Nineteen Republican state leaders, including a former Wyoming governor, have endorsed Steve Friess for U.S. House, the candidate’s team told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
Friess is in the final three weeks of a fiery race for the Republican nomination to the House seat Rep. Harriet Hageman is leaving to run for U.S. Senate.
Of the 14 endorsers Cowboy State Daily was able to reach Thursday for interviews, all touted Friess’s merits. A minority of four specifically voiced a desire to see someone beat Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who is one of Friess’s eight GOP opponents.
Former Gov. Jim Geringer said he’s endorsing Friess “because he’s the right guy.”
Geringer also pointed to Gray’s upbringing in California and said, “I don’t see him as being connected and aware enough of national issues to be able to handle what Steve Friess has already done.”
Friess has said that he organized a group of top Washington, D.C., attorneys to craft ready-made executive order proposals for President Donald Trump ahead of his first inauguration in 2017. The Friess family also kick-started Charlie Kirk’s group Turning Point USA and a host of other conservative groups and causes.
Gray was elected to the state Legislature in 2016 and served for six years. He was elected Secretary of State in 2022 and has repeatedly pushed the Legislature for election reform, resulting in the passage of several new election laws.
Both men point to pro-life victories.
Gray and Friess also face state Senate President Bo Biteman, Casper businessman Reid Rasner, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, former legislator Keith Goodenough, singer/actor Richard Dodson, and military veterans David Giralt and Kevin Christensen.
The primary election is Aug. 18.
“Steve has a lot of skill. ‘Hochma’ is the word in the Old Testament: wisdom,” said former legislator Nathan Winters.
Winters said that wisdom manifests in Friess’s four children, whom he cast as well-educated and thoughtful.
“As I’ve watched Steve, he’s just a remarkable person to run for that office,” said Winters.
Winters runs a Christian-issues advocacy group, Wyoming Family Alliance. But he said he gives his endorsement in his private capacity, not in connection with any group.
Most of the endorsers matched Winters’ attitude of praise. A minority of four added negative comments about Gray.
“Oh, I mean I’m not going to get into personal attacks,” said former Senate President Tony Ross, a Republican from Cheyenne, when saying why he wants someone to beat Gray. “I mean I think it’s self-evident. Jeez-Louise.”
Former state Rep. Elaine Harvey, a Big Horn County Republican, went further. On the one hand, she praised Friess on a nuanced policy level, saying she agrees with his approaches to public-lands management, health insurance and energy policy.
On the other hand, Harvey said she’s “disgusted” with Gray, in particular for his recurring spats with Gov. Mark Gordon in state board meetings.
The other endorsers are:
- Republican state Sens. Dan Dockstader, Jared Olsen and Brian Boner;
- Former state Senate President and former state GOP chair Diemer True;
- Former House Speaker and Senate President Eli Bebout;
- Former House Speaker and former executive director of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming Bruce Hinchey;
Former Wyoming State Auditor Rita Meyer; - Former legislator Jamie Flitner;
- Former legislator Don Burkhart;
- Former House Majority Floor Leaders Ron Micheli and Rosie Berger;
- Former legislator Dave Kinskey;
- Peter Wold, officer for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming;
- Former legislator Harlan Edmonds;
- Former state GOP Chair and now school-choice advocate Matt Micheli
The four who voiced specific desires to see someone beat Gray were Geringer, Ross, Harvey and Ron Micheli. The rest were silent on that topic, sticking to Friess’s merits.
‘Tired Class Of Political 1% Insiders’
Gray in a Thursday text message called the endorsers a “tired class of political 1% insiders.”
“It’s not a surprise that Jackson Hole socialite Steve Friess is receiving the support of the same 1% insiders who want woke data centers and woke wind projects,” wrote Gray.
Not all of Friess’s endorsers have voiced a position on wind farms and data centers. Dockstader was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted against giving tax breaks to large data centers in 2010.
Gray has come out against data centers, while Friess has said state and county governments – not Congress – should lead data center permitting decisions in ways that protect Wyomingites.
