The Wyoming Republican Party isn’t taking kindly to a lawsuit filed Monday by members of the Hot Springs County Republican Party and former state legislator Clark Stith.
In a Wednesday morning statement, the party accuses the bringers of the legal complaint of being “Liz Cheney Republicans,” in reference to embattled former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who has been one of the most vocal GOP critics of President Donald Trump.
“The reality is that Mr. Stith and the other Liz Cheney Republicans lack integrity on this issue because they use it as a tool to elect Liz Cheney Republicans when it helps them and ignore the issue when it would hurt them,” the statement reads.
There is no contact information on the statement that was posted to the state party’s social media, and it’s not clear who from the party wrote it. The party as a whole didn’t vote on its submission. Neither Wyoming GOP Executive Director Kathy Russell nor party attorney Brian Schuck responded to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
What’s It About?
On Monday, the newly elected leadership of the Hot Springs County GOP filed a civil complaint in Laramie County District Court against the state party for ordering the local party to perform a recount in its leadership election, instructing them to include previously not counted provisional ballots with the final tally that changed the final results.
Two of the three Hot Springs members on the lawsuit lost their positions as a result of the recount. That’s what happened at the local party’s Monday meeting, with Bradyn Harvey taking over the chair role and Russell Lewis becoming the new state committeeman. Stith however argued no vote was made by the local party members to conduct this recount and that the move was made by a “rogue minority.”
“Playing bully at a local county party meeting cannot make ineligible votes valid,” he said.
Stith, who’s representing the Hot Springs party members in the case, said he finds it particularly egregious that the state party successfully changed the local party’s election results.
“It’s just unfortunate the state party, which claims it wants election integrity, would go to such lengths to subvert a local county election, which shows they don’t believe in election integrity at all,” Stith said.
Hot Springs GOP State Committeewoman Cheryl Aguiar filed a complaint with the state party’s dispute resolution committee after the local party’s initial election in March, asking that the additional votes be counted.
These ballots were cast by county officers who are not elected precinct committeemen or women. If counted, those votes will change the results for chairman and state committeeman, races that originally ended in a 7-7 tie and had to be decided by casting lots.
The dispute resolution committee, chaired by Park County GOP Chairman Vince Vanata, ruled in favor of a recount. Stith compared this panel to a “kangaroo court.”
“It is absurd what interference the state party had at Monday night’s meeting,” Stith said. “It is absurd the level of interference the dispute resolution chair had in local affairs of Hot Springs.”
State Party’s Argument
Shuck and the leadership of the Wyoming GOP have consistently argued that a state law forbidding non-elected leadership in local parties from voting in their own county party elections is unconstitutional and violates the state party’s own bylaws.
In its Wednesday statement, the state party points to the 2018 federal lawsuit Utah Republican Party v. Cox, which delineated a separation between external and internal affairs of a political party, saying the state has no more say in these elections than it would “in the administration of the local Elks Lodge or bar association.”
As such, the state party argues that the Hot Springs matter is clearly an “internal” matter.
“Cox made it clear that “internal” political party matters are treated with great deference by the courts and will only uphold such a state statute if the high standards of strict scrutiny analysis are met,” the press release reads.
In 2023, the Wyoming Supreme Court handled a very similar issue involving an election in Uinta County. The court ruled that the local party there had erred by allowing non-elected members to vote and upheld the state law on the matter. The state party still asserts this law is unconstitutional.
Stith disagrees with the state party’s interpretation and the fact that state party members help nominate candidates to replace political vacancies shows that it is not a private social club but rather a state actor.
Although the state party argues that the lawsuit is now moot that a recount was held in Hot Springs, Stith disagrees and said they will continue to seek a court injunction on the election results before the next state party meeting on May 3.
He also hopes Secretary of State Chuck Gray will investigate the Hot Springs matter.
Liz Cheney Again?
Despite passing a resolution in 2021 to no longer recognize Cheney as a Republican, the press release spends two long paragraphs comparing the people who brought the lawsuit to her.
Although Stith supported Cheney’s 2022 campaign, he told Cowboy State Daily last year it was mostly out of isolated respect for her work in Congress rather than any kind of rebuke of Trump.
The party also argues that the “Liz Cheney Republicans” are picking and choosing when they want to use the state law, mentioning how an unelected party member was allowed to vote in the election, “but her vote was helpful to Liz Cheney Republicans, so they failed to bring it up.”
The Wyoming GOP has been a target of a handful of lawsuits over the last several years, most pertaining to who it allows to participate at its meetings. The statement compares this tactic to the many lawsuits Trump has received and said Wyoming Republicans should expect many more over the next 18 months as an effort to paint certain Republicans as extreme and drain the party’s resources.
“However, the 2024 election amply demonstrated that Wyoming Republicans see through such tactics,” the press release reads. “They believe they will this time as well.”
Although he’s a Rock Springs resident, Stith said he took up the lawsuit out of a concern of where the state GOP stands today. The former chair of the Sweetwater County GOP, Stith helped orchestrate a Republican takeover in the previously solidly blue Sweetwater.
“I have devoted much of the past 30 years supporting the party and served as a member of the state central committee for nearly a decade, so it saddens me to see the party in so much upheaval today,” he said. “Somebody has to stand up for the rule of law.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
