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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Bonus Video 1: Friday, April 11, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bonus Video 1: Friday, April 11, 2025

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Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Politics

Government & Politics

This year's election climate could make the perfect storm for Libertarian candidate Shawn Johnson to win Wyoming's U.S. House seat, politicos say. That is, if he courts conservatives, and if the winner of the crowded GOP primary is hugely unpopular. 

Johnson, a Thermopolis-based attorney, two-term Casper City Councilman, and former combat medic earned the Wyoming Libertarian Party’s 

 to run for U.S. House, and is slated to appear on the general election ballot Nov. 3.

He’ll face the lone survivor of a hotly contested 10-person GOP primary contest, and the winner of a two-way Democratic primary election. Both major party primary elections are set for Aug. 18. 

“Of course it all depends on who comes out of the Republican primary,” said Tim Stubson, who served in the Wyoming House for nine years and ascended to two leadership positions as speaker pro tempore and majority whip. 

“But there are some candidates in the Republican primary with substantial negatives that could win. I think it could be a real contest going into the general.”

Stubson also campaigned in a fraught, nine-candidate race for the 2016 Republican nomination for U.S. House, which former Rep. Liz Cheney ultimately won.

This year, the winner of the 10-way GOP primary election could secure the “R” nomination with a mere 10.01 percent of the vote.

, however, that leaves 91,967 people willing to vote against him or her, based on the past 10 years’ election averages in Wyoming.

That figure translates to 39.2 percent of the general election turnout – more than enough for a third-party candidate to win a three-way race. 

If one assumes, however, that half the Republicans who were willing to vote against primary winner will swallow their disaffection and vote for him or her in the general election, then that gives the GOP nominee a solid 70,431 votes going into the general, and just 45,983 primary-election voters eager to vote against him or her.

[{"type":"text","text":"But the general election has nearly twice the turnout of the primary."}]

If one applies the same standard and assumes that half of the Republican-voting Wyomingites who skipped the primary but participated in the general will vote against the GOP nominee, then that buoys the “against” vote by 66,452.

That means a third-party candidate could capture 112,435 votes. The figure represents 47.9 percent of the general election turnout, based on the last decade’s averages.

“And that assumes that all of the Democrats stay home,” said Stubson. “I’m not sure that’s a safe assumption.”

This is especially true, Stubson added, if Secretary of State Chuck Gray wins the primary election. 

Gray has immense name recognition, but has also been involved in numerous controversies throughout his tenure. 

about-face on a widely publicized gravel pit

 project, and a decision to hand Wyoming voters’ identifying information 

“I think if you have a legitimate race – even though the Democrats might not agree with Johnson on many of the issues – Chuck Gray’s negatives are so low that if they (Democrats) think there’s a chance to beat him in the general, you could see (Johnson) peeling off votes from all sorts of people you wouldn’t expect,” he said.

The GOP contenders are Gray, state Senate President Bo Biteman, Teton County philanthropist Steve Friess, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, Casper-based veteran Kevin Christensen, veteran David Giralt, Casper businessman Reid Rasner, former legislator Keith Goodenough, Moran rancher Frank Chapman, and Richard Dodson. 

[{"type":"text","text":"On ‘Wasting’ Votes"}]

 waste their votes on a third-party candidate in the general election.

But the past 10 years’ election data for Wyoming’s general election indicate that, even if a solid half of Republican voters broke ranks to vote for a Libertarian in the U.S. House race, the Democratic candidate is still highly unlikely to win. At least, not without an unprecedented blue shift.

Wyoming voting data in the past decade of U.S. House races has been shifting red, not blue.

The Democratic House candidates from 2016 to 2024 have a maximum vote ceiling of 30.76 percent in the general election – and an average ceiling of 26.6 percent.

Republican House candidates in that same timeframe have won an average 67 percent of the vote and a maximum of 70.6 percent.

That’s more than two thirds, meaning, splitting the vote across two candidates with conservative appeal is unlikely to yield a Democrat win, the data indicate.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s even true for the election year of 2016."}]

The Republican candidate scored 62 percent of the vote that year, which is less than the two-thirds threshold. But the Democratic candidate only won 29.9 percent in that race, so, still not enough to win by unity alone, had a Libertarian split the GOP vote.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Minor-party candidates earned a collective 7.7 percent in that election."}]

Gail Symons, an analyst of state voting data and Cowboy State Daily political columnist, said the numbers show a path for Johnson.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s a dark horse. But it’s a possibility,” she added."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The rest depends on how well he courts conservative voters, she said."}]

“If he starts getting his name out there and is seen as rational Wyoming, like a real Wyoming person – because the Libertarian Party nationally is kinda whacko,” said Symons with a laugh. “But if he presents himself as a Libertarian with conservative leanings, and pulls into the areas that traditional, neighbor-type Republicans have gone for, I think he could pull it.”

