refusal to debate him.
Scott Morrow of Laramie is the Democratic candidate for Senate and Kyle Cameron of Cheyenne the Democratic candidate for U.S. House.
Local races of note include Cheyenne’s mayoral primary, where the five candidates challenging Mayor Patrick Collins include local library employee Victor Miller, who calls himself the “meat avatar” for a ChatGPT-based artificial intelligence chatbot he says he created and calls “VIC.” Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray has said an AI candidate might not be able legally to run in Wyoming but local officials have allowed VIC, in essence, to appear on the ballot as Miller.
The top two vote-getters in the mayoral primary will face each other in the general election.
Polls statewide open at 7 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m.
veryGood! (1599)
Related
- As CFP rankings punish SEC teams, do we smell bias against this proud and mighty league?
- Occidental is Eyeing California’s Clean Fuels Market to Fund Texas Carbon Removal Plant
- Despite Misunderstandings, Scientists and Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic Have Collaborated on Research Into Mercury Pollution
- Journalists at Gannett newspapers walk out over deep cuts and low pay
- Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira set to be sentenced, could get up to 17 years in prison
- Olivia Rodrigo's Celebrity Crush Confession Will Take You Back to the Glory Days
- Chernobyl Is Not the Only Nuclear Threat Russia’s Invasion Has Sparked in Ukraine
- Calculating Your Vacation’s Carbon Footprint, One Travel Mode at a Time
- Vermont man is fit to stand trial over shooting of 3 Palestinian college students
- Taylor Swift Changed This Lyric on Speak Now Song Better Than Revenge in Album's Re-Recording
Ranking
- 'Gladiator 2' review: Yes, we are entertained again by outrageous sequel
- Text scams, crypto crackdown, and an economist to remember
- Heather Rae El Moussa Shares Her Breastfeeding Tip for Son Tristan on Commercial Flight
- Methane Hunters: What Explains the Surge in the Potent Greenhouse Gas?
- NBA players express concern for ex-player Kyle Singler after social media post
- See the First Photos of Tom Sandoval Filming Vanderpump Rules After Cheating Scandal
- Extreme Heat Poses an Emerging Threat to Food Crops
- Occidental is Eyeing California’s Clean Fuels Market to Fund Texas Carbon Removal Plant
Recommendation
-
Indiana man is found guilty of murder in the 2017 killings of 2 teenage girls
-
Amazingly, the U.S. job market continues to roar. Here are the 5 things to know
-
A landmark appeals court ruling clears way for Purdue Pharma-Sackler bankruptcy deal
-
For Many, the Global Warming Confab That Rose in the Egyptian Desert Was a Mirage
-
Why was Jalen Ramsey traded? Dolphins CB facing former team on 'Monday Night Football'
-
Chicago-Area Organizations Call on Pritzker to Slash Emissions From Diesel Trucks
-
How randomized trials and the town of Busia, Kenya changed economics
-
Is the debt deal changing student loan repayment? Here's what you need to know