Allen Hogg won the Republican nomination Tuesday for Wyoming House District 28, emerging from a four-way race to replace retiring state Rep. John Winter of Thermopolis.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Hogg received 49% of 3,097 total votes cast with 1,525. Marshall Keller followed with 828 votes, while Carlin Jones received 594 and Roland Luehne received 150.
House District 28 encompasses all of Hot Springs County and portions of Park, Big Horn and Fremont counties. Winter, a founding member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, has represented the district since 2019.
The candidates brought widely different backgrounds to the race, though all said they wouldn’t join the Freedom Caucus.
Hogg, 66, is a Meeteetse-area rancher whose family has worked in the region since his grandparents settled there in 1918. He ran on this agricultural experience, more local control and the effects state decisions can have on Wyoming’s smaller communities.
“I think compared to my competitors, especially, I think I’ve got a much better idea of the issues surrounding agriculture in Wyoming,” he said. “I think that’s one of my strong suits.”
Jones, 33, from Otto, is a lifelong Wyoming resident and fourth-generation rancher. He campaigned on bringing a younger perspective to the Legislature, reducing government spending and addressing property taxes.
He was endorsed for the office by Winter.
“We have to take a serious look at government expenditures, a serious look at waste and overspending,” said Jones, adding that Wyoming doesn’t have a revenue problem but a spending problem.
Keller, 54, is a Thermopolis attorney, former Navy SEAL and Hot Springs County School Board trustee. A former exploration geologist, he earned his law degree from the University of Wyoming in 2019.
Keller said he’s an orthodox Christian and respects both the U.S. Constitution and Wyoming Constitution.
Luehne, 62, has lived in Thermopolis since childhood and has long helped operate the Star Plunge in Hot Springs State Park. He focused his campaign on private-sector jobs, regulatory reform and limiting what he described as executive-branch overreach.
“I’ve had so many people ask me to run because of my situation in the Hot Springs State Park,” said Luehne. “I personally have seen how the executive branch has overstepped with land grabs. I want to make sure something like that never happens to somebody else.”
Hogg will not face a Democrat opponent in the Nov. 3 general election.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