The Wyoming Republican Party is fractured, between the more outcome-oriented, socially-conservative Freedom Caucus wing and the more process-oriented conservatives who don’t like to meddle with local governments. 

This could make the GOP ripe for third-party capture, both Symons and Stubson said.

The Freedom Caucus-aligned wing of the party aligns generally with President Donald Trump. Wyoming ventured a higher concentration of Trump votes than any other state in the past two elections. The president is pro-energy, which is a huge draw in the fossil fuels-mining state.

But Wyomingites also resist federal overreach and “really want to not have DC crammed down our throats,” Symons said.

Stubson said Johnson will need to amass monetary backing and name recognition – quickly. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Respect The ‘R’"}]

Rod Miller, longtime political columnist and former congressional candidate, said he doubts Johnson can pull it off.

“All those stats are right,” said Miller. “But that does not mean a third-party candidate, Libertarian or Constitution or Independent, will win the general election.”

It’s not that Republicans are loyal to the “R.” It’s that they’re complacent about it, he said.

If Johnson wants any hope of winning, he’ll have to “really blossom and pop out,” said Miller.

“I don’t think any of these people are capable of doing that. I just don’t,” he added.

Still, said Miller, for Johnson to wage a battle, he’ll have to capitalize on some voters’ disfavor toward the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, he’ll have to show charisma, and courage, and “enough balls” to take a firm stand against the Freedom Caucus wing of the party. 

[{"type":"text","text":"This Time, Says Bru"}]

The Libertarian candidates in those five general elections netted an average 3.35 percent of the vote.

From 2018 to 2024, the Libertarian House candidate was Richard “Bru” Brubaker, of Riverton.

Brubaker told the Libertarian convention on Sunday that he’s not interested in running this year.

He told Cowboy State Daily, “We’ve got a legitimate candidate this time.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Stubson agrees."}]

“(Johnson) has held elected office before,” said Stubson. “And he is a legitimate candidate.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Are Major Parties Going Fringe? "}]

Wyoming Libertarian Party Chair Zachary Padilla theorized that the political scene has reached a point at which the major parties have headed off the rails, and the Libertarian ethic now represents the reasonable approach.

Padilla gave Cowboy State Daily a phone interview Monday on his own behalf, not speaking for the party.

“He has the most sound logic,” said Padilla of Johnson. “The best ability to project the right message, you know, freedom; individual freedom, limited government, fiscal responsibility. He can articulate that in a way that I think will resonate with most Wyomingites.”

On the party’s behalf, Padilla said, “The American political system is rigged against the American people. They are forced to pick between two parties who are two sides of the same coin.

“In the past people haven’t voted Libertarian because the Republican Party lied to them about being fiscally conservative and limited government.”  

[{"type":"text","text":"As for Johnson, he said he’s in it to win."}]

His goal is to vault into public view,” so people know there’s a viable alternative to the Republican, and the Libertarian vote is not a wasted vote. And that I am a viable candidate,” he said.

“I don’t back down from a challenge,” said Johnson. “When I’m fighting for something, I’m going to go until the bloody end.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Buckle Up: More Numbers"}]

From 2016-2024, the average primary election turnout for the U.S. House race was 131,946 – or 58.5 percent of the general election turnout.

So, the general election is nearly double the size of the primary election.

The year 2022 skews that data. Its primary election tally for that race was 92 percent of the general election total.

That was the year now-U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman challenged then-Rep. Liz Cheney in the Republican primary and won.

In that same timeframe, Republicans have gained ground, winning a near-steady climb in U.S. House races from 62 percent of the vote in 2016 to 70.6 percent of it in 2024.

Never in that timeframe did the primary election ballot feature 10 Republicans for U.S. House.

But it came close in 2016, when Cheney beat eight contenders for the nomination with 35,043 votes – or 39.7 percent of the total.

[{"type":"text","text":"In This Simulation"}]

In the five past general elections, the GOP landed an average of 67 percent of the U.S. House vote. 

Splitting that average in half between an imaginary Republican and an imaginary Libertarian gives each candidate 33.5 percent - which puts each of them still 3.5 points above the Democratic candidates’ highest tally and 7 points above the Democrats’ average tally.

