I keep hearing my colleagues who belong to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus say that they have a “mandate” to make big changes to our state in 2025 now that they control a majority of the Legislature.
That could not be further from the truth.
The changes the Freedom Caucus wants include radically reshaping and privatizing our K-12 education system, silencing free speech at the University of Wyoming (which happens to be in my House district), making it harder to vote, and cutting the state budget to the point where hundreds of Wyomingites’ jobs and basic public services will be lost.
The Freedom Caucus’ mandate, they claim, comes from the fact that they won so many seats during the 2024 primary election against more moderate Republicans. It is true that the Freedom Caucus—with the help of lots of out-of-state money and political expertise—did impressively well in those primaries.
But winning seats in a primary election does not mean you or your agenda enjoy the broad support of the majority of Wyomingites, or that you have a "mandate."
The 2024 primary elections in Wyoming had the lowest voter turnout since 2016, eight years ago.
According to the Wyoming Secretary of State, there are 454,508 eligible voters in Wyoming, but only 122,718 voted in last year’s primaries, which brought the Freedom Caucus to power.
That’s just 27 percent of voting-age Wyomingites making the decision to begin with. For better or for worse, 73 percent of Wyoming adults did not choose any candidate in the primaries, Freedom Caucus or otherwise.
Now, if we look at the number of people who actually cast ballots in support of a Freedom Caucus candidate, the number shrinks even further, to 42,943.
If we compare that to the overall voting age population of Wyoming, that’s only 9 percent. Nine percent of Wyomingites voted for the Freedom Caucus in the elections that determined power over the Legislature.
That means that 91 percent of Wyoming adult residents did not vote for the Freedom Caucus. How can you say you have a mandate when that’s the case?
I can hear the response from my colleagues now: Well, if you don’t vote, then you don’t have a say in what happens. Too bad.
But that’s not how it works. Members of the Wyoming Legislature swear an oath to our Constitution to represent to the best of our abilities all the people of our district, whether they voted for us or not.
The Freedom Caucus does not have a mandate to bring about sweeping changes to our state on behalf of the 9 percent of people who brought them into power.
Instead, they have the responsibility to do their best to serve 100 percent of the people they represent.
The Freedom Caucus has made it absolutely clear that they have enough votes to do whatever they want, and they do not plan to let anyone get in the way.
They can do as they please. After all, they’re in power. But it is not true to claim that their actions represent the will of the majority of Wyomingites or that they have any kind of mandate.
Rep. Provenza represents House District 45 in Laramie. She can be reached at: Karlee.Provenza@wyoleg.gov
