Wyoming

Wyoming Remains A Sea Of Political Red, But There’s A Little More Blue Creeping In

Published

1 year ago

March 8, 2025

Wyoming Remains A Sea Of Political Red, But There’s A Little More Blue Creeping In

WAMSUTTER — Election data tools now make it possible to zoom in on specific communities and dissect the local electorate in an instant. Data shows Wyoming growing increasingly red, but at the same time, the numbers reveal small, expanding pockets of blue voters across the state.

Those blips of blue aren’t enough to be a trend or come close to challenging GOP dominance in the state that supported President Donald Trump more by percentage of voters than any other state — three times. But they also show the Democratic Party outside Teton and Albany counties isn’t dead in Wyoming, either.

The railroad and energy town of Wamsutter in southcentral Wyoming is not an expanding blue pocket of Democratic voters, but instead is an example of the state’s overwhelming support for Republicans.

“In Wamsutter, of the 105 registered voters, you have six Democrats and 85 Republicans,” said Paul Westcott, executive vice president of L2 Data, a voter research firm, noting that the remaining voters are unaffiliated.

Westcott recently led Cowboy State Daily on a visual tour of Wyoming voters, which are represented on L2 data maps as tiny red or blue squares.

As Westcott zoomed in on Wamsutter, the Democrats appeared as lonely blue outliers, mostly alone in a sea of red.

Between Jan. 1, 2020, and Oct. 1, 2024, L2 tracked 9,717 newcomers to Wyoming, and found 7,507 were registered Republicans, 933 were registered Democrats and 1,277 were listed as “other.”

L2 collects Wyoming voter data three times a year from the Wyoming Secretary of State, deleting those who died or moved out of state. This data set is then sold to a variety of election data services, which use a combination of opinion surveys, targeting software and artificial intelligence tools to profile voters and their political leanings.

Westcott said the offices of U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Harriett Hageman both subscribe to L2 Data to assist with constituent outreach, not to contact voters or drive voter turnout, according to a Hageman spokesperson.

L2 Data allows political office holders to update mailing lists and get a sense of any shift in party affiliation.

“Communicating to my constituents is one of the primary ways I remain accountable to them as their representative,” Hageman said in a statement to Cowboy State Daily. “When I host events like town halls and tele-workshops, it is my goal to reach as many Wyomingites as possible in order to engage them in the conversation.”

Not accounted for in the L2 Data surveys is what, if any, impact from the surge of Democrats who switched parties to Republican to vote for former congresswoman Liz Cheney in the 2022 primary election. It’s not known if those blue voters eventually switching back to Democrat could have shown up as “new” blue voters in Wyoming.

Four tiny blue dots represent the households where Wamsutter’s six registered Democrats live. (L2 Data)

Lander Got Bluer

During election season, L2 data allows campaign strategists to identify reliably red strongholds like Wamsutter, while also keeping an eye on where blue momentum appears to be building.

By Wyoming standards, an increase of a few dozen new Democrats is considered a boom.

“Lander has the largest percentage of new movers that are Dems among their rolls,” said Westcott. “There are 3,878 voters in Lander and in the last four years, 38 new Dems have moved into town. As a percentage, that is the largest in the state.”

L2 Data shows 76% of people moving into Wyoming in the last four years were Republican, while 9.8% or 970 of them were Democrats.

In addition to Lander, the other Wyoming cities and towns growing bluer include Torrington, Cheyenne, Cody and Sheridan.

Lander also led the state in the percentage of current Democrats who switched from Republican to Democrat in the last four years.

Patrick Lawson, chair of the Fremont County Democratic Party, said the high percentage of party switchers might be explained by a crossover that happened in 2022, when Wyoming Democrats switched parties to support Rep. Liz Cheney in the Republican primary, which she lost.

“Back when she was running, we lost a lot intentionally because the state party thought that it would be best to get support behind Cheney because they thought she could win,” said Lawson.

Today, Lawson is part of a “Turn Fremont Blue” campaign, which celebrated the election of Rep. Ivan Posey, R-Fort Washakie, in 2024 and continues to see the number of local Democratic supporters grow.

“Usually at our meetings we really had like 6 to 10 people,” said Lawson. “And the last couple meetings have been more like 30. So it’s tripled in size because there’s just a lot more people wanting to get involved and try and do something.”

The Fremont Democratic Party meetings alternate between Riverton and Lander every month. In Lander, they meet at the library. In Riverton, the gatherings happen in the old Sundowner restaurant, said Lawson, which is now called Mount Everest and serves Nepalese food.

