A retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and University of Wyoming engineering professor whose clash with some UW leadership exploded into the news cycle last year is running for a seat in the state Legislature.
Cameron Wright, 70, on Monday announced his bid for the Republican nomination for the Laramie-based Wyoming House District 46.
House Majority Whip Ocean Andrew, a 32-year-old Republican of Laramie, holds that seat currently and told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that he plans to run for it again this year.
But First, Those Headlines
Wright made headlines last year when he clashed publicly with UW President Ed Seidel and others, over whether UW leadership could send state money earmarked for the UW College of Engineering and Physical Sciences into a spinoff computing school – which Seidel’s romantic partner was then leading.
Wright was dean of the engineering college when the controversy began. He asserted that the money could not be used that way and refused to divert it into the computing school. Two state lawmakers wrote to the governor, warning that Wright could suffer retaliation.
Months later Wright was demoted from his post.
He later filed a legal challenge accusing UW of retaliation.
That suit’s “only purpose is to hold people accountable,” said Wright in his Monday interview.
The case is ongoing.
Wright told Cowboy State Daily that his struggle with UW leadership didn’t drive his desire to run. But it pointed people his way, he added.
“It made me (get) noticed by people, since I was willing to stand up for integrity, risk my job for integrity,” he said. “I think that’s what drove them, to ask me to run for the Legislature.”
Multiple people approached him, and he considered the prospect of running. He was already planning to retire at the end of this academic year, in August, he said.
The primary election is Aug. 18.
The Announcement
His campaign announcement, which he distributed Monday in a press release, says he believes Wyoming is at a turning point.
“We need leaders who understand the challenges we face and are ready to do the work,” the statement says. “I’ve spent my career solving problems, leading teams, and serving this country and this state. I’m running to bring that same focus and accountability to the legislature.”
Wright served for 30 years in the U.S. military, both enlisted and as an officer, in the Navy and the Air Force, says the statement, adding that he’s lived in Albany County for more than 23 years where he and his wife raised their son who’s now graduating from Laramie high School.
He told Cowboy State Daily he’s been a Republican all his life. He won’t be a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus or any caucus, he said, adding, “What I represent, would be the people in the district.”
His statement calls Wyoming “home” and lists his priorities as:
- Keeping Wyoming lands accessible and protected
- Building an economy “where families can stay”
- Strengthening core industries and growing new ones
- Supporting strong schools and workforce training
- And defending constitutional rights.
The Contest
Wright said he differs from Andrew in that, “I’ve got a lot of experience over the years representing different kinds of teams, and getting things done, and making decisions and advocating for various things.”
He continued: “I think he’s not made a lot of people happy, and they want me to be their advocate.”
Andrew noted in his own interview that that statement was fairly clean by way of campaign barbs, and said he didn’t wish to respond to it or Wright’s statement on a point-by-point basis.
“I think just generally it’s probably a good thing,” said Andrew of the opponent surfacing. “I’ve had many people in the race before when running for this seat, and I think it’s a good thing for people to have options. I welcome him to the race.”
Andrew is not listed as a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, on its website. He told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that he is not a member of the caucus.
He started a group called the “uncaucus” with two other legislators, he said, and it’s mainly a social group for all legislators to come together and talk regardless of alignment.
He’s held his seat since 2021 and became House Majority Whip in 2025.
Andrew chairs the House Education Committee and serves on the Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration. The recalibration committee is a temporary grouping of lawmakers who review and reevaluate what K-12 education costs in Wyoming.
The committee advanced and the Legislature ultimately passed a recalibration bill this year, for the first time since 2011. That follows pressure from the judicial branch to do so.
Andrew has been an ardent school-choice advocate, leading efforts to expand the state’s school choice scholarship program in 2025.
That program is paused by a court order. The public-school advocacy group challenging its constitutionality, however, weathered rigorous questioning at its Wyoming Supreme Court oral argument on the matter in February.
Andrew votes often with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus but has manifested a libertarian streak as well.
For example, in 2023 he sponsored the bipartisan House Bill 197, the “Defend the Guard Act.”
It didn’t pass, but it sought to bar Wyoming National Guardsmen from being deployed into active duty combat unless U.S. Congress has passed an official declaration of war or has explicitly called forth the guard under a constitutional provision to stave off insurrections and invasions.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
