The House chamber in the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne, where lawmakers are scheduled to elect leaders this weekend.Photo: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Wyoming’s Republican legislators are scheduled to pick their leaders this weekend for a session that starts in January with a very different House than the last one. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported Nov. 11 that lawmakers in both parties planned to spend Saturday electing Senate and House leaders for the 69th Legislature. The paper said the Wyoming Freedom Caucus no longer controls the House after many of its members lost Republican primaries to more traditional conservatives. Cowboy State Daily, writing a day earlier, also reported that the caucus took significant losses in this year’s primary, including House members who ran for the Senate or for statewide office, and that all but one of its members in House leadership were ousted.
In the Senate, the Tribune Eagle said Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, is the only candidate for president, a step up from majority floor leader. She would replace Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, who left to run for Congress and lost the August primary to Secretary of State Chuck Gray. Sens. Cale Case, R-Lander, and Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, are competing for vice president, and Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, is unopposed for majority floor leader, the paper reported. Case, who has served in the Legislature since 1993, told the Tribune Eagle, “I hope to maintain the integrity of the Senate and be a person that promotes everyone to follow the rules and be scrupulously fair so that everybody gets their chance.” Nethercott told the paper she wanted to wait until after Saturday’s votes before commenting on the results.
In the House, Reps. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, and Art Washut, R-Casper, are running for speaker, the Tribune Eagle said. Washut, who chaired a special committee earlier this year after campaign donation checks were handed out on the House floor, said, “I hope that the members will focus on governing during the session and save the politics for the campaign season.” Larsen did not return the paper’s call by publication. Reps. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, and Clarence Styvar, R-Cheyenne, are competing for speaker pro tempore. Current speaker pro tempore Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, a Freedom Caucus member, is instead running for majority floor leader against Rep. JD Williams, R-Lusk, the Tribune Eagle reported. Cowboy State Daily also said Haroldson is vying for that job and listed him among the caucus members who remain in the House. Reps. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, and Martha Lawley, R-Worland, are running for majority whip, the Tribune Eagle said. The general session is scheduled to begin Jan. 12.
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