These numbers are notable, showing growth for Democrats in Wyoming, but also shows that the Cowboy State at the same time is getting even more red politically. There may be a few more blue dots, but there also are a lot more red.

Data shows Lander to be one of a few growing blue pockets for the Wyoming Democratic Party. (Fremont County Democrats)
Data shows Lander to be one of a few growing blue pockets for the Wyoming Democratic Party. (Fremont County Democrats)

Goshen Going Blue?

In the last four years, according to L2 Data, 161 Democrats moved to Cheyenne, 85 to Casper, 45 to Sheridan and 17 to Torrington.

“In Goshen County, multiple new folks have moved in and reached out to us,” said Mandy Weaver, communications director with the Wyoming Democratic Party. “I was surprised by that a bit.”

Every Friday during the runup to the 2024 election, Goshen County Democrats rallied on the streets of Torrington, said Weaver.

“They’d stand out and there’s a decent sized group there in Torrington,” she said.

Another surprise growth spot for Democrats: Hot Springs County.

“There’s a really good, active group of Dems there,” said Weaver. “Now with everything that’s going on, people want to get involved. I’ve been working for the party for about two years now, and I’ve definitely seen an increase in involvement in that time.”

In January 2024, there were 23,191 registered Wyoming Democrats and 177,363 registered Wyoming Republicans, according to data from the Wyoming Secretary of State.

A year later, both numbers jumped. The number of registered Democrats increased to 34,845, while the number of Republicans surged to 227,881.

On March 1, the Secretary of State posted the latest registration numbers, and Democrats experienced a drop of a few thousand voters to 31,903, while the number of registered Republicans also dropped to 212,628.

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

Wyoming Coaches Pick the Best of 1A & 2A Boys Basketball in 2026

Published

1 hour ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming Coaches Pick the Best of 1A & 2A Boys Basketball in 2026

The top boys’ basketball players in Wyoming for Classes 1A and 2A were chosen for the 2026 high school season. The Wyoming Coaches Association has unveiled the all-state awards for this year, as voted on by the head coaches in the two classifications, respectively. The Wyoming Coaches Association only recognizes one team for all-state, and only these players receive an award certificate from the WCA. WyoPreps only lists all-state players as defined by the WCA.

WCA 1A-2A BOYS BASKETBALL ALL-STATE SELECTIONS IN 2026

Each class selected 14 players for all-state, reflecting a broad recognition of talent across Wyoming. Notably, congratulations go to Hulett’s Kyle Smith, Brady Cook from Lingle-Fort Laramie, and Carsten Freeburg from Pine Bluffs, who earned all-state honors for the third straight year. In addition, eight more players achieved all-state status for the second time in their prep careers.

Class 1A

Paul McNiven – Burlington

Bitner Philpott – Burlington

Ammon Hatch – Cokeville (All-State in 2025)

Hudson Himmerich – Cokeville

Kyle Smith – Hulett (All-State 2024 & 2025)

Anthony Arnusch – Lingle-Ft. Laramie

Brady Cook – Lingle-Ft. Laramie (All-State 2024 & 2025)

Tymber Cozzens – Little Snake River (All-State in 2025)

Corbin Matthews – Lusk

Max Potas – Meeteetse (All-State in 2024)

Jace Westring – Saratoga

Hazen Williams – Saratoga

TJ Moats – Southeast (All-State in 2024)

Nic Schiller – Upton

Read More Boys Basketball News from WyoPreps

WyoPreps 1A-2A State Basketball Scoreboard 2026

WyoPreps 3A-4A Regional Basketball Scoreboard 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Final Basketball Poll 2026

1A-2A Boys Basketball Regional Scoreboard 2026

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 11 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-25-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 10 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-18-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 9 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-11-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 8 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-4-26

Class 2A

Caleb Adsit – Big Horn

Chase Garber – Big Horn

Carsten Freeburg – Pine Bluffs (All-State 2024 & 2025)

Mason Moss – Rocky Mountain

Oakley Hicks – Shoshoni

Kade Mills – Sundance

Cody Bomengen – Thermopolis (All-State in 2025)

Zak Hastie – Thermopolis

Ellis Webber – Thermopolis (All-State in 2025)

Joseph Kimbrell – Wright

Mitchell Strohschein – Wright (All-State in 2025)

Adriano Brown – Wyoming Indian

Heeyei’Niitou Monroe-Black – Wyoming Indian (All-State in 2025)

Cordell Spoonhunter – Wyoming Indian

The 2026 state champions were the Saratoga Panthers in Class 1A. They beat Lingle-Fort Laramie, 50-45, in the championship game. The 2A winners were the Thermopolis Bobcats, who repeated as champions, after a 45-38 victory over Wyoming Indian in the title game.

