Wyoming
Wyoming Chapter Of National Libertarian Group… | Cowboy State Daily
Former state legislator Tyler Lindholm is well-known at the Wyoming Capitol, easily recognizable by his tall frame and frequent presence in the halls. His organization, Americans For Prosperity, was less known by most until recently.
Libertarian conservative political advocacy group Americans For Prosperity has emerged as a major player in the state’s political scene this election cycle, campaigning around Wyoming and endorsing more than a dozen candidates in legislative races.
The choice of those candidates has drawn some attention from supporters and detractors.
AFP has endorsed 14 Republicans for the Wyoming House and Senate so far, and this week plans to officially announce three more. They are House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, in his bid for the Senate, and state Reps. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, and Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Thermopolis, in their bids for reelection.
The top goals for AFP Wyoming this election season are to remove what it sees as barriers to improving school choice and reducing governmental regulation in Wyoming.
Lindholm said the major factor in deciding whether AFP will engage in a race is whether the group believes it can make a difference in the final result.
Of all the candidates it’s endorsed, only two are members of the farther right Wyoming Freedom Caucus. Many are members of the Wyoming Caucus, a group of Republican legislators that have organized in opposition to the Freedom Caucus.
Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, is one of the two Freedom Caucus members endorsed by AFP. He told Cowboy State Daily he is very enthusiastic to get AFP’s endorsement and considers himself politically aligned with the group.
Lindholm said that for what it’s worth, he hopes both caucuses fail.
“I think the only caucus you should belong to is your constituency,” he said.
Point Of Contention: Civility
What seems to be a particular point of contention about AFP getting involved in Wyoming races for some is that the group is endorsing some candidates who are opponents of legislators that scored higher on AFP’s own 2023 scorecard rankings.
For instance, the group is endorsing two challenger candidates taking on incumbent Reps. Ben Hornok, R-Cheyenne, and Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, despite both legislators receiving respectable scores in the rankings.
Conversely, the group is also endorsing Reps. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, and Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, despite both doing worse than Hornok, Rodriguez-Williams and Rep. Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, Crago’s opponent.
“AFP has endorsed candidates that score poorly on their own legislative scorecard, further proving that their out-of-state money is simply being used to help Lindholm’s liberal friends,” Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, told Cowboy State Daily.
Lindholm said the reason for that discrepancy is because his group considers another factor with equal weight — civility. He said the whole AFP Wyoming team studied each legislator’s behavior on social media and discussions during the legislative session when deciding who to endorse.
“We place civility just as high as principle,” Lindholm said. “We’ve got a lot of folks out there that are really good on principles, not so hot on civility, so we don’t engage in those races.”
Steinmtez, who’s not up for reelection, said she has a big problem with the consideration of civility, which she believes furthers a “liberal stance on policy — at best.”
“At worst, it enables AFP to lie openly about candidates that stand in their way,” she said.
Although Sommers did not score particularly well on the AFP scorecard, Lindholm said he ended up serving as a valuable ally during the 2024 session in helping get school choice legislation passed into law despite opposing those efforts the year before.
“After looking at it all summer long and doing a bunch of research on it he became one of our biggest champions,” Lindholm said. “Because of that, his ability to put his nose down and get to work, we’re pretty proud to endorse Speaker of the House Albert Sommers.”
During the last legislative session, Lindholm believes certain people voted against the bill expanding school choice in Wyoming simply because of who sponsored the bill: Clouston, a member of the Wyoming Caucus.
“That’s a big flag for us,” Lindholm said. “That means it’s not about principles and about politics, and we’re damn sure we’re going to show up in those races.”
Many of those who opposed Clouston’s bill argued it didn’t go far enough to expand school choice.
Who Is AFP?
AFP was founded by the Koch brothers of the political dynasty family behind Koch Industries. Historically, the group has supported rescinding energy and environmental regulations and expanding domestic energy production, lowering taxes and reducing government spending.
