US Rep. Hageman secures Republican nomination in first bid for re-election to Wyoming’s House seat
By Mead Gruver, The Associated Press on August 20, 2024.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman has won Wyoming’s Republican primary in her first bid for re-election to the House, defeating a little-known attorney who ran as a Democrat in the last election. Hageman beat Steven Helling in a race that was low-key compared with Hageman’s trouncing of three-term Republican Rep. Liz Cheney by a more than 2-to-1 margin two years ago. A natural resources attorney from a ranching family, Hageman currently serves on the House Natural Resources and Judiciary committees. She has had the support of former President Donald Trump, the target of fierce criticism from Cheney. Helling campaigned in part as an opponent of new nuclear power amid plans for a sodium-cooled reactor outside Kemmerer in western Wyoming. In 2022 he finished a distant third in a three-way Democratic House primary after running as a pro-Trump Democrat. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Incumbent John Barrasso has won the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Wyoming. Barrasso beat Reid Rasner, a financial adviser from the Casper area, in his pursuit of a third full term. Barrasso is now heavily favored to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state. An orthopedic surgeon and former state lawmaker from Casper, Barrasso was first appointed to the Senate in 2007 after the death of Sen. Craig Thomas. He was elected to finish Thomas’ term the following year. Barrasso has risen to prominence as chair of the Senate Republican Conference, the third-ranking GOP position in the chamber, and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He’s an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, fossil fuel development and air pollution regulations. Rasner ran on similar positions but as a proponent of term limits. He called Barrasso “bad for Wyoming and out of touch with reality.” THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. 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. 34-33
