The Wyoming Legislature has never in its history considered, debated or voted on any proposal to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in any election, in any state. Political mailers sent by the officially registered WY Freedom PAC to Laramie, Fremont and Sweetwater county voters this week claim otherwise.
“[He] voted with the RADICAL LEFT to remove President Trump from the ballot,” according to glossy postcards targeting Reps. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander; Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs; and Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne.
A similar mailer aimed at Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, accused the lawmaker of voting “NO to KEEP President Trump on the ballot this fall.”
But of the hundreds of bills and amendments filed during the 2024 session, none required lawmakers to vote on whether to remove or keep Trump on the ballot.
WY Freedom PAC, the political action committee launched in 2023 to support the hard-line Wyoming Freedom Caucus, is responsible for the mailers.
Reached by phone Friday, WY Freedom PAC Chairman Kari Drost referred WyoFile to an explanation contained in the mailers.
“I don’t have them in front of me, but I am pretty sure that there is a reference to all of the statements made on the bottom of the postcard,” Drost said. “There’s a specific vote that’s referenced, so you could look that up.”
In the bottom left corner of the mailer targeting Larsen, there is a footnote: “Ref HB 01 Section 002,” which references a section of the 2024 budget bill that appropriated about $9.5 million to the secretary of state’s office.
The section provides details about the secretary of state’s budget, specifically how a certain amount of funds may be allocated in regards to ballot initiatives.
Drost, who said she was headed into a meeting, did not elaborate on how a vote on a budget footnote amounted to a vote to remove Trump from the ballot. She asked WyoFile to email her with any additional questions. WyoFile did not receive a response to that email by press time.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, who leads the PAC’s fundraising efforts, told WyoFile the mailers’ assertion was in reference to a budget bill footnote intended to bar the secretary of state’s office from using state funds to engage in out-of-state lawsuits.
Bear said the vote over the footnote was “effectively” a vote for or against Trump being on the ballot.
“They knew what they were doing when they did it,” Bear said.
Zwonitzer called the mailers “beyond the pale.”
“To have legislative colleagues make up complete fabrications that are categorically false is a new low in Wyoming politics,” Zwonitzer said. “And they should expect a full slander lawsuit against the PAC and everyone associated.”
The mailers also criticize lawmakers for how they voted on property taxes, immigrant driver’s licenses and restrictions on foreign land ownership.
Details
As lawmakers crafted the budget earlier this year, they clashed over which elected officials should have the authority to represent the state’s interest in litigation, as WyoFile reported in February.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray joined Ohio and Missouri’s Republican secretaries of state in filing an amicus brief last November that advocated for overturning a Colorado court’s decision to remove Trump from that state’s ballot because of his role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.
The Joint Appropriations Committee responded by adding a footnote to the budget.
“No funds appropriated under this section shall be expended without specific legislative authorization for the secretary of state or the office of the secretary of state to initiate any litigation or participate in any litigation initiated in a court outside of Wyoming in which the state, the secretary of state or the office of the secretary of state is not a named party,” the footnote read.
The Legislature has a history of challenging the authorities of the five statewide elected officials, but the footnote was unacceptable to Freedom Caucus members and their allies. That included Rep. Chris Knapp, R-Gillette, who brought an amendment on second reading to remove the footnote.
The secretary of state’s office “needs authority to act quickly,” Knapp said on the House floor.
“I would like to emphasize that our secretary of state has an interest in free and fair elections,” Freedom Caucus member Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, said. “And when our bordering states start doing wonky things, it could affect us.”
Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, however, said “the fundamental question” at hand was “how many chief executives does our state have?”
“If each of the five elected state officials can file litigation and take a position for the state of Wyoming outside our state borders … then our state doesn’t speak with one voice,” Stith said. “It is the obligation and perhaps the duty at times for our chief executive to take such positions, but we can’t have five different chief executives for the state.”
Some lawmakers argued the budget wasn’t the place for such a footnote.
Others said if the Legislature wanted such restrictions in place, they should also apply them to the state auditor, state treasurer and the superintendent of public instruction. On third reading, the House did just that via an amendment, but ultimately none of the litigation restrictions made it into the final budget bill passed by both chambers.
Aftermath
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in March to restore Trump to Colorado’s primary ballot, but the mailers have revived the issue for Wyoming voters right before early voting begins July 23.
Bear stood by the PAC’s mailers, and encouraged WyoFile to “be aware of the mailers being sent out by Americans for Prosperity if you’re covering election mail.”
Meanwhile, Zwonitzer said it’s “a new low for Wyoming political history.”
“I want to believe that people read [the mailers] and say, ‘This is completely asinine and stupid,’ but [the PAC] must be sending them out because they think it’s effective somehow,” Zwonitzer said.
Reps. Larsen, Larson and Wylie did not respond to WyoFile by press time.
The primary election is Aug. 20.
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