Although AFP gained significant popularity for its alignment with the Tea Party movement that sprouted under former President Barack Obama’s administration, it appears to have shifted its policies a bit over the last five years.
According to a 2019 Politico story, the organization said it was considering supporting Democrats in the 2020 United States elections as part of a broader effort to adjust its strategy.
Three years later in 2023, AFP opposed then-President Donald Trump’s reelection as president and sought out an alternative to Kari Lake in her 2024 Arizona Senate run, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Later that year, the group supported Nikki Haley in her Republican bid for president but stopped giving her money as soon as she lost the primary in South Carolina, her home state.
AFP Wyoming’s grassroots engagement director is Amy Womack, who served as the political director for former congresswoman Liz Cheney until 2022. In 2014, Womack was a field director for former Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who later went on to openly criticize Trump after his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“The organization is a front group for liberal policy,” Steinmetz said. “Funded entirely by out-of-state mega donors and supporters of Nikki Haley and Liz Cheney. The people of Wyoming will reject them at the ballot box, like they did Cheney and Lindholm.”
Although AFP may not be as conservative as some like Steinmetz would like, it would be hard to argue they don’t at least lean to the right.
During the 2024 legislation, AFP Wyoming made expanding school choice one of its top priorities, a position supported by most Republicans and opposed by every Democrat in the Legislature.
Over the past year, AFP Wyoming has also put out numerous ads and campaigns speaking firmly against President Joe Biden’s policies, which it believes can be blamed for the current levels of inflation.
Extensive Efforts
The basic overarching priorities for the group are improving liberty and reducing governmental regulation. More specifically, 2023 surveys conducted by AFP show that school choice, inflation, the economy and immigration are the biggest issues for Wyoming voters, which it’s using to guide its campaigning.
“As far as what we’re talking about, that’s all put together by people right here in Wyoming,” Lindholm said. “We drive our priorities based on what we’re hearing at the doors.”
Now, the group has about 20 local volunteers working around the state, knocking on doors seven days a week and informing people about the candidates AFP is supporting in their area.
Since June 1, Lindholm said the group has hit more than 21,000 doors and made direct contact with 4,375 people in Wyoming. He finds canvassing efforts like these one of the most effective forms of campaigning.
“The biggest question we always ask is, ‘What’s the biggest way government impacts your life?’” Lindholm said. “Whether that’s a positive or negative interaction, we want to know those things.”
It’s also his goal for AFP Wyoming to be the top grassroots advocacy organization in the state. Lindholm believes to truly be grassroots in a cause, local people must be involved. His group provides various seminars and classes on how people can get involved in various forms of political advocacy.
By the time the election season is over, Singh said he expects AFP to be one of the biggest players for money spent.
According to Facebook ad data, AFP Wyoming has spent $15,482 in Facebook ads since 2023.
Lindholm said since the group’s digital and mail efforts in support of its endorsed candidates are still in progress, it’s difficult to produce an accurate estimate of expenditures to date. These numbers will be available through the Secretary of State’s office in mid-August before the primary election.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
Nine weeks of the 2026 American Legion Baseball season in the Cowboy State are complete. Gillette and Jackson are undefeated early in North Conference action. Four teams have not played a league game in the North. The Cheyenne Sixers and Hawks lead the South Division, and only one team has not been on the diamond for a conference contest. Five teams have passed the 20-win plateau this season.
WYOPREPS 2026 AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL STANDINGS WEEK 9
Three Wyoming Legion teams won tournament titles last weekend. The Cheyenne Hawks were the champs at the Dean Bullock Memorial Tournament in Torrington. They beat the host Tigers, 20-5, in the title game. The Cheyenne Sixers took first place at the 5 Tool Baseball Northern Colorado Wood Bat Shootout in Fort Collins after two wins against opponents from Colorado in bracket play. Finally, the Sheridan Troopers won their second consecutive tournament title at the 7th annual Black Hills Veterans Classic in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Troopers went 5-0 on the weekend.
Here are the ninth standings during the 2026 season. Teams are listed by their conference record first.
