Replacing Wyoming State Sen. Darin Smith, R-Cheyenne, is one step closer as county Republicans chose three people Monday to be considered for the seat that covers parts of Laramie County, and all of Platte County.
Smith resigned from Senate District 6 earlier this month when he was nominated to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming. He awaits U.S. Senate confirmation and is serving as the interim head of that office.
The top three vote-getters out of the 10 candidates were: Roy Birt of Wheatland, Taft Love of Cheyenne, and Jeff Barnes of Cheyenne.
Now it’s up to the county commissioners in both Laramie and Platte counties to choose one candidate from the list. They are expected to make their selection Friday.
The Process
The event to select the candidates was held at the VFW hall in Guernsey on an unusually cool evening for late August.
By the time the meeting started at 7 p.m., the temperature was only 75 degrees outside. But it was a seasonal 95 degrees in the building itself.
More than 100 people packed into the hall, and 48 of those were voters: GOP committeemen and committeewomen of Laramie and Platte counties.
The process played out like a game show.
Wyoming Republican chair Bryan Miller was the host and each candidate was paraded in front of the crowd and asked the same 10 questions.
There wasn’t necessarily a cone of silence, but no one got to hear the questions beforehand.
Each candidate had 30 seconds to answer each question. It was rapid fire.
The questions, a garden variety of topics one would expect at a Republican gathering, were developed by the chairs of the Laramie County and Platte County Republican parties.
There wasn’t a lot of daylight between the candidates.
One thing was certain, however: life begins at conception. The third question was about abortion, and everyone agreed on its answer.
The Winners
Birt, a 63-year-old retiree from the United Parcel Service who lives in Wheatland, was the top vote-getter with 24 votes.
Love, a small businessman from Cheyenne, and Barnes, a former law enforcement officer in Cheyenne, both received 23 votes each.
The Audience
The audience was not animated. They weren’t a tough crowd, but they were respectful and poker-faced.
The only candidate to make the crowd laugh was Barnes. When asked about the judicial selection process in Wyoming and if it should be changed, he answered matter-of-factly.
“I’m from law enforcement, so I’m not a big fan of judges,” he said.
Love managed to get some smiles and nods from the audience when he was asked about Wyoming’s economy.
“Tourism is our No. 2 industry in Wyoming, but I’m not sure if people are coming here to see wind turbines,” he said.
Birt was soft-spoken, but deliberate.
“God does not make mistakes,” he said, when asked if he had a favorite part of the Republican platform.
Respect for life. Guns and ammo. Property rights — all important.
“What matters most is family values. A man is a man and a woman is a woman,” Birt said.
This is a developing story.
Jimmy Orr can be reached at jimmy@cowboystatedaily.com.