If the Libertarian candidate in this scenario won that half plus the historic Libertarian average of 3.35 percent to one of those conservative half-tallies, he would win 36.87 percent. Again, well over the one-third threshold for a three-way race victory. 

It’s unclear what could happen to the Constitution Party’s average tally of 2.3 percent. That isn’t factored into this simulation. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Who Is Johnson?"}]

Johnson, formerly of Casper and now of Thermopolis was an Army combat medic for 21 years and was deployed to Iraq in 2003-2004. He served as a Natrona County Sheriff’s jail deputy for 13 years, and a Casper city councilman for two terms including one year as vice-mayor in 2019.

Then he went to law school and earned his J.D. He’s been a practicing attorney in Wyoming in the areas of family law and criminal defense for two years. 

He ran for state House in 2020 and for Natrona County Commission in 2022. 

[{"type":"text","text":"He is married and has one son and two stepdaughters."}]

Johnson delivered a speech to the convention Sunday that listed numerous grievances against what he called an authoritarian government, and ended with an appeal to rugged individualism.

“Wyoming doesn’t wait for Washington (DC) to get permission. We didn’t build our destiny on government programs. We built it on grit. On courage. On self-reliance,” he said. “And the people who settled this land did not ask bureaucrats how to live. They weathered blizzards, droughts, isolation and uncertainty.”

He added: “They endured. Because they believed in something more powerful than just comfort. They believed in freedom - and that spirit still lives here.” 

Mix Collage 01 Jun 2026 04 34 PM 5352

<title>Why It's Possible For A Libertarian To Win Wyoming's U.S. House Seat | Cowboy State Daily</title>

This year's election climate could make the perfect storm for Libertarian Shawn Johnson to win Wyoming's U.S. House seat, politicos say. That is, if he courts conservatives, and if the winner of the crowded GOP primary is hugely unpopular. 

Why It's Possible For A Libertarian To Win Wyoming's U.S. House Seat

Jen kocher

Jen Kocher

Crime & Courts

Courts

The family of a woman killed by a distracted driver in downtown Sheridan a year ago said they feel slighted by what they call a lenient sentence handed down to the driver.

David Vincent Johnson, 34, was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of supervised probation and fines in Sheridan County Circuit Court on Friday after a nearly four-hour sentencing hearing.

The sentencing happened a year and a day after Johnson 

, who had been legally crossing in the crosswalk when Johnson hit her with his pickup.

Fitzsimmons had been visiting her daughter Kate Gladdin and husband Nate, from Australia, when she was struck.

She died of blunt force trauma to her head after being thrown more than 7 feet by the vehicle.

Johnson, who was not impaired at the time of the accident, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, which is punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.

In Wyoming, vehicular manslaughter can be either a misdemeanor or felony, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

To be considered a felony, the driver has to be driving recklessly or be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"High Bar"}]

Since Johnson was sober, as Gladdin explained in an earlier interview, meeting the standard of “reckless” is a high bar.

Johnson’s sentence was in accordance with the plea deal he agreed to, as did Gladdin and her father, Vince, to avoid the pain of a trial and to protect her mother’s dignity, Gladdin said.

However, Gladdin said she hoped that Sheridan County Circuit Court Judge Sheryl Bunting would have punished Johnson to the full extent of the law, as is her discretion given his past criminal history related to his driving.

At the time of the accident, Johnson was on probation for domestic battery and evading police in 2024, according to court records.

He pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to 90 days in jail with 88 days suspended and a year probation with six months supervised, as well as under $1,000 in fines.

Johnson also had a DUI in December 2023 in which he crashed his vehicle, and a handful of other driving violations that warranted his designation as a high-risk driver by the state of Wyoming, requiring him to carry SR-22 insurance.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Only Deeper Grief’"}]

Gladdin and Vince felt their impact statements during the hearing largely fell on deaf ears, and they expressed their thoughts in a statement to Cowboy State Daily.

Vince, in particular, feels his words were taken out of context by Bunting’s comments in her closing statement.

"In the closing remarks at the end of the sentencing, I was quoted as saying there is no penalty that will compensate our family for our loss,” he said. “That is true. But the request that came after it was left out.

“My statement asked the court to 'impose the maximum penalty possible against this perpetrator, both for his deep and extensive record, that he abused his grant of parole when he killed my wife, and to make an example to other drivers that they must respect, be cautious and aware of pedestrians.’

He concluded that, “Life is too precious to be cavalier about the safety of others.”

