By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press
Click here to view the unofficial results of all races.
Republican voters in Wyoming’s primary on Tuesday chose to stick with longtime U.S. Senator John Barrasso and U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman, the first-term congresswoman who ousted Liz Cheney two years ago.
Barrasso defeated Reid Rasner, a Casper-area financial consultant, and is now considered the clear favorite for the general election, which will give him a third full term in the Republican-dominated state.
Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon and former state representative from Casper, was first appointed to the Senate in 2007 following the death of Sen. Craig Thomas. He was elected to finish Thomas’ term the following year.
Barrasso rose to prominence as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the third-highest Republican position in the chamber, and as ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
He is an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, fossil fuel development and air pollution regulations.
Rasner held similar views but supported term limits, calling Barrasso “bad for Wyoming and out of touch with reality.”
Hageman, a natural resources attorney from a ranching family who currently serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, defeated Steven Helling, a little-known attorney who ran as a Democrat in the last election.
Compared to Hageman’s devastating victory over Cheney two years ago, in which the latter won more than twice, the election campaign was rather quiet.
Hageman had the backing of former President Donald Trump, who was heavily criticized by Cheney. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney lost support in Wyoming because of her criticism of Trump.
Helling campaigned, among other things, as an opponent of new nuclear power in view of the plans for a sodium-cooled reactor outside Kemmerer in western Wyoming.
In 2022, he finished third by a wide margin in a House primary contested by three Democrats after running as a pro-Trump Democrat.
Democratic candidates with no previous political experience faced no opponents in the primaries: Scott Morrow of Laramie for the Senate and Kyle Cameron of Cheyenne for the House of Representatives.
In the primary in ultra-conservative Wyoming – the state that voted for Donald Trump by a larger margin than any other – Democrats were for the first time barred from switching their party affiliation at the last minute to participate in the more lively Republican race. A new law banned “crossover” registration at the ballot box and for three months before primary day – potentially cementing the Republican dominance that has all but wiped out the Democrats.
The Republican-dominated legislature passed the bill in 2023, while Republicans grumbled that the Democrats’ party switch had distorted the results of the Republican primaries.
Notable local elections included the Cheyenne mayoral primary, where among the five candidates challenging Mayor Patrick Collins was local library worker Victor Miller, who describes himself as the “flesh avatar” of a ChatGPT-based artificial intelligence chatbot that he says he developed himself and called “VIC.”
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray said that while an AI candidate may not be able to legally run in Wyoming, local authorities have in principle allowed VIC to appear on the ballot as Miller.
The two candidates with the most votes in the mayoral primary will compete against each other in the general election.
