Wyoming’s U.S. Sen. John Barrasso turned his attention briefly from Washington, D.C., politics to the state legislative races Tuesday to endorse Cody-based attorney David Hill for state House of Representatives.
Barrasso said of Hill, “David is going to be an outstanding legislator because he believes, like many of us do, in the responsibility of leadership, in limited government, and he understands the importance of helping contribute to the future economic success of special places like Park County.”
Neither Carrie Satterwhite, the libertarian candidate opposing Hill, nor the outspoken party backing her, were discouraged by the announcement.
“We obviously would not seek his endorsement, but also, who are we to judge who he endorses?” said Wyoming Libertarian Party Chair Zachary Padilla in a Tuesday phone interview. “I would assume the Republicans are trying to get all the spots they can.”
Satterwhite said Barrasso’s gesture says nothing more than, “Republicans standing up for Republicans.”
She speculated that Republicans might be losing ground in deep-red Wyoming.
On a Congressional level, Democrats are out-polling Republicans, but it would take a Democratic or alternate-party monsoon to lose the Wyoming Legislature’s GOP majority of about 93%.
Padilla pointed to a recent push by President Donald Trump to court voters for Republican candidates nationally, and said, “It doesn’t surprise me that Republicans are endorsing on every level.”
Still, it is less common for members of Congress, like Barrasso, to focus on state-legislature level races.
Barrasso’s Facebook campaign page shows no prior endorsements of that kind. But, his spokeswoman Laura Mengelkamp said he has done it, “over the years.”
His campaign page on X (formerly Twitter) shows a Jan. 12 endorsement of his congressional colleague Rep. Harriet Hageman for U.S. Senate, as well as at least two other people campaigning on the federal level.
‘I Asked’
Acknowledging the endorsement as unique, Hill said, “I asked. I don’t know if everybody asks.”
He said he reached out to Barrasso saying he’d love to be endorsed by the U.S. senator, and Barrasso said he’d be happy to do it.
Hill said Barrasso represents Wyoming well.
Barrasso’s endorsement message says Hill has years of service to Wyoming, real-world experience and conservative principles, making him “an outstanding choice.”
Hill said he reached out to Hageman’s office as well, “and she said they weren’t doing any endorsements.”
Hageman endorsed Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder for governor during the primary election cycle. Degenfelder took second in a four-way race, after Republican nominee Eric Barlow.
Libertarians are a factor in Wyoming: Green River voters sent a Libertarian candidate to the House in 2020. Riverton voters came within about 40 votes of doing the same twice, in 2018 and 2020.
Satterwhite didn’t exhibit that degree of momentum when she challenged Cody-based House District 50’s incumbent Rachel Rodriguez-Williams in 2022, and won 16.9%t of the vote.
Hill noted that Park County is a Republican stronghold generally.
Still, he said he’s taking the general election seriously, and is grateful for Barrasso’s endorsement.
As for Satterwhite, she said she’s optimistic this time.
“I don’t really care if you’re Republican, Democratic, Libertarian: I just think we need to get Wyoming back on track, and I hope the young people register to vote, and get involved in what’s going on in their world,” Satterwhite said.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