Taking him out of context implies that the sentence did not matter to the family. It did, he clarified.

Gladdin said that the 60-day sentence does not bring them comfort, only “deeper grief.”

“She lived by the rules and was killed by a man with a long history of breaking them, right up to the moment he killed her,” she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hopes To Close Gaps In Law"}]

Gladdin and her family are using their experience as an opportunity to change what they consider to be gaps in Wyoming laws when it comes to charging vehicular manslaughter as a misdemeanor.

The Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in May to ask the Legislative Service Office draft perfunctory legislation based on the points raised to discuss at their next committee meeting in Casper on Aug. 10-11.

This includes amending distracted driving to include texting or phone use that results in deaths, driving on a suspended or revoked license, fleeing law enforcement that leads to a fatality and to consider repeat traffic offenses such as prior reckless driving convictions for those who kill a person while behind the wheel.

Gladdin said she feels like strengthening the laws will hopefully prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies.

“We are left to wonder how this can be what the court called a teaching and learning moment for everybody, when the perpetrator once again avoids any real accountability for his crimes,” she wrote in her statement. “This time for killing a beloved wife and mother- and shattering our family forever.

Johnson’s attorney, Anna Malmberg with the Sheridan County Public Defender’s Office, did not respond to a request for comment by the time this story was published.

Run down Fitzsimons and intersection 5 16 26

<title>Family Says 60-Day Sentence For Driver Who Killed Woman Brings Them ‘Deeper Grief’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The family of a woman killed by a distracted driver in downtown Sheridan a year ago said they feel slighted by the 60-day sentence he got Friday. It brings “deeper grief,” not closure, said the woman’s daughter.

Family Says 60-Day Sentence For Driver Who Killed Woman Brings Them ‘Deeper Grief’

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

CHEYENNE — A 27-year-old man accused of shooting another man and leaving him bleeding in a Cheyenne street after a blowup over a former girlfriend pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of attempted second-degree murder.

Adrian Maggos sat quietly with 11 other Laramie County Detention Center inmates waiting to make pleas in their cases, seemingly listening attentively to District Court Judge Nathaniel Hibben run through their cases.

He was clean-shaven with short, dark hair and was wearing the typical bright orange jail jumpsuit and orange Crocs. His legs were shackled together with a thin chain, which rattled softly as he shuffled to the front of the courtroom to give his plea.

He didn’t say much, answering Judge Hibben’s questions with either a short “yes sir” or “no sir.”

When asked how he pleaded to the charge for allegedly shooting the other man in the early morning hours of April 30 and eluding the Cheyenne Police Department during an 

 before finally turning himself in, Maggos quietly answered, “Not guilty, your honor.”

The judge then set an Oct. 6 trial date for Maggos, while his attorney informed Hibben that a motion to reduce his $250,000 cash-only bond would be filed in writing.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘The Guy I Shot’"}]

While Maggos didn’t say much during his Monday arraignment, he reportedly made some potentially incriminating 

 after he was taken into custody, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case.

“How’s (the victim) doing?” Maggos asked an officer taking him to the detention center, the affidavit says.

“Who’s (the victim)?” the officer replied because he had “minimal knowledge of the case.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“The guy I shot,” said Maggos, 27."}]

That was the culmination of a convoluted series of events that ended on a central Cheyenne street a little before 4:15 a.m. April 30 with a man shot and bleeding while some witnesses gave medical attention and others fled the scene, Cheyenne Police Detective Jim Eddy wrote in the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Point-Blank Range’"}]

The victim suffered “life-threatening injuries due to a sustained gunshot wound that appeared to have been at or nearly at point-blank range,” Eddy wrote, relating information from staff at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where the man was taken.

“The projectile (bullet) most likely entered (his) body between his sternum and left areola, striking (his) diaphragm, stomach, colon, and lower rib,” the affidavit continues. “The projectile exited (the man’s) left flank.”

Maggos reportedly fled the scene after the shooting, the affidavit says, but more than eight hours later at about 12:51 p.m., he returned to the house in the 100 block of East Third Avenue, which is the home of a relative where he also lived.

Shortly after returning, “Maggos telephoned law enforcement and advised he was surrendering,” Eddy wrote. “Officers contacted Maggos, arrested him and transported him to the CPD.”

It was on the way to the police station that Maggos asked about the shooting victim, the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Adrian Shot Me"}]

When they arrived, Cheyenne police reported finding a man in the street in front of the house “bleeding profusely and appeared to have been shot,” the affidavit says.

