It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, August 21st. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by ServeWyoming - Wyoming's center for volunteerism and AmeriCorps service for the last 30 years! For volunteer opportunities, visit ServeWyoming dot org"
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Wyoming’s primary elections are over - which for many districts in Wyoming means the decision has been made by voters already, who their elected representatives will be, months before the general election.
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The evening was marked by a number of unexpected upsets. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson highlights the races in which the incumbents were voted out.
“It was night of the upsets, is what I would call it… it would be very difficult to argue that the Freedom Caucus didn't have a successful night… Dan Zwonitzer, who was seeking his 11th term in the house, was taken out by Ann Lucas in a not particularly close race… Representative Barry Crago won his bid for the Senate over fellow Representative Mark Jennings up there in northern Wyoming. Both those legislators have quite a pedigree, just been in the legislature for quite a while… and then obviously Clark Stith, the number three member of the House, losing his race to Darin McCann, who is just a relatively unknown commodity in the political scene as well. Definitely was a shocker that I don't think many people saw coming.”
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One of the most significant upsets reported over the course of the evening was in House District 20, where Speaker of the House Albert Sommers lost the race to Kemmerer sheep rancher Laura Pearson.
“His district covers four counties, four different counties… the results were very, very late coming in in Lincoln, and that's where his opponent, Laura Pearson, collected all of her votes to literally surpass Albert Sommers at the end… she told me quote, I wasn't expecting it. But then again, over the last three months, I was going door to door, and she said she was out till like 2am getting home at night, she spent some time, you know, walking the pavement to knock on doors and get to meet people.”
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Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reported on two interesting races in Fremont County - in House District 55, incumbent Ember Oakley lost to Joel Guggenmos; and incumbent Lloyd Larsen came from behind to keep his seat, overcoming opponent Tina Clifford.
“He was losing early in the night with his main voting center accounted for. So all the lander in person voters, they favored Tina Clifford by 85 votes… and then the absentee ballots came in, pretty much the last count of the night, and he pulled ahead by more than 200 votes in the end.”
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Cowboy State Daily reporters were spread out across the state, from Sublette to Campbell counties, from Jackson to Cheyenne, and brought live results to viewers throughout the evening. Cowboy State Daily’s editor-in-chief, Jimmy Orr, said the coverage - and the commentary - was unprecedented.
“It was 100% network, TV… we had our six panelists, all experts in Wyoming politics, talking about the election results as they came in, and as they came in, the reporters popped up on zoom from their location… the panelists that we had on, were went across the spectrum of politics and our eloquent and knowledgeable… And then when you take a look at the guests that we had from US Senator John Barrasso, US Senator Cynthia Lummis, Representative Harriet Hageman, former governors Mike Sullivan and Dave Fruedenthal, it's just a fantastic conversation, and so much could be learned from just hearing these people talk about politics and where we're heading…and just to see the camaraderie that we all had. We're all Wyoming, speaking about Wyoming issues. That was a fantastic conversation, and how lucky we are to be able to do this.”
For in-depth coverage of Tuesday night’s primary elections, go to CowboyStateDaily.com, and read more about the issues and topics that influenced voters. You can also go to our YouTube channel, where you can recap the election night coverage.
I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