Lusk versus Rock River high school basketball 2026

Game action between the Tigers and Longhorns

Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Lisa Shaw

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Wyoming

New laws establish a statewide literacy program

Published

13 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

New laws establish a statewide literacy program

A pair of bills signed into law last week aim to build out a more comprehensive system of literacy education across Wyoming’s public schools.

One mandates evidence-based practices and requires regular screenings for dyslexia, while the other enables the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) to hire a dedicated literacy professional to oversee statewide compliance.

Gov. Mark Gordon’s signing of both bills on Friday was the latest accomplishment of an ongoing push for improved literacy standards. That push has been spearheaded by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder.

“Wyoming is not going to let a single child fall through the cracks,” Degenfelder said during a public bill signing last week. “We are not going to fall behind when it comes to ensuring that our children can read at grade level.”

The primary bill, Senate File 59, establishes a statewide K-12 program for teaching students to read that is built on “evidence based language and literacy instruction, assessment, intervention and professional development that supports educators, engages families and promotes literacy proficiency for all Wyoming students.”

The bill defines evidence-based strategies as those that conform to the science of reading, a term that will be defined and updated by Degenfelder’s office. Nationwide, it generally means putting academic research into practice in classrooms. SF 59 specifically prohibits the exclusive use of “three-cueing” — a strategy once widely employed to teach reading but which education experts now say is outdated and less effective than other strategies.

It also requires annual dyslexia screeners for students below the third grade, and testing for reading difficulties for all students.

The screeners are used to identify the severity of reading difficulties in order to direct “tiered” support that offers the most intensive interventions to the students most in need, while still providing “evidence based” language instruction to all students.

Each school district must formulate an individualized reading plan “for each student identified as having reading difficulties or at risk for poor reading outcomes.”

Districts must now report to the state annually regarding their literacy-related work. Any district where 60% or more of the students are struggling will be required to implement “summer literacy camps or extended supports, including after school support and tutoring.”

The bill also requires literacy related professional development for teachers and specialists “appropriate to their role and level of responsibility” related to literacy education.

SF 59 was backed by dyslexia advocates and literacy specialists.

Senate File 14, the other literacy bill signed into law Friday, appropriates $120,000 annually for the next two years for a full-time position at WDE “to assist school districts in implementing a reading assessment and intervention program and language and literacy programs.”

Both bills go into effect July 1.

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Wyoming

Wyoming Announces 2026 Football Schedule – SweetwaterNOW

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming Announces 2026 Football Schedule

Samuel “Tote” Harris. Photo from gowyo.com

LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming and the Mountain West Conference announced the Cowboys’ 2026 football schedule Monday, a slate that opens with the Border War and concludes with back-to-back home games in Laramie.

Wyoming opens the season Sept. 5 on the road against Colorado State in the 118th edition of the Border War. The Cowboys then host Northern Colorado on Sept. 12 in the home opener before traveling to Central Michigan on Sept. 19.

The Cowboys begin Mountain West play Sept. 26 at home against Hawaii in a matchup for the Paniolo Trophy. Wyoming then faces back-to-back road games at North Dakota State on Oct. 3 and San Jose State on Oct. 10.

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Wyoming returns to War Memorial Stadium on Oct. 17 to host conference newcomer Northern Illinois before facing Air Force at home on Oct. 24. The Cowboys will have an open week on Oct. 31.

The Cowboys open November with road games at UNLV on Nov. 7 and at UTEP on Nov. 14, marking Wyoming’s first meeting with the Miners as members of the Mountain West. Wyoming closes conference play by hosting New Mexico on Nov. 21 and wraps up the regular season with a nonconference game against UConn on Nov. 28 in Laramie.

Each Mountain West team will play four home and four road conference games during the 13-week season, which will conclude with the Mountain West Football Championship Game featuring the two teams with the highest conference winning percentages. The championship game date will be announced later.

With the conference schedule set, Mountain West television partners CBS Sports, FOX Sports, and The CW will begin selecting broadcast games, which could include moving some contests to non-Saturday dates. Network assignments and kickoff times will be announced at a later date.

Season ticket renewals for the 2026 Wyoming football season are now available. Fans can renew their tickets online by visiting gowyo.com/tickets and logging into their account.

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