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 financial consultant from the Casper area, and is now considered the clear favorite for the general election and 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 Senator 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 immigration policies and, in particular, of fossil fuel extraction and air pollution regulations affecting Wyoming, a major producer of coal, oil and natural gas.
“This is about Wyoming’s economy. It’s about preserving our jobs and our economy, protecting our resources and values and representing the people of Wyoming,” Barrasso said by phone after AP announced the campaign. “There’s a war going on from Washington against the hidden America, the people who put the food on the table and the energy that turns on the lights and fuels your car.”
Rasner held similar positions but was a supporter of term limits.
He called 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 little-known attorney Steven Helling, who ran as a Democrat in the last election and finished a distant third.
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.
Still, Hageman said she campaigned hard until the last minute, including a public event in her home region of east-central Wyoming late Monday night.
“You never take anything for granted,” Hageman said by phone. “We’ve worked very hard for this over the last eight months. Over the last year and a half, really from the perspective of doing what I thought the people of Wyoming wanted me to do.”
According to Hageman, recent successes include the inclusion of language in a budget bill that would remove grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area from the protection scope of the Endangered Species Act.
Hageman was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who in turn was the target of fierce criticism from 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.
Democratic candidates with no previous political experience faced no opponents in Tuesday’s primaries: Scott Morrow of Laramie for the Senate and Kyle Cameron of Cheyenne for the House of Representatives.
In the primary elections in ultra-conservative Wyoming – which voted for Trump by a larger margin than any other state – Democrats were banned for the first time from changing their party affiliation at the last minute in order to participate in the more lively Republican campaign.
A new law banned so-called crossover registration at the election and for the three months leading up to the primary election, potentially cementing the Republican dominance that nearly 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.
