On October 15, a joint committee of the Wyoming Legislature met to consider 13 proposed election reform bills.
According to a news article in the October 17 edition of the Cheyenne Tribune-Eagle, both the committee chairman, Sen Cale Case (R-Lander) and the ranking member, Mike Yin (D-Jackson) agreed the reforms were not needed and the bills were doomed to fail in the next session of the legislature. HB 249 providing for run-off elections if none of the primary contestants achieve a majority of votes cast, failed.
On the same day the legislative committee was considering the “reform” bills, our friend, Bill Schwartz, a prominent Jackson lawyer, penned an op-ed piece in WyoFile blasting the Republican nominee for the U.S House seat, Chuck Gray.
Schwartz lamented that Gray had won the primary with a minority of the votes cast.
Schwartz: “If we split our vote as we did in the primary, Gray wins with a minority again.” Winning with a minority Schwartz implied, correctly in our view, is an anathema.
The Schwartz solution? Vote for Gray’s Democrat opponent in the general election – not because of policy preference, background or suitability, not even because Ms. Kinney is a nice lady – but only because she isn’t Chuck Gray.
The national Democratic Party is not the party of Ed Herschler, Mike Sullivan or Dave Freudenthal. It is now the party of Ilhan Omar, Rashid Tlaib and AOC.
It has tilted far to the left. Centrists like Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema and John Fetterman have either left the Democratic party or are estranged from it.
Wyoming Republicans who vote for the Democrat nominee for the U.S. House in the upcoming mid-term election will be very uncomfortable if they assist in electing Ms. Kinney and watch their sole, at large representative in the U.S. House of Representatives cast her very first vote for Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House.
Speaker-to-be Hakeem Jeffries and Representative to-be Lisa Kinney, if elected, will be expected to advance the Democratic agenda, whatever that may be.
Abandoning your party as Schwartz urges, because you don’t like the candidate your fellow party members nominated, is like abandoning the Cowboys and rooting for CSU because you don’t like the coach.
There is wisdom in the Code of the West’s admonition, “Ride for the brand”. It’s called “loyalty” and it is a virtue.
This piece isn’t about personalities, candidates, political parties, factions or this year’s political campaign.
This is a writing about fixing a systemic problem that has plagued Wyoming’s primary election system for many years.
The sad truth is we often nominate candidates who have less than the majority of votes cast in a primary election.
The more candidates running in a primary, the bigger the problem. It’s a problem that can affect Democrats and Republicans alike.
It shouldn’t be that way. Bill Schwartz has correctly identified the problem, but he advocates for the wrong solution.
The problem of a small minority selecting the party nominee won’t be fixed by voting for a Democrat in this year’s election.
It will be fixed by ensuring that the party nominees, Republican or Democrat, have a majority of their respective party’s votes when the primary process is completed.
The Schwartz op-ed shows what can happen when a small minority of voters muster a plurality to win a primary.
The Freedom Caucus has championed the idea of election reforms, some that are needed and some that are not. In our view, one that is badly need is run-off elections where a crowed primary results in a winner with a minority of the votes cast.
When legislation is needed, agreement or opposition should not depend on which faction is proposing it.
It is ironic that a Freedom Caucus ally is the beneficiary of the opposition to the Caucus’ proposed reform. “Be careful what you wish for” comes to mind.
In the end, perhaps the irony is a good thing as this year’s primary shows that the run-off election idea is not beneficial to any one faction but rather, serves as a shield for all by requiring the winner to have the support of the majority.
Ten states have a primary run-off system.
Our neighbor, South Dakota, applies the run-off rule to only the federal congressional offices and the office of governor, a solution that keeps the cost down and should be considered by the Wyoming Legislature.
Requiring a run-off when candidates don’t get a majority is a safe-guard against a radical and unpopular candidate getting nominated.
There should not be a down-side that results from many good citizens stepping forward to do civic duty by running for office.
It comes down to this: the 2026 election cycle has shown that run-off elections are not a sword upon which a political opponent can be impaled.
Rather, run-offs are a shield protecting the citizenry from extremism and poor public servants, regardless of party affiliation.
It’s time for Republicans to bury the hatchet and work together to do good.
Eli Bebout is a former Speaker of the Wyoming House and President of the Wyoming Senate. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Wyoming in 2002. Ray Hunkins is a retired country lawyer and cowman. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Wyoming in 2006.
