Wyoming
Cracks in Wyoming’s red wall: State faces power shifts, Republican split
What we learned at the world’s largest outdoor rodeo
USA Today Wyoming politics reporter Cy Neff went to Cheyenne Frontier Days to learn about all things rodeo.
On Election Day, there won’t be a lot of surprises in Wyoming. The Cowboy State is expected to overwhelmingly re-elect former President Donald Trump. Incumbent Republicans Senator John Barrasso and Representative Harriet Hageman are likely to return to Congress with ease. And on the state level, Republicans are expected to keep their dominance in the state’s legislature.
But a closer look shows cracks in the state’s red wall and mounting questions about what it means to be a Wyomingite and a conservative.
“It’s been disheartening to see the division in our own party,” Republican State Senator Wendy Schuler said. “We still have people that are really thinking that this far right rhetoric is what we need to hear.”
The “Code of the West,” derived from the book “Cowboy Ethics,” is written into the Wyoming constitution. Members of the Wyoming legislature have no staff or assistants and often work full-time in the communities they represent as ranchers, lawyers, or truck drivers. The cowboy code and citizen legislature feed into Wyoming’s political reputation as a handshake-forward, small-town style, independently thinking state. National trends, however, are coming home to roost.
Recent legislative sessions have been rife with hot-button culture war issues, with the 2024 sessions including proposed abortion restrictions, a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and a ban on gun-free zones. Republican fissures on the issues mirror national trends, with more moderate, establishment Republicans bearing allegations of being “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only) from their further-right, often Freedom Caucus-aligned opponents.
The clashes have played out in Wyoming’s highest echelons. Republican Governor Mark Gordon vetoed many of the legislature’s culture war bills and ended up facing censure from his own party. Gordon frequently butts heads with Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who secured his office with a Trump endorsement and campaigned on disproven claims of a stolen 2020 election.
The fissures were on full display in the state’s primary, which shifted power rightward towards the growing Wyoming Freedom Caucus. The campaign season featured accusations of misinformation, including a defamation lawsuit, out-of-state money, and continued the state’s trend of increasingly expensive election cycles.
The Freedom Caucus will enter 2025 in the driver’s seat instead of its members’ long-held positions as political outsiders and disrupters. Republican State Representative and Freedom Caucus member Chip Neiman says the reshuffling of power indicates voter discontent with Wyoming politics.
“If people didn’t want something, or were satisfied with the howngs were, this would not have gone this way,” Nieman said. “I would suggest that people are looking for more conservative type leadership.”
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
Wyoming
Fourth Annual Wyoming Firearms & Outdoor Recreation Expo, Wyoming Governor’s Match returning to Casper July 18, 19
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation recently announced that the community is invited to a series of events happening on July 18 and 19.
The weekend will feature the Wyoming Governor’s Match, as well as the Firearms & Outdoor Recreation Expo.
A release from the Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation says that the 10th Annual Wyoming Governor’s Match, hosted in partnership with the Casper Shooter’s Club, will run July 18–19 at the Stuckenhoff Shooters Complex, 10 minutes outside of Casper.
The event will bring together spectators, shooting sports organizers and elected officials to interact with more than 360 competitive shooters from across the country.
Eye protection is required for spectators, and ear protection is highly recommended.
Additionally, on Saturday, July 18, the fourth annual Wyoming Firearms & Outdoor Recreation Expo is taking place at David Street Station from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The expo is free and open to the public, and it will feature exhibitor booths, a legislative panel and family-friendly activities. It will also feature local food and drink vendors, including WY Knot Pretzel Co., The Dog House and Kuver’s BBQ.
Expo attendees will be able to explore products and gear and will be able to witness demonstrations by the following Wyoming-based brands and organizations:
- 3C Guiding LLC
- 9×19 Fabrication
- ACG
- Adventure Ready RV Solutions
- Cutting Edge Tactics and Training
- Diamond R Saddlery
- DVL Custom Lures
- FEROX
- Freedom Tactical Firearms
- Guardian Warrior Solutions
- Gunwerks
- High Carbon Mercantile
- Kimber Tracks Big Game Recovery/Rocky Mountain Big Game Recovery
- Lucid Optics
- Maven Optics
- MOD Outfitters
- National Wild Turkey Federation
- Red, White and Blued
- Ridgeline Customs LLC
- Rocky Mountain Discount Sports
- Scouting America
- Sheridan Fly Rod Co.
- Thunder Beast Arms
- Wilkinson Tactical
- Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality
- Wyoming Game & Fish Department
- Wyoming Gun Company
- Wyoming Motorcycle Trials Association
- Wyoming Patriots
The release notes that from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., the Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation will facilitate an Outdoor Recreation Legislative Panel on the lawn of David Street Station. The panel discussion is also free and open to the public and will offer legislators and elected officials an opportunity to discuss the importance of growing and sustaining the outdoor recreation and shooting sports industry.
To RSVP or learn more about the Wyoming Firearms & Outdoor Recreation Expo, visit wyorec.info/Expo2026.
To register or learn more about the Wyoming Governor’s Match, visit wyorec.info/GovMatch2026.
Related
BILLINGS — Two Wyoming women escaped unharmed after a black bear attacked their tents in the Big Horn Mountains while they were still inside.
Friends Maggie Bassett and Shonna Dehl were on a camping trip when the bear began tearing into their tents while they were asleep on Sunday night.
Click here to hear the story:
Wyoming women escape black bear attack on their tents in the Big Horn Mountains
“It was so scary,” Bassett said.
Basset said it jolted them and their four dogs awake and that both women were shocked at the bear’s behavior.
“It wanted in the tents,” Dehl said. “That’s all it wanted. It didn’t matter what we did.”
Dehl and Bassett proceeded to yell and scream at the bear, even firing gunshots in its direction in an effort to scare it away. None of those efforts worked.
“It was not scared at all,” Bassett said Wednesday afternoon in an online web call. “It didn’t even blink. It just kind of circled around and came back at me from a different angle.”
“It was circling us,” Dehl said. “It felt like it was circling our campground.”
Eventually, the bear scattered away after more gunshots were fired. Then, the two women fled to their vehicle, hiding out for a couple of hours and honking their horn to keep the bear away.
“We were in there for at least an hour,” Dehl said. “Just scared and shaking.”
Eventually, the two drove away unharmed and made their way to Dehl’s family cabin a few hours away.
When they returned the next day, they found their tents collapsed and torn to shreds. Wyoming Game and Fish responded and told the two women they plan to trap the bear and relocate it.
Both Bassett and Dehl said it was a frightening ordeal, especially because they followed all bear-aware protocol, including using bear containers.
“I will never forget that sound of my tent being ripped open,” Bassett said.
Chrissy Webb with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has not been involved in the investigation but said a bear’s memory can bring it back to places where it has encountered unnatural foods before.
“You know it’s not unreasonable for a bear to return to a site where they’ve gotten food in the past,” Webb said. “When bears start accessing those unnatural human-based food is when we start to see bears that can be potentially dangerous because, you know, they’ve got conditioned by this food.”
Webb said there is no way to know if that is what happened in this case, but staying bear aware is crucial for both campers and the animals.
“It’s safer for you to store things properly, and it’s better for the bear’s sake if they’re not able to access those human foods,” Webb said.
For Bassett and Dehl, it’s an experience that has changed the way the two plan to go camping in the future.
“I don’t see myself sleeping in a tent anytime soon, maybe never,” Bassett said.
“Yeah, we’re going to need four walls,” Dehl said.
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