Both men tout a pro-traditional-energy stance.
“Jackson socialite Steve Friess has rounded up the same tired class of political 1% insiders who have spent years trying to stop the silent majority and who are upset that I’ve been so successful in advancing common sense election integrity measures,” Gray continued.
Bebout rebutted that, saying "I call B.S." Bebout said he dislikes wind farms insofar as they're associated with government subsidies; and he approves of much of Gray's advocacy for election reform. He said he disapproves of Gray's approach to state land boards, where, Bebout said, he'd "try to make a stand or try to be, just ridiculous. And he doesn't fit."
Gray alleged a “silent majority of Wyoming will see through this attempt by the insiders, with their media allies at Cowboy State Daily – which is owned by Friess allies in Jackson – to get behind a Jackson based insider candidate.”
Gray asserted that Friess is trying to “manufacture” momentum but “isn’t even in 2nd place in this race.”
Then Give The Jackson Money Back, Says Friess
Friess countered in his own interview.
“Now isn’t Chuck the insider, with the new GOP trying to put the thumb on the scale for him?” he asked.
One of Gray’s recent slogans has been for people not to “let Jackson buy” the race.
Friess had the biggest war chest as of July 1 with $2.5 million, followed by Rasner at $2 million and Gray at nearly $1.4 million. Each of those three has loaned himself more than $1 million.
“I’m curious then, if he’s interested in returning the checks he’s received from donors in Jackson Hole,” said Friess. “If Jackson money is a bad thing.”
Donations from Jackson residents to Gray’s campaign committee as of July 1 totaled $59,000, or just over a quarter of his individual contributions, according to the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC).
But Not Tom Lubnau
Former House Speaker and Cowboy State Daily columnist Tom Lubnau didn’t join the list of Friess endorsers.
He speculated that for an endorser list that big to emerge suddenly, someone is purposefully coordinating endorsements for Friess.
Lubnau theorized that Friess is trying to benefit from an “Anyone-but-Chuck” mantra that’s surfaced within the past couple weeks among some Wyomingites.
Friess asserted at a forum last week that he and Gray are tied in the polls and it’s a “two-man race.”
Lubnau bantered in a Wednesday column that Friess’s argument is, “hold your nose and vote for me, or else your U.S. Representative might be Chuck Gray.”
Lubnau clarified in a Thursday interview.
“It wasn’t a comment about Steve Friess. I was commenting on what the campaign tactic looked like – by coming out and saying ‘We’re (Friess and Gray) both at 16% so vote for me.’”
Lubnau said he hadn’t seen that strategy used in a statewide campaign.
Even in the 2016 primary election where Liz Cheney narrowly won the nomination to U.S. House against eight other Republican contenders, Lubnau said, he can’t remember one of the candidates using a unite-against-Liz strategy.
To the columnist, Friess’s messaging looks like, “Abandon your affection for the candidate you’re in love with and vote for me – as part of the ABC (anyone-but-Chuck) movement.”
Lubnau called it an “interesting tactic.”
So We Asked Friess
Friess doubled down in his interview, saying his polling shows a vote for anyone other than him is a vote for Gray.
“I really want to unite the Republican Party and then to focus on making lives better in Wyoming,” he said.
“I need the 70% of Republicans who are not fans of Chuck to consolidate, and we will win in a landslide,” added Friess.
He voiced gratitude to his endorsers, and disappointment in the state Republican Party for picking sides among its own registrants before the primary election.
When the party started the vetting process, Friess said he believed it was about vetting and exposing any unsavory candidates – similar to when the Republican National Committee galvanized against white supremacist David Duke.
“I was stunned when (party leadership) came out with a singular selection,” said Friess.
While the Wyoming Republican Party leaders are endorsing Gray as a candidate, they’re also suing his office – to overturn a state law that bars the party from financially backing one Republican over another in the primary election.
Some interpret that ban as a ban on endorsements, since it bars both direct and indirect financial backing. It’s unclear if the ban goes that far.
The party argues that the ban violates its First Amendment rights, and has produced case law to support its point. That case is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
