All 62 seats in Wyoming's state house are up for grabs in this election cycle. In the supermajority Republican state, the August 20 primary will reveal whether the state will continue its slide to the right or if the hardline conservative wave of recent years has crested.
Who's running for House District 4?
State House District 4 is a long, narrow slab running through parts of Eastern Wyoming's Laramie and Platte counties.
Pastor Jeremy Haroldson has represented the district since 2021. Haroldson is a rising star in the state's Republican party, having recently served as the chairman of the state's Republican Convention, and was the sponsor of a bill this year aiming to repeal gun-free zones across the state. Haroldson drew ire in 2021 for controversial remarks on slavery.
Haroldson faces challenger Jeffery Thomas, who has served as Guernsey's fire chief for over 13 years. In an email to USA TODAY, Guernsey listed his priorities, including support for the Second Amendment, better funding for EMS Services, and support for Wyoming's core industries.
Who's running for House District 7?
State House District 7 is located in northern Cheyenne, just on top of the Cheyenne Regional Airport, and covers part of Laramie County.
Incumbent Bob Nicholas, who has served in the Wyoming legislature since 2011, will face Kathy Russell, the Wyoming GOP executive director.
Nicholas, an attorney who invites the entire 93-person legislature to his house for a seafood boil at the end of every session, is seen as symbolic of the party's more moderate wing. Nicholas has been a regular figure in budget negotiations during his legislative tenure and has won every primary and election since 2010 by at least six percentage points.
Russell has served in her executive director role since 2018, making her front and center in the Wyoming GOP's push to the right in recent years. A former biologist, Russell notched 16 years in Wyoming's coal industry and entered Wyoming politics as a precinct committeewoman for the Converse County Republican Party in 2008.
Who's running for House District 9?
State House District 9 is located in Laramie County and covers much of Northeast Cheyenne.
Incumbent Landon Brown, who has served in the Wyoming House since 2017, faces Exie Brown. Although they share the same last name, there's no family connection.
Landon, development director at the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Foundation, is a frequent target of the state's further right politicians. Landon has coasted to victory in all past elections, his chances of winning this year are looking slim, primarily due to his recent defense of a convicted rapist in Wyoming court.
Exie, a retired Air Force officer, and current small business owner is running on issues including school choice, property tax reform, and protecting the Second Amendment.
Perry Helgeson, a third candidate for the seat, withdrew from the race, telling USA TODAY he was worried about "splitting the conservative vote" and handing victory to Landon.
Who's running for House District 24?
State House District 24, in Park County, slices out the Western half of Cody, and juts into some of Wyoming's most stunning landscapes, including portions of Yellowstone National Park.
The exit of state Representative Sandy Newsome, who served the district since 2019, has left an open seat in one of Wyoming's most politically contentious regions, and sets up a showdown between two politically well-seasoned Wyomingites.
Nina Webber, the current Wyoming National Committeewoman for the Republican Party, will square off against Matt Hall, the Mayor of Cody.
Webber, who lost to Newsome in the 2020 and 2022 Republican primaries, has placed great emphasis on not letting Wyoming turn into a "blue" state like Colorado or California. Other stated priorities include combatting rising property taxes and the "indoctrination of children," preventing Medicaid expansion in Wyoming and voting against any "hate crime" bills or bills supportive of marijuana legalization.
Hall has served as Mayor of Cody since 2017 and is the president of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities. He has earned Newsome's endorsem*nt and says he will focus on overcoming dysfunction and obstruction in the state capitol.
Who's running for House District 30?
State House District 30, in Sheridan County, takes a bite out of Northern Wyoming and presses up against the Montana border. Mark Jennings, who has served the district since 2015, is vacating the seat to run against Barry Crago for Senate District 22. Political activist Gail Symons, founder of Wyoming politics blog Civics307, and Thomas Kelly, chair of the Department of Political and Military Science at the online, for-profit American Military University, are entering the ring to represent House District 22.
Symons, a U.S. Navy veteran, has used the data-heavy Civics307 blog to track bills passing through the Wyoming legislature and has testified on elections in front of legislative subcommittee meetings. She laments the prominence given to national culture war issues and less to problems of substance impacting local voters.
Kelly, endorsed by Jennings, wrote in an email to USA Today that he was motivated to run by seeing "campaigning as Republicans and governing as Democrats," and that he "has seen firsthand how a red state turns blue."
Who's running for House District 43?
House District 43 runs southeast of Cheyenne down to the Colorado border, taking up part of Laramie County. Incumbent, former community college professor and current healthcare professional Dan Zwonitzer has represented the district since 2005. He was first elected at 24 and faces a strong challenge to his candidacy from Ann Lucas, former vice president of a local credit union.
The longest-serving member of the House and the only openly gay member of the Wyoming legislature, Zwonitzer currently serves as the chair of the House Labor, Health & Social Services committee. Far-right voices in the state regularly characterize Zwonitzer as a "RINO" for his more moderate voting record. He is not shy to criticize a growing further-right wing of Wyoming's Republican Party as driven more by anger than by policy.
Lucas, recently endorsed by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, moved to Wyoming in 2002, partially because of the "wholesome, conservative culture. Lucas stresses her financial background, familiarity with budgets and taxes, and support for fiscal conservatism. Lucas and her husband are members of the Laramie County Republican Party Central Committee.
Who's running for House District 50?
State House District 50 cuts out the eastern part of Cody, and extends northwest through Park County to the Montana Border.
Incumbent Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, who has served the district since 2021, faces a challenge from attorney David Hill.
A former law enforcement officer and endorsed by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, Rodriguez-Williams is one of the Cowboy State's best-known abortion opponents, recently helmed Cody's 2024 Right to Life Walk, and was the sponsor of 2022's Life is a Human Right Act, one of Wyoming's abortion bans currently held up in court by constitutional challenges. Rodriguez-William's voting record is hard-line conservative, and she earned her endorsem*nts from organizations, including Wyoming Right to Life and Gun Owners of America.
Hill's campaign decries infighting in the Wyoming legislature, and states that "legislators who vote in groups surrender their vote to special interests.
While Hill supports "narrowly tailored" exceptions for pregnancies involving the life of the mother, rape or incest, or the baby not surviving beyond birth, he is clear that "laws governing abortion should be carefully drafted to ensure that they will survive constitutional challenges." Hill also lists suicide prevention, school choice, and Second Amendment protections as policy priorities.
Who's running for House District 57?
State House District 57 covers part of Natrona County, taking a chunk of south Casper, Wyoming's oil and gas capital.
Incumbent Jeanette Ward, who has represented the district since 2023, is being challenged by education professional Julie Jarvis.
Ward, a doula and a self-described "political refugee" from Illinois, has made efficient use of her time in Wyoming, swiftly becoming one of the Freedom Caucuses' most prominent lawmakers. Ward sponsored the failed "What is a Woman" Act, which was condemned by civil rights organizations such as the ACLU of Wyoming. Ward was also a major supporter of bills against mask and vaccine mandates, and maintains hardline positions on abortion, the Second Amendment, and other conservative issues.
Jarvis is the Director of Teaching and Learning at Natrona County Schools, is running on the tagline of "returning Wyoming to civility," with campaign materials repeatedly stressing her lifelong Wyoming ties, and making references to the presence of "national interest groups" in Wyoming - all without directly naming Ward, or the Freedom Caucus. Jarvis lists conservative staples such as Parents' Rights', the Second Amendment, and limited government as core values.
Cy Neff reports on Wyoming politics for USA TODAY. You can reach him at cneff@usatoday.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter,@CyNeffNews