Sr. Legion North Conference: (Overall Record Listed First, Then Conference Record)
Gillette Roughriders 21-17, 4-0
Jackson Giants 12-3, 2-0
Gillette Rustlers 20-12, 2-2
Powell Pioneers 7-10, 2-2
Sheridan Jets 8-10, 1-1
Casper Wildcatters 12-6, 1-3
Cody Cubs 15-9, 0-0
Sheridan Troopers 21-10, 0-0
Lander Legends 1-6, 0-0
Lovell Mustangs 2-9, 0-0
Casper Drillers 9-5-1, 0-2
Riverton Raiders 8-12, 0-2
Read More Wyoming Legion Baseball News from WyoPreps
WYOPRPES LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 9 SCORES 2026
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WYOPREPS LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 6 SCORES 2026
WYOPREPS LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 5 SCORES 2026
WYOPREPS LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 4 SCORES 2026
WYOPREPS LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 3 SCORES 2026
WYOPREPS LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 2 SCORES 2026
WYOPREPS LEGION BASEBALL WEEK 1 SCORES 2026
Sr. Legion South Conference: (Overall Record Listed First, Then Conference Record)
Cheyenne Sixers 25-4-1, 6-0
Cheyenne Hawks 21-4, 2-0
Casper Oilers 12-9, 3-1
Wheatland Lobos 10-8, 2-2
Douglas Cats 4-23, 1-1
Cheyenne Eagles 8-13, 1-3
Laramie Rangers 10-17, 1-3
Laramie JV Rangers 6-19, 2-4
Torrington Tigers 13-7, 0-0
Green River Knights 7-11, 0-2
Rock Springs Stallions 8-21, 0-2
2025 Wyoming Legion Baseball A State Championship Game
Lovell topped Cody, 5-1, to capture the Single-A Wyoming American Legion Baseball state championship in 2025.
Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Clint Wood
Wyoming Legion Baseball AA State Championship Day in 2025
Photos from the two games on day five of the 2025 Wyoming Legion Baseball AA State Tournament in Cheyenne.
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
CODY— A Wyoming archaeologist is speaking out against vandalism of petroglyphs in Bighorn Basin.
Bonnie Lawrence-Smith, president of the Wyoming Association of Professional Archaeologists, said she often sees signs of vandalism near the petroglyphs, such as bullet holes and new engravings.
Watch the report below:
‘Hurts my heart’: Wyoming archaeologist speaks out against petroglyph vandalism
She estimates some the petroglyphs, left by Indigenous Peoples, date back to thousands of years old.
“People have been shooting at these panels for probably decades,” said Lawrence-Smith. “It’s just unfortunate that people think that it’s okay to erase someone else’s heritage.”
Vanessa Willardson/Q2
Other petroglyphs have chalk drawn over them and man-made pecking marks.
“Prior to better education, people would… come out and they would take a piece of chalk, and they would outline the petroglyph because it makes it easier to see in photographs… not understanding the damage that they were doing,” said Lawrence-Smith. “So that’s unintentional vandalism.”
Lawrence-Smith showed MTN a site where many names and dates were scratched onto the surface of the rock panel.
“It hurts my heart,” she said.
Vanessa Willardson/Q2
The site is one of six sites the Bureau of Land Management is investigating for vandalism.
According to a recent BLM press release, another site was damaged from a bonfire, “resulting in discoloration, cracking, and the loss of rock fragments”.
Lawrence-Smith said she wants more people to face criminal charges for vandalism.
“They need to understand that there are repercussions for your actions,” she said.
Vanessa Willardson/Q2
She told MTN she would like to see more participation in the Wyoming Site Stewardship Program.
“You can volunteer, and you can monitor sites,” said Lawrence-Smith. “And then you also have a better timeline of when vandalism does occur.”
Vanessa Willardson/Q2
Even though many sites contain vandalism, Lawrence-Smith has noticed it has decreased over the years.
