Low turnout, high cost: Wyoming's primary results shift state to the right

The Cowboy State's Freedom Caucus emerged victorious over the more moderate Wyoming Caucus in Tuesday's primary. The night, rife with incumbent upsets, marked the end of a heated contest loaded with out-of-state money, negative mailers, and libel accusations that signaled a definitive shift to the right for one of America's most conservative states.

While the balance of power in the state senate remained relatively untouched, Freedom Caucus-endorsed candidates gained at least three seats in the state house, leaving them with 29 of 62 house seats.

Whether or not the Freedom Caucus will take control of the state house hinges on the Nov. 5 election.

The primary was the first major election held in Wyoming since the elimination of crossover voting in 2023. The state saw its lowest turnout since 2016, with just 122,693 total ballots cast, according to the Wyoming Secretary of State .

Arguably, the night's biggest surprise came in Western Wyoming, where outgoing Speaker of the House Albert Sommers lost in a three-way race to newcomer Laura Taliaferro Pearson. Sommers has served in the legislature since 2017 and was one of the most vocal critics of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Other crucial players on the Wyoming Caucus side of the aisle who lost their races: State House Speaker Pro Tempore Clark Stith of Rock Springs, who fell to Darin McCann, and state representative Dan Zwonitzer of Cheyenne, who has served in the legislature since 2005, lost to first-time candidate Ann Lucas.

Zwonitzer read the results due to low turnout and the prevalence of negative campaigning.

"It was truly difficult to watch myself, my father, so many great legislators lose their primaries last night. It feels meaningful that we all went down together," the Cheyenne legislator said. "The people who are so angry about social issues are the ones who showed up to vote... I think that's what really cost a lot of incumbents was the grievance voters."The Freedom Caucus didn't emerge completely unscathed.

Representative Jeanette Ward of Casper lost control of House District 57 to challenger Julie Jarvis. Representative Mark Jennings lost his battle for the highly contested Senate District 22 with Representative Barry Crago. And Wyoming GOP Executive Director Kathy Russell fell short in her bid against incumbent Bob Nicholas.

Representative Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland), vice chair of the Freedom Caucus who comfortably won re-election in House District 4, took pride in the results.

"Overall, I believe that we got to see a very favorable outcome for the conservative voice in the state of Wyoming," Haroldson said. "The Freedom Caucus is becoming a household name, and it's going to change the way we do the legislative process in the future."

In Wyoming, moderate Republicans took the most significant hit as the primary's upheaval ousted incumbents from various political affiliations and significantly disrupted leadership.

"I think it's an opportunity to rise to the occasion and really find a breakthrough and see what the future looks like as we do forge a different path moving forward for the government," Haroldson said.

Zwonitzer views these uncharted waters as more of a cause for concern than a celebration and expressed disappointment in the loss of legacy insight on local issues and the disparity between campaign issues and the legislative process.

"The loss of institutional knowledge, but also the loss of the eight of us who knew how to keep the Freedom Caucus at bay. We were specifically targeted," Zwonitzer said.

Both U.S. Senator John Barrasso and U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman coasted to victory on the federal level.

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

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Low turnout, high cost: Wyoming's primary results shift state to the right