The Republican National Committee and Wyoming Republican Party have not designated Cheyenne lawyer Harriet Hageman as the presumptive Republican candidate for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat.
Kathy Russell, executive director of the Wyoming GOP, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that the only resolution adopted by the RNC that would affect Wyoming’s congressional race was the censure handed down for U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney.
During its meeting in Utah, the RNC adopted a resolution censuring both Cheney and U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, for their work on the committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The resolution specifically withdrew GOP support from Cheney and Kinzinger, R-Illinois.
“Resolved, that the Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic …” the resolution said.
A number of media outlets, including Cowboy State Daily, the Washington Post and Washington Examiner, mistakenly reported a separate resolution was adopted recognizing Hageman as the presumptive GOP candidate for Wyoming’s congressional seat.
Under GOP rules, Wyoming’s three members of the RNC had to recognize the RNC’s withdrawal of support from Cheney.
However, Russell said at no point did the proceedings involve Hageman.
The reports of a recognition for Hageman by the RNC prompted a response from Joey Correnti IV, chairman of the Carbon County Republican Party, who called them “an unsupported narrative.”
Correnti, in a Facebook post he said represented only his own opinions, said he could find no evidence that any form of recognition had been given to Hageman during the RNC meeting.
He said the same was true of meetings held by various Wyoming county Republican parties where the decision was made to censure or withhold support from Cheney.
“At no time in any of these actions were any other candidates for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat mentioned, implied or presumed to have support or a presumption of nomination from the party at any of its respective levels,” he said.
It is a violation of Wyoming election laws for a political party to support one of its members over another during that party’s primary.
