The three contenders for the Wyoming Senate seat vacated this month by Darin Smith are all pro-life, pro-ICE, and pro-restriction of sexual content in children’s libraries.
But they differ in how they’d approach those issues with the weighty hammer of state law.
A group of Wyoming Republican Party precinct committee members from Laramie and Platte Counties on Monday chose Taft Love, Roy Birt and Jeff Barnes as three nominees to fill Senate District 6.
That district spans parts of Laramie County and all of Platte County.
Smith, a Republican freshman legislator from the Cheyenne area, resigned from that seat Aug. 11 so he could lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming as the state’s top federal prosecutor.
The Laramie and Platte County Commissions are scheduled to choose one of the three nominees for the position on Friday.
Love
Love is 50 and lives in Cheyenne.
He’s lived in Wyoming since 1994, when he was recruited out of high school by the National Finals Rodeo to compete for Laramie County Community College, Love told Cowboy State Daily Thursday.
He graduated with a degree in wildlife biology and range management from the University of Wyoming, then worked in field research and environmental assessment for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department of Tourism.
He started an outdoor recreation company and later leased out agricultural lands – until “Wyoming started to be consumed by five-acre lots” in the southeast corner.
Love said he and his wife had to change course at that point.
He joined the Laramie County School District 2 board in 2012, later became chair, and oversaw what he called an 18% increase student achievement.
Birt
Birt is 63 and lives in Wheatland.
He’s lived in Wyoming his entire life, and was born in Cheyenne, he told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Birt has been retired since 2011 from a 31-year career in the United Parcel Service.
He serves as a Platte County Election Judge, has been active in the Platte County GOP since 2016, now serves as precinct 1-1 committeeman, and helped with Smith’s 2024 campaign, says his bio.
He’s served as an elder in the Cheyenne Alliance Church and deacon in the Wheatland Memorial Baptist Church and Wheatland Bible Church and has led children’s ministries, the document says.
Barnes
Barnes is 67 and lives north of Cheyenne.
He’s lived in Wyoming for nearly nine years, after working as a police commander for the St. Louis, Missouri, Police Department. He retired from the Air Force and the Missouri Air National Guard after 32 years in the latter, and with the rank of Chief Master Sergeant.
He’s managed mission support contingency activities at Major Command level HG Air Mobility Command at the Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, says his bio.
Barnes has both firefighter and police experience and performed more than two years of law enforcement work while embedded with the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said Wednesday.
Barnes unsuccessfully challenged Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak in the 2022 election, as an independent. Though he’s a Republican and a precinct committeeman in the party, he said he ran as an independent because he felt that office should be nonpartisan.
First Up, Abortion
Abortion is a tortured issue in Wyoming.
Lawmakers have passed multiple bans and restrictions of the practice since Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022, only to find those same laws paused or blocked altogether by court orders.
Now the Wyoming Supreme Court is reviewing one of those orders, and whether the Wyoming Constitution’s promise of health care autonomy equates to an abortion access right.
The question for state legislators going into the 2025 session is whether they want to try to find other, unique ways to restrict abortion access, or leave the issue alone while the courts contemplate it.
All three candidates for Senate District 6 are pro-life, they said.
Love wants to watch the courts.
“I think we need to see where the courts play out with this before we just start throwing more bills at it,” he said. Yet, he added, “Life is extremely sensitive, and we also need to protect it.”
Birt said he’s passionate about this issue and doesn’t believe in exemptions for rape or incest, which has been a point of contention in the legislature.
Birt would like to watch the courts also, he said, adding the caveat: as long as the executive branch is defending the state’s abortion bans well.
“And I think that, given the right situation with the attorney general and governor, we could get this fixed in the courts,” said Birt.
Barnes, who said he’s pro-life but would consider “a lot of discussion” about incest, rape, or hazardous health situations, said he’d like to keep considering state restrictions while the courts contemplate abortion’s constitutionality.
“I think we have to look at options while the Wyoming Supreme Court is making its decision,” he said.
Nuclear
Two nominees they’re pro-nuclear development but want to vet, cautiously, legislative authorizations of nuclear waste storage in Wyoming.
A third, Roy Birt, said it’s not worth expanding the industry at all if Wyoming has to store more waste.
It’s a tricky point: proponents of expanding the state’s authorizations of nuclear spent fuel storage sites say waste storage is necessary to other parts of the industry, such as operating nuclear reactors.
It’s not one or the other, nuclear expansion proponents say.
Opponents of storing spent fuel, conversely, voice fears about the security of waste storage and transportation systems.
Birt said he’d consider nuclear-friendly policies “very carefully” and only if Wyoming didn’t have to store more spent fuel than it’s already authorized.
“I wouldn’t want have anything to do with the byproduct of it – storing that in Wyoming,” he said.
Love called nuclear “a super clean energy (with) a great future.”
It could help the power grids in Wyoming’s rural communities “drastically” and boost the state in other ways, he said.
As for greenlighting more waste storage permissions in Wyoming, Love said he couldn’t commit to that without reading the proposed legislation himself – and following it to its final version this session.