“What I’ve seen in my 16 years, vandalism is on the downside,” she said. “I’m optimistic. I think they’re getting better.”
BLM encourages people who witness vandalism of rock art sites to leave tips at their Cody Field Office phone number, 307-578-5900.
Rodeo champion Rusty Wright’s big comeback didn’t start with a wild bronc or record-setting ride. It began between rides, in the dust and noise of Cheyenne Frontier Days when a stranger asked him to do a quick interview for a documentary about barrel racing legend Angela Ganter.
They wanted him to talk about something he feels strongly about — the importance of women in the rodeo world.
“I’ve got a pretty strong opinion about it, so I figured I’d go ahead and do it,” said the saddle bronc champ. “I didn’t expect it to be as big of a deal as it turned out being. I was passionate about it, and they loved that, so I think the interview went a little longer than it was supposed to.”
His off-the-cuff, passionate interview would become what Wyoming filmmaker Raen LeVell describes as the “beating heart” of his “Outriding the Devil,” a film he believes is well on its way to becoming a grassroots rodeo blockbuster.
It’s enjoyed a multi-week run as the No. 1-ranked Western documentary on IMDb and earned major praise from national outlets like Sports Illustrated.
It’s also gained elite backing from professional rodeo leaders, who have given it prime screenings at some of the sport’s biggest venues, including the National Finals Rodeo.
Women Behind Rodeo’s Biggest Champions
Ask Wright who the real heroes of rodeo are, and he’ll point first to the women — those who compete in the arena and the ones who never step inside of it.
In his Cheyenne interview, he poured his heart out about his own mother, ShaRee Wright, and all of the other rodeo moms and wives who help keep riders like himself going.
“They asked me what my mom meant to me, and the things she’s done for me in my career,” he said. “Everybody hears how our dad helped us along. He gets lots of recognition, which he should.
“But I don’t feel like my mom or the wives behind the scenes ever really get the recognition they deserve. Honestly, I think it should be just as much as what my dad would get.”
If there were gold buckles for “backbone of the family,” Rusty said he’s convinced his mom would have several of those.
The deep respect for women behind the chutes is exactly the kind of authenticity LeVell was hoping to capture in his film, from Ganter’s story to the moms and wives behind the scenes.
Ganter’s ‘Red Devil’ Comeback
“Outriding the Devil” focuses on the little-told comeback story of Ganter, a barrel racer whose stunning career slammed into a stage-four breast cancer diagnosis so advanced doctors told her she was unlikely to live.
But Ganter had always been a fighter and refused to give up.
The chemotherapy that ultimately saved her has a telling nickname, though. It’s called the “red devil,” and it wreaks havoc on the human body in its quest to ultimately save it.
There were days Ganter couldn’t walk from her bedroom to the living room. After chemo like that, almost no one believed Ganter would even be able to ride a horse again, much less fight her way back to compete at an elite level.
“That red devil chemo had road-graded her nervous system,” LeVell said. “She had lost her balance. She didn’t really know left from right. So the idea that she would get on a horse and be able to just kind of like work on a horse was a little fanciful, and the thought that she would come back to rodeo was kind of like Disney-line stuff.”
And yet, Ganter not only survived, but she returned to rodeo at the highest levels, finding a special horse named Bugs and clawing her way back to champion-caliber barrel racing.
Lighting A Fire Under Rusty Wright’s Comeback
For Wright, who hadn’t known the full depth of Ganter’s ordeal until that Cheyenne interview, her resilience ended up lighting a fire right when he needed it most.
“When I did that interview, honestly, I was kind of right in the middle of my own personal issues and stuff,” he said. “I went from, you know, top of the world — I was reserve world champion in 2018 — and then I had a bunch of personal struggles. I wasn’t even making finals one year. I wasn’t even top 50.”
Learning what Ganter had overcome helped him push the reset button.
“You start playing the ‘poor me’ game, and if you open your eyes and look around, everyone’s got something,” he said. “You sitting there crying about your problems, that isn’t going to help you get out of them.
