Wyoming Voters Say Economy, Personal Integrity Among Main Worries

CHEYENNE — Even if America isn’t in a recession, that’s not stopping Wyoming voters from expressing concern about the state of the economy on primary election day.

“We’re in a recession even though no one wants to admit it,” said Isaac Lloyd.

Cowboy State Daily surveyed a number of Wyoming voters on Tuesday at several state polling places in Cheyenne to learn more about the issues that have informed their votes.

Brandishing a large wooden walking stick, Eleanor Perrin sidled up to vote at David R. Romero South Cheyenne Community Park on Tuesday afternoon. Perrin is a senior who lives on a fixed income. She sees the effects of the economy and inflation when she goes to the grocery store.

“Every time you go to the grocery store, I get less sacks for more money,” she said.

Jack Smith wants to see lawmakers bring business friendly policies to Cheyenne and Wyoming. He believes some politicians are enacting policies that will inhibit the state from growing.

Smith pointed to recent projects like the new Horse Palace Gaming and Off Track Betting complex in south Cheyenne as an innovative and open-minded approach to diversify Wyoming’s economy.

“We need to revitalize Laramie County as a whole,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunities close to Colorado to bring people in.”

The two biggest issues for Perrin are the economy and immigration. She blames the state of the economy on Democrats.

On immigration, Perrin believes the majority of immigrants entering into the United States illegally are criminals and that they are taking jobs, even though the country’s unemployment rate hovers at historic lows.

Integrity

Multiple people on Tuesday also mentioned concern about lawmakers who get elected and fail to keep their campaign promises, a long-held public perception of politicians that dates back to the American Revolution.

“We need to be getting the right people into office and getting rid of the incompetent, do-nothing politicians,” Mike Cordova said while loading into his motorized wheelchair from his truck. “They’re always promising all these things when they want to be voted in and then half the things don’t come true.”

Cordova complained that Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins made campaign promises that he would help fix the city’s roads, yet he believes the Capitol City’s byways are still in poor shape.

Michael Blakely had a better opinion of Collins and Wyoming’s highest elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman and Gov. Mark Gordon.

Blakely, who ran unsuccessfully for Cheyenne city council in 2022, believes there is a lack of honesty in politics, all the way from the White House down to local government.

“We need to judge them (politicians) on their deeds and hold them accountable,” he said at the Storey Gym voting center in central Cheyenne. “The last four years have been lies on top of lies at every level.”

Electing former President Donald Trump, he believes, will be one of the first steps to solving this problem.

Jeannine Jones is a Republican who said she’s most passionate about keeping reproductive rights for women and making sure Wyoming’s state budget needs are supported.

She worries that certain lawmakers are becoming distracted by national issues while neglecting the issues that are impacting Wyoming most.

“There’s a bunch of politicians getting involved in national things and that’s not what’s going with the state,” she said after casting her vote at Storey Gym.

Jones and her husband moved to Wyoming five years ago from New York. Compared to the Empire State, they consider Wyoming’s property taxes low and recent increases insignificant.

“What we’re paying here is only a fraction of what we were paying in New York,” Jones said. “I don’t think they’re that bad.”

Which Races Matter Most?

Dennis Scholl was most concerned with the Cheyenne mayoral race. In this race, there is a candidate who has vowed to hand off all decision making to artificial intelligence programs if elected.

Scholl said he wasn’t aware of that candidate but is most concerned with the crime in Cheyenne, which he believes has increased.

Lloyd worries that more people don’t pay attention to local races and solely focus on presidential races in an election year. He mentioned how his girlfriend didn’t even know there was an election on Tuesday.

Smith said the Legislature races will likely have the biggest stakes for the state’s economy as he believes Wyoming’s congressional members up for reelection, Sen. John Barrasso and Hageman, aren't at risk of losing.

“The federal races are pretty much set in stone,” Smith said. “Barrasso and Hageman are shoe-ins.”

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.