Barnes gave a similar viewpoint to Love’s, saying he’s pro-nuclear and familiar with the energy, from seeing it used to power military submarines and aircraft carriers.
“But the federal government nor anyone else has figured out what to do with what we call the waste product, and no state wants any of that in their backyard,” said Barnes.
He disagreed with proponents of the current legislation, saying he’s heard “some experts” say Wyoming wouldn’t have to bring waste back for refueling or storage to edge in on the generation/reaction market.
But, added Barnes, “I still have a lot of research to do.”
Kids’ Sex Books
All three nominees said they find some materials in school libraries and kids’ sections of public libraries sexually inappropriate for kids.
They differ on whether state law is the place to handle that.
Barnes indicated that it is.
He wasn’t sure Wednesday how that legislation would look, saying the civil fines currently being contemplated would only hurt the taxpayers.
Birt, conversely, said he’d “love to see” libraries keep sexually graphic books away from kids. But it’s a “local control” issue that’s up to local library and school boards.
In Wyoming, school board members are elected, and library board members are appointed by elected county commissioners.
County library system directors are not elected.
“Part of the Republican platform is civic duty,” said Birt. “We need to have people step up and fill in those library board positions.”
Love agreed that it’s a local control issue, and said local school boards “are a lot of times your best resource to protect those kids. But, Love said, he’d consider putting “some sideboards on it at a state level.”
“Our kids need to be protected against things that they’re just not ready for. We need to allow kids to be kids,” Love said.
This is just one area where Wyoming will find itself with more power and more accountability as the Trump administration shifts towards defederalizing education, Love added.
All three men are in favor of school choice.
Property Taxes
Barnes “stood out in the Wyoming weather helping to collect signatures” to put a property tax reduction on a Wyoming ballot initiative, he said.
He’s glad the legislature was able this year to enact a 25% property tax reduction on home values up to the first $1 million, added Barnes.
He said he’d review a consumption tax to make up for the lost local funding, but with caution in light of research showing that consumption taxes can hurt lower-income families.
Barnes said he’d emphasize cutting the state budget – including Gov. Mark Gordon-backed investments in carbon capture. He also questioned whether Wyoming public schools “need all these administrators?”
Wyoming funds school districts via a block-grant system. Some schools pull money recommended for non-administration categories to pay administrators and superintendents more — saying they must do that to attract good administrators.
Birt said he’d like to see “either/or” – property or consumption taxes. Not both.
The 25% property tax cut is enough “for now,” said Birt, adding “I do want efficient and responsible government.” The state can draw from its “rainy day fund” until it experiences a revival in traditional energy economies as well, he said.
Love said Wyoming should be cautious about this issue.
He doesn’t want to see an injured person call for an ambulance and find “the ambulance not able to show up.”
“Health and safety in our communities are super important,” continued Love. “We have to make sure those are adequately funded – and that’s going to come through some sort of tax generation.”
Love spoke of diversifying Wyoming’s economy, saying, “we’ve really taxed minerals and petroleum quite a lot: to try to put more on their plate might be difficult.”
ICE
Wyoming's sheriffs disagreed last year with state lawmakers, some of whom attempted to require every sheriff's agency in the state to make agreements with federal immigration authorities.
While a good idea in theory to the state's conservative-leaning sheriffs (who comprise the majority), they opposed the move because they said it would take away their negotiating power with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and disregarded the limitations of the smallest offices, who may have fewer than five deputies.
All three nominees say they support ICE and immigration enforcement.
Love said he would like to ensure that local sheriffs agencies retain their "flexibility" in these matters; and if the state is going to promote working with ICE, it shouldn't do so via an unfunded mandate.
Birt gave a similar answer, saying the state should seek "partnerships" but be mindful of limited resources in counties like Platte.
Barnes voiced general support for legislation that passed this year, banning local communities from passing policies to thwart ICE.
Your Top Three
Birt’s top three issues are the utilization of Wyoming’s coal, oil and gas; election integrity; and school choice.
He voiced strong support for traditional-energy sectors.
Birt also called a case of election mismanagement in Weston County “horrendous” and said he’d like to keep that “embarrassment” from happening in Wyoming again.
And he’s a “big proponent” of school choice and wants to review the Hathaway scholarship and other post-high-school education incentives.
Barnes’ top three issues are Wyoming’s role in the energy sector nationally; its support of its own energy industries; and is protection of water resources.
“We are in a drought. People are extremely concerned,” said Barnes. “We need to (identify) and maintain these water sources” especially as huge industries settle in Wyoming and bring thousands of workers with them.
Love’s big three are education; safety and health infrastructures; and reviews of taxation and budgeting.
He said he wouldn’t go so far as to change the section of the Wyoming Constitution that underpins a series of court decisions requiring high-level funding for public schools.
But he does believe the legislature can find more ways to pursue “efficiency” even within that court-imposed framework.
As for his infrastructure goals, Love said his priority is “making sure we have good fire and police and safety systems.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
