In a race the New York Times cast as anthemic of Wyoming’s Republican divide, former Senate President Ogden Driskill won the GOP nomination to hold onto his seat Tuesday, over House Speaker and Freedom Caucus member.
It was narrow: 51% to 48%.
Driskill has held that seat since 2011 and now, with Democratic and minor-party opposition in that region rare, is poised to serve another four-year term.
“You know, I think the headline of the night isn’t my race,” said Driskill in a Tuesday-night phone interview.
“It’s - statewide there was a very solid rejection of what the Freedom Caucus has done and how they operate,” he said.
Numerous Freedom Caucus incumbents were ousted Tuesday, to include Appropriations Committee leaders John Bear and Ken Pendergraft. Mark Jennings, former lawmaker and early founder of a prior iteration of the caucus, lost his Sheridan-area GOP bid to Ryan Koltiska.
RJ Kost, a former state senator disfavored by the Freedom Caucus, bested Rep. Paul Hoeft in the race for a Park County state Senate seat.
And another non-Freedom Caucus heavyweight, Sen. Eric Barlow, won the GOP nomination for governor over at least one caucus-aligned challenger, Brent Bien, and a Trump-endorsed challenger, Megan Degenfelder.
Driskill called it a sign that Wyoming wants to be proactive and pro-business.
“And I think the voters showed up and said, ‘This is a priority of ours,’” Driskill added.
Driskill thanked his own “unbelievable grassroots support,” and Neiman.
Neman said, "please tell the people that I love them I love my county and I love my district and all the support and I dearly enjoyed serving them in this capacity."
"Losing by 218 votes to a 16-year former president of the Senate, it could be worse," he added.
Neiman said Driskill ran a negative campaign, which Driskill disputes.
Driskill said outside groups have gotten involved in numerous races in Wyoming and caused issues.
Neiman continued: "I just think the Lord has a plan and I'm fully submitted to it, and I'm glad to go whatever direction he wants me to go."
Tough Battle Though
The two lawmakers had waged a tough battle in the northern Wyoming, multi-county district encompassing all of Crook and parts of Weston and Campbell counties.
Driskill, who’s a former state Senate President, characterized Neiman as a Freedom Caucus drone.
Neiman in turn pointed to topics on which he’s diverged from prominent caucus members and urged Driskill not to sling “mud.”
Americans For Prosperity, which endorsed Driskill, distributed multiple mailers deriding Neiman’s record on energy, which Neiman cast as giving people more autonomy over potentially harmful energy projects like nuclear waste storage; and AFP cast as erratic policy moves against the industry.
Unpack This One
The Driskill-Neiman showdown predates campaign season.
In January the legislative Joint Appropriations Committee, of which Neiman is not a member, proposed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cuts and denials to Gov. Mark Gordon’s November draft of the state’s two-year budget.
Under Neiman’s leadership, the House adopted the committee’s draft of the budget as a starting point during budget deliberations in the February-March lawmaking session.
Under Driskill’s urging, the Senate reverted to the governor’s draft as its starting point.
The Senate’s draft ended $1 million under Gordon’s. The House’s draft ended $171 million under Gordon’s
Gordon called some of the House’s savings measures “cuts in name only,” such as a plan to fund executive branch agencies’ tech upgrades for one year rather than the full budget term of two.
The Joint Appropriations Committee had advanced a plan to defund the Wyoming Business Council, which is a state agency that gives grants and loans to businesses and communities in the name of economic development.
Neiman backed that move, but it didn’t hold. The joint budget Gordon signed last week funds the internal operations of the Wyoming Business Council for one year while the Legislature considers reforms to the agency.
Neiman also backed a proposed JAC move to cut the University of Wyoming’s state funding by about 10%, or $40 million, while denying it about $20 million in additional spending requests.
The University of Wyoming is still set to receive its full $40 million block grant plus the roughly $20 million in exception requests for which Gordon had recommended it.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
