Republicans will decide in Wyoming's primaries Tuesday whether to stick with long-serving U.S. Sen.
John Barrasso and the first-term congresswoman who ousted Liz Cheney two years ago, Harriet Hageman. As in the Republican primary, Democratic candidates with no previous political experience are running for U.S.
House and Senate. Unlike in the GOP contests, those two Democrats are unopposed. Meanwhile, the primary in super-conservative Wyoming — the state that has voted for Donald Trump by a wider margin than any other — is also the first time Democrats are barred from switching party registration at the last minute to participate in the livelier Republican contest.
A new law bans “crossover” registration at the polls and for three months before primary day — potentially cementing the Republican dominance that has rendered Democrats nearly extinct . The Republican-dominated Legislature passed the law in 2023 amid GOP grumbling that Democrats changing parties skewed GOP primary outcomes. The Republican races have been low-key affairs compared to two years ago, when Hageman took on Cheney and denied her a fourth term by a more than 2-to-1 vote margin.
Cheney lost Republican support in Wyoming as a critic of Trump in a race watched far and wide. Recruited and endorsed by the former president to run against Cheney, Hageman went on to win office handily. She's served on the House Natural Resources and Judiciary committees in her first term.
Now, Steven Helling is running a.
