When things are close in an election season, it’s not uncommon for candidates and their supporters to make some aggressive, and sometimes questionable, last-minute campaign efforts in the last few days before the polls close.
That may be the case with a series of texts Gov. Mark Gordon’s Prosperity and Commerce political action committee (PAC PAC) has put out over the last few days, attempting to link a connection between Gordon’s group and former President Donald Trump.
On Thursday night, the PAC PAC sent out a text and a GIF saying that Gordon is standing with Trump. The GIF also quotes Trump saying, “Wyoming is a great state … and Wyoming has the best governor.”
That quote came at a private fundraiser Trump held in Jackson on Saturday that was attended by Gordon and Wyoming’s congressional delegation.
Sheridan resident Jeff Wallack attended the event and confirmed that Trump made the quote.
“He thanked everyone for being there, and I think he just wanted to give a complement to everyone who came,” Wallack said.
In the text, Gordon goes on to say he’s proud to stand by Trump and have his support.
“We need him more than ever, but it’s up to us to Keep Wyoming Great!” the text reads. “We can’t let Outsiders & Their Lies Ruin It!”
Disingenuous?
What Wallack said is disingenuous is Gordon’s use of the quote to bridge a connection with Trump and the state legislative candidates the governor has endorsed as part of his PAC PAC.
Trump has only endorsed one Wyoming state legislative candidate, Cheyenne resident Darin Smith for Senate District 6.
Gordon’s PAC PAC has endorsed one of Smith’s opponents and 48 other candidates around the state that are generally opposed by the farther right Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which passionately supports Trump. Conservatives aligned with the Freedom Caucus, like state Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, and Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, have been particularly vocal in their criticisms of Gordon.
“The voters of Wyoming deserve better than deception from their own governor, who appears to be attempting to buy himself a favorable state Legislature to push his East Coast ideology,” Steinmetz said.
Mark Macy, chairman of the PAC PAC, told Cowboy State Daily that Trump’s support and the candidates listed on its website are completely different subjects. He said these candidates are not supported by the PAC as Gordon-endorsees per se, but rather as people who have been subject to false and misleading information through mailers and other out-of-state attacks.
“In general, Governor Gordon supports those candidates that hold his vision of protecting Wyoming legacy industries — coal, oil, natural gas, tourism and agriculture; creating jobs and protecting the economy from runaway inflation and increased cost of living; providing meaningful property tax relief; transparency and honesty in campaigns,” Macy said. “These ideals are co-reflective in the Trump campaign, which is what we believe is the source of Donald Trump’s praise for Governor Gordon.”
Out Of Bounds
Smith told Cowboy State Daily that Gordon is “overstepping his bounds.”
“Governor Gordon is misinterpreting a casual comment from an event in Jackson to mislead Wyoming voters into thinking that the president supports his ‘green agenda’ candidates,” Smith said. “Gordon knows that if I win the Senate District 6 seat, his green agenda will face significant obstacles.”
The PAC PAC sent out another text earlier in the week, arguing that the “out-of-state agenda” includes legalizing hard drugs like LSD. This is in apparent reference to the campaign efforts of Virginia-based Make Libery Win, which spent more than $370,000 in Wyoming elections this year.
The University of Wyoming chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, the umbrella group for Make Liberty Win, held a drug legalization seminar earlier this year.
To equate the farther-right Wyoming candidates Make Liberty Win has endorsed with a drug legalization stance in most cases is a stretch at best.
Bear believes Gordon does not only oppose Trump, but also his policies.
He mentioned how some members of the Legislature aligned with Gordon voted to support a budget footnote that would keep Secretary of State Chuck Gray from using state money to file lawsuits. That vote came shortly after Gray filed an amicus brief with private money to keep Trump on the ballot in Colorado.
The campaign arm of the Freedom Caucus argued in political mailers this meant those against the footnote were voting to keep Trump off the ballot, which resulted in the filing of a lawsuit.
Gordon mentioned this in one of his texts, calling it an “out-of-state” lie.
“This is why the media is putting out the lying insiders’ narrative about the Trump vote, because the truth about this vote would fly in the face of the lying message that Mark Gordon is putting in his texts,” Bear said.
Trump-Gordon History
Trump’s comment about Gordon marks one of the few times, if ever, that Trump has said anything positive about Gordon publicly.
Their relationship started during the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, when Trump endorsed Gordon’s Republican primary opponent Foster Friess.
During that campaign, a group sent out robocalls criticizing Gordon’s opponents for being Trump supporters.
In 2022, Gordon met Trump at the airport when he came to Casper for a rally in support of U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman in her campaign against former congresswoman Liz Cheney. Gordon did not attend the rally.
During a 2023 radio interview Trump did with Wallack, the former president called Gordon “very liberal.”
During the 2022 rally and the radio interview, he also criticized Gordon for what he saw as a lack of help in getting a bill passed preventing voters from changing their party affiliation during election season, a process known as crossover voting. Trump called Gordon multiple times to try and get this bill passed in 2022.
“He’s a very liberal guy and I don’t think he represents the values and that’s the way he gets in, he gets the crossover vote,” Trump said about Gordon at the time.
But for what it’s worth, Wallack said Trump’s support for Gordon on Saturday appeared genuine.
Simply being present at the event was likely enough for him to get a shoutout from the former president, Wallack said.
Trump has shown a consistent propensity to throw out past rivalries and grudges against people who show him new support.
“It’s pretty cool. It’s a very nice thing for him to do to be able to put past issues behind him,” Wallack said.
But Wallack himself hasn’t changed his opinion about Gordon.
“Gordon supports liberal Republicans and Trump supports conservatives. It had nothing to do with Trump supporting Gordon’s candidates,” he said. “I don’t support a moderate, I support a conservative.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