“A lot of people have it a lot worse off than I do, and they made it. They conquered it. So that kind of lit that fire under me to get my stuff together, and you know, set my goals, realign my priorities, and away we went.”
From NFR To Wyoming
After its premiere at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas — the Super Bowl of Western sports — “Outriding the Devil” has hit the rodeo trail. That’s included premiering at major Texas events like RodeoHouston and the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo.
Now after making waves on a national stage, the film is circling back to where Rusty’s turning point began — Wyoming. The film will have an especially long runway in the Cowboy State with several free premieres ahead.
It will open the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper on June 13, making it one of the rare films to both premiere as an official event of the NFR and later open the college finals as well.
From there, it heads to Sheridan for the WYO Rodeo kickoff on July 5 and then to Cheyenne Frontier Days, where it will premiere July 16.
All of these shows will be free to the public thanks to Visit Casper, the Wyoming Foundation for Cancer Care, the WYO Rodeo, and the Gold Buckle Club.
These Wyoming events will also be the last chances to see “Outriding the Devil” on the big screen, and they’ll include opportunities to quiz the director and rodeo figures after the show.
Streaming deals are being negotiated for a wider, national release, but premiere-style events will end once those begin.
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“Outriding the Devil” Director Raen Le Vell with “Yellowstone” actor Mo Brings Plenty. (Courtesy Photo) -
Included in “Outriding the Devil” are, from left, Stetson Wright, Rusty Wright, Sha Ree Wright, Lily Wright, Angela Ganter and Jackie Ganter. (Courtesy Photo) -
Barrel racing legend Angela Ganter and her battle from near death to elite competition is highlighted in “Outriding the Devil.” (Courtesy Photo)
True Meaning Of Grit
The Wright family is considered rodeo royalty by many, and has been an integral part of “Outriding the Devil,” LeVell said.
During the Las Vegas premiere, the Wrights were there in force alongside country music stars and “Yellowstone” actors, including Mo Brings Plenty.
One of those stars was Ned LeDoux, who plays a young Ganter’s uncle in the movie opposite Lily Wright, who is Stetson Wright’s sister.
In the film, Rusty’s brother, Stetson Wright, takes viewers inside the chute as he walks through his mental processes before a ride.
Rusty, meanwhile, talks about the importance of family sticking together and why he sees rodeo as “one big family.”
Rodeo is one of America’s most dangerous and physically demanding sports. It takes a certain mindset to keep going, one that’s hard to sustain without family and friends backing it up.
“Everybody always sees our highlights and our wins on social media,” he said. “Everyone talks about our wins and yeah, that’s inspiring and everything. But to me the real inspiration, what gets me fired up, is seeing people’s struggles and what they had to go through to get there.”
Rusty said it took 50-some horses before he could stay on a bronc at all, and probably 300 horses before it finally started to click.
“I remember that moment when it finally clicked for me and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s how it’s supposed to feel,’” he said. “If people could watch how many dirt naps and how many wrecks I got in getting to where I’m at, I guarantee you, most people would be like, ‘I can’t believe he’s still riding.’”
By showing those struggles, Rusty hopes his own kids will realize that whatever they want to do in life, they can do it.
“It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, or what you go through,” he said. “If you work at it, buckle down, if you stay hooked, you can get your way to the top.”
That’s the larger message he sees in Ganter’s story, too, and it’s one he absorbed thanks to a random interview request at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming.
“I don’t really believe in coincidences,” he said. “I believe in faith. I was just walking by, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you want to come do this interview?’ God knew I needed that. He knew I needed to hear something, to give me that little push I needed.”
Now that push is on a much bigger stage, playing out in rodeo arenas and theaters across Wyoming and the West — an audience full of cowboys and cowgirls who know exactly what it means to get bucked off hard, dust off, and stand back up again in the arena.
It’s no surprise that such a film would have a Wyoming director behind it, or that it would find its biggest runway in the Cowboy State, where grit has become part of the local DNA.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
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