A Republican U.S. House candidate debate Thursday night in Casper featured both direct and subtle jabs, recurring speech patterns, bragging points and just a couple moderator interventions.
Nine candidates are running to win the GOP nomination to Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat at the Aug. 18 primary election.
Eight of those – not Keith Goodenough – answered questions Thursday night at Casper College in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Wyoming, WyoFile, and Wyoming Public Media.
The eight attending were: Philanthropist Steve Friess, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, state Senate President Bo Biteman, veteran and former congressional staffer David Giralt, veteran and former High Plains-District BLM leader Kevin Christensen, actor and singer Richard Dodson, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, and Casper businessman Reid Rasner.
Two Man Race
Friess in his closing statements asserted the race is actually between two people.
His campaign spokesman Tim Edson confirmed Friday that Friess was talking about himself and Gray.
"Our internal polling shows it is now a two-person race between Steve Friess and Chuck Gray - tied at 16%, with the rest of the field lagging behind," wrote Edson. "Despite 100% name awareness, Chuck struggles to get above 20% in his own polling -- because his unfavorable ratings are astronomically high. Steve Friess is now tied with Chuck Gray, has the momentum, and will overtake him by August 18th."
Friess noted that a candidate was missing from the stage that night.
Teton County-based attorney Frank Chapman dropped out of the race that morning, casting it as a waste of multiple people’s money for him to continue in a race with so much “clutter.”
“I believe that’s because he’s been looking at the same polling I’ve seen,” said Friess, “which really shows that this is now a two-man race. The polling shows it quite clearly.”
Rasner apparently disagreed, proclaiming himself the winner of the debate in a Thursday announcement.
Friess leveled a subtle jab at career politicians and said, “We need someone with a businessman’s point of view who will solve problems in Washington, and not a career politician.”
With Chapman’s departure, Friess is now among three candidates, with Gray and Rasner, who have loaned more than $1 million to their own campaigns.
Other candidates derided the practice.
The candidates with war chests under $200,000 as of July 1 - Christensen, Dodson, Giralt, Balow, and Biteman – all placed the emphasis on connecting with the people rather than pouring money into the race.
Rasner, who’s loaned himself at least $1.7 million and spent around $2 million, pointed to the individual contributions he’s also won across Wyoming.
Friess has the most financial momentum. He acknowledged he’s self-loaned considerable sums – at least $2 million as of July 1 – but has also raised over $400,000 from individual contributors.
He said he raised that money because he cares deeply about the opportunity to serve the state and would ban stock trading in Washington, D.C.
“I’m not going there to get more money. I’m going there because it’s an opportunity to serve,” said Friess. “Our family’s had a tradition of doing so.”
In response to Friess's claim and polling numbers, Gray said Friday: that Friess "thinks he can trick Wyoming from Jackson" and "can pretend this is a two-person race if he wants."
Friess lives in Jackson, as did his late father Foster Friess, who lost in a three-way race to Gov. Mark Gordon in the latter's first run for the seat in 2018.
"Wyoming Republicans know better," said Gray, noting that nine candidates remain in the GOP primary and many have spent years serving Wyoming.
Friess, who has not held legislative or statewide office in Wyoming, has cast himself as a political outsider in the race. He has pointed to his unorthodox political efforts, such as his family seed-funding Charlie Kirk's group Turning Point USA, and what he's called his work helping to furnish President Donald Trump with proposed executive orders ahead of Trump's first term.
Gray said voters will decide the election, made a reference to "Friess' false keystrokes from his computer in Jackson" and called him out of touch.
Please Don’t
In opening the forum Thursday, WyoFile executive editor Matt Copeland warned all participants they could face removal if they weren’t respectful and courteous, and if they personally attacked or sparred directly with the other candidates.
One introductory prompt and two questions later, Copeland warned Gray for breaking the rules.
Gray attacked both WyoFile and Rasner, claiming WyoFile “has millions of false attacks” on its website over the years and Rasner “has put thousands of dollars of false attacks” against him.”
“But like President Trump –“ Gray continued, then Copeland cut him off.
“Mr. Gray. Please don’t address your fellow candidates,” said Copeland.
Gray pressed on, saying, “I’m not spending as much as Mr. Friess over there with the Jackson element …"
Again Copeland intervened with a warning.
“But I am going to spend to take on the radical media and the insiders,” Gray said.
Boos sounded from the audience.
Copeland in a brief Friday phone interview denied both the “insider” charge and the false reporting charge.
"Absolutely not,” he said of the latter claim.
Media, Insiders
The media and an unspecified group of “insiders” dominated many of Gray’s points that night.
He used either the word “insider” or “insiders” 12 times, though one was a specific reference to the problem of insider trading in Congress. He used the word “media” nine times.
He used the term “track record” eight times, referencing his work in state government.
Rasner picked up on the trend and fired back at Gray.
“Cheyenne and Washington, D.C., are full of politicians with a proven track record,” said Rasner in his closing speech. “A proven track record in Cheyenne or D.C. means nothing. I have a proven track record in Wyoming, in business. Of signing both sides of the checks.”
Rasner runs Casper-based financial advisor business Omnivest Financial.
While Rasner was more subtle than Gray and was not warned for civility, he did take another oblique shot, referencing occasions when a state land management board voted – as did Gray – in favor of leasing state public lands to wind farms.
Gray repeatedly derides wind power as “woke” and wrong for Wyoming, and after his three “aye" votes, he became one of the state’s most vocal critics against two bigger, foreign-backed wind projects on state lands.
Workhorse, Roots
Biteman’s go-to term was “work,” which recurred in his points at least seven times.
He pointed to his decade in the state Legislature and term as Senate president, as well as his career as a landman.
“I’m a workhorse, not a show horse. I’m not going to Congress to be famous, to get on Fox News or to shoot off press releases every day,” said Biteman.
Balow pointed to her Wyoming roots and upbringing, her earlier work with the late U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, and how she handled Wyoming’s schools during COVID.
Christensen was the only candidate who wanted to reform, rather than rescind, the Clinton-era Roadless Rule for public lands.
Everyone proposed means, some varying, for rescuing the Social Security system.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
