State Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, believes he can bring positive change and help restore order to the Wyoming Senate.
That’s why Hicks announced Tuesday that he’s running to be the next president of the Wyoming Senate. One of his first goals, if elected, is restoring order to the Senate chamber.
“I want to restore normalcy to the Senate while trying to move forward a conservative agenda for Wyoming,” Hicks told Cowboy State Daily.
In a Tuesday press release, Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, announced Hicks’ candidacy for president, hers for Senate vice president and Douglas Sen. Brian Boner’s campaign for majority floor leader. She branded their ticket as a “conservative Republican leadership team.”
Senate President Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, said the press release took him by surprise as Hicks was the only one who let him know ahead of time that he was running for his position, which traditionally changes every two years. Driskill would not commit to supporting any of the three as of Wednesday.
“Me and Larry probably don’t see eye to eye on some policy, but we’re all friends in there, we’re all colleagues even if we don’t agree on policy,” Driskill said.
Who’s Hicks?
Hicks, now the Senate majority floor leader, has been in the Legislature since 2011. He’s served on many committees during those 13 years and has also served stints as chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Select Water, Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments, and Select Natural Resource Funding committees.
“To borrow a famous quote, ‘If not now, then when?’” Hicks said in the press release. “In my time in the Legislature there has not been a time when both houses were comprised of a conservative majority. In the recent primary the people of Wyoming have sent a crystal-clear message — they support and demand a conservative government.”
If elected Senate President, Hicks would become the first Senate President from the Baggs area to be elected to the position since former Sen. Bob Grieve, a Savery resident who served in the role from 1997-1998.
A resident of Baggs for the last 33 years, Hicks is a natural resources manager with the Little Snake River Conservation District. He also runs a small ranching operation with his wife, where they raise fox trotter horses.
‘Unprecedented’
Some of the dysfunction Hicks refers to happened during this year’s legislative session when a majority of the members of the Senate openly defied Driskill’s move to remove Senate Vice President Dave Kinskey, R-Sheridan, as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and voted against the budget that was passed.
“In light of all this indecision, I think I can bring some skills and stability to the Senate,” Hicks said. “I think I’ve got the experience where I can move this state forward.”
Driskill called Steinmetz’s press release “unprecedented.”
In the release, Steinmetz refers to her ticket as “common-sense conservative leaders in the Senate.”
“I’ve never seen a press release like that before,” Driskill said. “It was more of a sales pitch.”
Typically, the Legislature’s leadership elections are more of a behind-the-scenes affair, as the actual caucus elections are closed to the public.
The leadership positions are highly critical as the Senate president picks the chairs and members of all of the Senate committees. The president and vice president also coordinate the flow of bills heard in the chamber.
Driskill said one of the reasons he was surprised by the press release is that legislators usually lobby privately amongst themselves before the election, rather than make it a more public event. When campaigning for Senate president in 2022, Driskill said he spoke with every Republican member of the Senate twice and met in person with most as well.
Hicks said the reason they put out the press release was to encourage senators to start getting to work in preparation for the 2025 legislative session, which begins Jan. 14. If elected, Hicks will oversee what he considers the least experienced Senate during his time in the chamber.
“What we don’t have is time,” Hicks said. “What we don’t get done we might never get done. I want to see who’s ready to start pushing ideas forward. We can’t wait until mid-November. I think those discussions need to start happening now.”
Also unprecedented this year was some of the mudslinging seen among sitting senators during this year’s primary election, with Boner slamming the endorsements Driskill and eight other senators made for Sen. Jim Anderson, R-Casper, in his reelection campaign.
On the flip side, Hicks and Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, gave money to Wyoming Stockmen for Liberty, a political action committee that put out negative ads about Anderson, Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Thermopolis, and Senate candidates House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, and Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo.
“There’s a big difference between endorsing and putting out negative rhetoric and propaganda,” Driskill said.
Driskill also said the culture of the Legislature is visibly changing.
“In the new era, people are doing a lot of airing of laundry in public and don’t quietly go about our business,” he said. “I’ve always really worked hard to respect each other’s business, and I’m worried that’s something we’re starting to move away from.”
The Elections
Unlike Hicks, Steinmetz and Boner don’t have any formal leadership experience in the Senate, although the trio have 34 years of combined experience serving in the Legislature and have both been chairs of various committees.
Boner is also chairman of the Republican Senate Caucus.
In the press release, Steinmetz said they will invite members of the Wyoming Republican Party to their pre-legislative Republican caucus meetings, a status that hasn’t been offered to Chairman Frank Eathorne in a few years.
At the GOP caucus meeting Nov. 23, Eathorne and other Republican leaders like Steinmetz’s husband, Wyoming GOP State Committeeman Corey Steinmetz, will get a front row seat and lobbying position for the leadership elections.
The only position finalized as a result of the caucus is majority floor leader, as the entire Senate votes on its president and vice president.
Steinmetz said she’s not aware of anyone else running for leadership, but Driskill said he expects some others to throw their hats in the ring. Hicks said he’s heard rumors of as many as five or six other senators plan to run for president, but considers his chances of winning “outstanding.”
“I wouldn’t have run if I didn’t think I had a chance,” he said.
There probably won’t be as much drama for the Democratic leadership elections, as there are only two sitting Democrats in the chamber and three Democratic challengers running for Senate positions statewide.
Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, said he’s planning to run for minority leader in the upcoming session. Fellow Democrat Sen. Chris, Rothfuss, D-Laramie, has served in this position since 2013.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