The victim, who was still conscious and able to talk, told an officer who shot him.

“(He said) that Adrian Maggos shot him prior to being transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center via ambulance,” the affidavit says.

At the East Third Avenue scene, police interviewed four other people who were there or witnesses in some fashion at the time of the shooting, Eddy wrote.

There were two men and two women, with both women reportedly having a romantic tie to Maggos, according to the affidavit. One was an ex-girlfriend who had broken up with Maggos four days prior.

She showed up to the house in the early morning hours Thursday — driven by the victim — and argued with Maggos over an alleged sexual encounter with the other woman, the affidavit says.

While Maggos and his ex argued in the street, the victim got out of his car to defend the former girlfriend, and the confrontation turned physical, Eddy wrote.

At some point in text messages between them, the ex told Maggos that “she was coming to his residence to confront him,” the affidavit says. She “threatened that she would break the residence’s windows if he did not exit the house to talk with her.”

The victim drove her to Maggos’ house because they had been “hanging out” together and she needed a ride, Eddy wrote. When they got to the house, Maggos was outside and alone.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"They Fought"}]

“(The ex) exited the car and an argument ensued with Maggos on the west side of the home,” the affidavit says. “This argument escalated to the point Maggos ordered (her) to leave and threatened to hit her.”

That’s what prompted the other man to get out of the car and confront Maggos.

“(He) and Maggos argued, escalating in Maggos pushing (the man) to the ground,” the affidavit says. “While in proximity, (the ex girlfriend) verbally intervened, allowing (the other man) to return to his feet.”

But the two men began fighting again, pushing each other until Maggos was standing “physically over him when she heard a gunshot that caused her ears to ‘ring,’” the affidavit says.

The woman then started running, “and looked back toward the two men when she heard (the victim) say, ‘I’m sorry’ to Maggos,” Eddy wrote. “(She) then heard, but did not see, a second gunshot.

“Fearing for her life, (the ex) ran to a residence across the street and hid in a window well, eventually falling asleep.”

If convicted of attempted second-degree murder, Maggos could get between 20 years and life in prison.

Adrian Maggos 5 1 26

<title>Cheyenne Man Accused In Shooting Over Ex Pleads Not Guilty To Attempted Murder | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 27-year-old man accused of shooting another man and leaving him bleeding in a Cheyenne street after a blowup over a former girlfriend pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted second-degree murder. He allegedly asked police how “the guy I shot” was doing.

Cheyenne Man Accused In Shooting Over Ex Pleads Not Guilty To Attempted Murder

Public Safety

Bill Dohse was somewhere north of Billings, Montana, when he got the call Sunday that the body had been found.

As he always does while enroute to a search and rescue mission, Dohse pulled his pickup over on the side of the highway and stepped into the makeshift command center attached to his back bumper to start fielding phone calls.

While he wasn’t at the site of the search yet, his team was already busy coordinating where those on the ground should search for Brown’s body, leading to Sunday's sad conclusion.

He had been on his way to Oroville, Washington, to join the search for 42-year-old Matt Brown, former reality television star of Discovery Chanel’s “Alaskan Bush People.”

Brown had been missing since May 27, when he had reportedly taken his own life on the edge of the Okanogan River before being swiftly swept downstream in remote north-central Washington state near the Canadian border.

Dohse got word from search and rescue volunteer Chay Moore, who was on site at the river, when they discovered Brown’s body in the swift rapids.

The emotional gravity of that moment would catch up to all of them later, Dohse said.

At that time, it was all business. They had to notify the Okanogan Sheriff’s Office and safely recover the body as they waited for authorities to arrive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Family Grieves"}]

Brown’s brother Noah was also on site when Matt Brown’s body was pulled from the water, and he identified him for authorities.

Another brother, Bear, who was not at the scene, took to social media early Sunday to share the sad news with fans.

 posted Sunday that it appeared that Matt had taken his own life.

"I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly,” Bear said. “He struggled for a long time, as I've mentioned.

“And I was so worried he was going to end up, you know, like, OD'd or something like that.”

Matt Brown was the oldest of Billy and Ami Brown’s seven children and starred alongside his family in the reality television series, which followed their attempts to survive in the remote Alaskan wilderness, 

The show ran for 14 seasons over the course of eight years before ending in 2022.

A Cody-based search and rescue team helped coordinate the search for the body of “Alaskan Bush People” star Matt Brown. Brown’s body was found Sunday after he went missing four days earlier after allegedly shooting himself along a Washington state river.

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