CHEYENNE — From banning abortion to raising concerns about “East Coast professors” at the University of Wyoming, the Freedom Caucus of the Wyoming House of Representatives spelled out its priorities for the 2026 session of the Wyoming Legislature Monday, holding a press conference outside the Capitol immediately after Gov. Mark Gordon delivered his State of the State address.
The message was pointed and direct: The conservative caucus intends to challenge state spending, push election integrity measures and take on what they see as an out-of-touch status quo in Cheyenne.
Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, opened the press conference by laying out the caucus’s agenda for the session.
“The Freedom Caucus exists for the people of Wyoming. We are doing the work of the people,” Rodriguez-Williams said.
Those priorities, she said, include “fighting to right-size government by reining in state spending,” returning to pen and paper ballots in all 23 counties, making “God given parental rights enforceable,” protecting children from “obscene materials in public libraries” and opening “the courthouse doors to the people.”
Rodriguez-Williams took direct aim at the governor, framing the caucus’ positions as affirmative rather than obstructionist.
“Yes, to doing everything in our power to protect the unborn. Yes, to lower taxes. Yes, to a right-size government. And yes, to protecting kids from smut,” she said.
Gordon during his State of the State address also emphasized the value of unborn life. But he clashed with the Freedom Caucus on many budget objectives, asking lawmakers to restore his first-draft budget and reverse the caucus-led cuts and denials now in the second draft.
On the judiciary, Rodriguez-Williams was blunt.
“I believe that the greatest threat to democracy isn’t reining in an out-of-control judiciary,” she said. “What’s a threat is legalizing from the bench to kill people carte blanche — innocent humans. In this case, pre-born babies.”
Spending Fight
House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said the caucus is simply asking whether taxpayer dollars are being well spent — and getting attacked for it.
Neiman pointed out how it’s “extremely easy to get along with everybody” when “nobody fusses, if you just say, ‘How much money do you want?’”
A rancher from northeast Wyoming, Neiman pointed to the University of Wyoming’s staffing ratio as an example of the kind of question he believes deserves scrutiny.
“The university has 1.4 students for every employee,” he said. “I’m just going to ask a question. Is that sustainable?”
He also noted that the word “taxpayer” was never mentioned during the governor’s address.
“They need relief,” Neiman said, referring to Wyoming taxpayers. “They need to know that when we’re spending their money down here, that they’re getting the most value.”
Budget Warning
Rep. Ann Lucas, R-Cheyenne, said that the state is on an unsustainable spending trajectory despite what she called a false sense of fiscal security.
“If this budget was truly about essentials, government will be tightening its belt the same way that Wyoming families have,” Lucas said. “Instead, overall spending grows.”
Lucas said economic forecasts point to trouble ahead.
“According to our state’s own projections, we’re staring down an $800 million deficit in three short years,” she said. “The right time to rein in government is now before a downturn, not when you’re forced to the corner.”
She questioned the return on state economic development spending.
“Millions of dollars per job created, worth the money? Is this a good investment for us? I think not,” Lucas said.
Lucas also took aim at the governor over abortion policy, saying, “We wish he had cared so much for the unborn when he vetoed a bill to protect infants who were born alive after a failed abortion.”
She added that the Wyoming Supreme Court’s Jan. 6 ruling upholding abortion as a health care right “now makes Wyoming one of the most liberal states in the United States when it comes to abortion.”
University Pressure
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, fielded questions about the caucus’s stance on the University of Wyoming. Bear said the Legislature has been pushing to end DEI programs at the university and expressed frustration with what he sees as a drift away from the institution’s land-grant mission.
“We’ve seen the number of students dropping at the same time we’ve hired more and more professors from the East and West Coast to bring in values that don’t match the people in the heart of Wyoming,” Bear said.
He also pointed to a stark retention gap.
“Why does the university have 80% of its students leave the state? When our community colleges have 80% stay in the state?” Bear said.
Bear cited the Morrill Act, the federal legislation that established land-grant universities, saying it calls for “a practical education” — something he argued UW has strayed from.
With UW’s president warning of 160 potential job losses tied to budget pressures, Bear said the real question is where those cuts will fall.
“Will they keep the East Coast professors, or will they keep the ones that are teaching our kids how to ranch, how to work in the oil field, how to provide engineering services right here in Wyoming?” he said.
Nuclear Waste
Bear also addressed the question of nuclear waste, saying the caucus has “big questions” and is waiting on the federal government to issue disposal requirements that were expected in early January.
“We’re going to still wait on the federal government before Wyoming takes the waste from other states,” Bear said.
Election Integrity
Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who is aligned with the caucus, called for pen and paper ballots, a ban on ballot harvesting and a ban on drop boxes. He said these measures enjoy public support.
“Nobody can read barcode,” Gray said, referring to machine-printed ballots. “We need to have a pen to paper ballot.”
Gray announced he would testify the following day before the U.S. House Administration Committee in Washington, D.C., on election integrity measures. The Feb. 10 hearing is titled, “Make Elections Great Again: How to Restore Trust and Integrity in Federal Elections.”
Asked about a League of Women Voters petition with 2,500 signatures opposing the Freedom Caucus’s election proposals, Gray was dismissive.
He said the League of Women Voters has “largely been co-opted by the Democrat Party” and has “gone very woke, very left.”
Gordon did not mention lawmakers’ ambitious slate of at least 14 election bills poised to enter this legislative session.
Status Quo
Neiman closed the press conference with a defense of the caucus’s approach and an appeal to let the Legislature do its work.
“I ranch for a living. I have to do that. If I don’t have the money, I can’t spend money I don’t have,” he said.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Neiman added. “But if it’s broke and needs reevaluated, then thank God, as far as I’m concerned, as a taxpayer in the state of Wyoming, that I got a group of legislators and any others that are willing to take the time and the effort to look at it. And not just go along to get along.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
