BUFFALO — It was all hands on deck at the Merlin Ranch east of Buffalo. A crew of about 16 had assembled on a sunny, late-May morning to brand and vaccinate the ranch’s cattle.
It is hard, dirty, physical work, and it is deeply satisfying for Wyoming’s first lady Jennie Gordon.
“It’s very soothing to be up there and see the mountains,” Gordon said of the Merlin Ranch.
When Mark Gordon was elected Wyoming’s 33rd governor in November 2018, he became the first governor from Johnson County in the state’s history, and Jennie Gordon became the state’s first, first lady from Johnson County.
Jennie said that despite her title, she is still Jennie — a ranch wife and mother who is deeply committed to her family and to her work to end food insecurity in Wyoming.
“I never thought about being in this position prior to being here,” she said. “Even on the campaign trail, I guess I really just didn’t think about what the results were going to be. As a role though, you can make it your own and I’ve always thought, ‘I was Jennie before, I’m going to be Jennie after, so I better darn well be Jennie during the time I am in this role.’”
Tackling food insecurity
As the couple campaigned around the state, Jennie knew that should her husband be elected, she would be expected to choose a platform as first lady.
Jennie said that she was not aware how much food insecurity there was in the state until she and her husband were on the campaign trail and heard stories from people about volunteering in food pantries or donating to food pantries.
“It really hit me that we do have food insecurity, but it really can be hidden very easily by people because they don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “ I knew I wanted to do it on something I was super passionate about, and that’s something I was passionate about.”
When Jennie launched the Wyoming Hunger Initiative in 2019, instead of starting from scratch, she recognized that there were already organizations across the state working to address issues of food insecurity and hunger.
Many states have a food council that helps connect hunger relief efforts, identifies additional resources and expands their reach and impact. Wyoming does not, so Jennie’s vision was to try to fill that gap.
“There were people who had been working in this space. They’ve been doing this a long time,” she said. “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We don’t want to try to change what they’re doing because they know what they’re doing. So saying, ‘I recognize what you’re doing, how can I help you?’ is kind of how we started, and I think that building trust was super important.”
In addition to helping connect on-the-ground groups with additional resources, the Wyoming Hunger Initiative launched four separate programs aimed at addressing hunger in different ways, including donations of domestic meat, wild game and produce and payment of school lunch debts.
She said the same spirit of collaboration that makes getting ranch work done possible can be used to get other projects done.
“I think working together actually makes a difference,” she said. “We get in the corrals, and we just say, ‘Hey, what’s my job?’ and everybody takes their jobs. Whether you’re doing something as high profile as roping or you’re giving a shot, you all are working together. That’s kind of how I look at our jobs.”
Tens of thousands of pounds of food have been donated to food pantries in all 23 of Wyoming’s counties since the Wyoming Hunger Initiative launched in 2019.
Currently, the initiative is a nonprofit that is housed in the governor’s mansion.
But because she wants to see the work of the Hunger Initiative continue after her tenure as first lady, Jennie is working on creating a 501© (3) for the initiative.
“That is something I’m really focused on for the next 18 months, because I think it’s important work and I think it fills a need,” she said.
Balancing it all
Like many women, Jennie wears many hats: wife, mother, grandmother, philanthropist and rancher. She knew that when her husband became governor, their lives were both about to get a lot busier and that they both would be pulled in multiple directions every day.
“Early on, when we first came into this role, I said, ‘I know that I can’t be everything and do all things.’ I just came up with five priorities and the first one’s family,” she said.
The couple have four children and four grandchildren, and Jennie said that prioritizing her family was the obvious choice, in part because she felt the need to try to compensate for some of the time her husband would be missing with the family.
“Mark is so busy; that is going to take away from his ability to spend that time (with family),” she said.
Family has also helped her keep things in perspective.
“Having my grandbabies around and my family around — they take you right back to what’s important. You might think you have to do X, Y or Z, but they need you to sit down and play with them right now,” she said. “It just distills down what’s super important is that connection with people you love.”
The first lady is neither elected nor does she have any official duties. At the same time, it is a highly visible role, and in recent decades, Wyoming’s first ladies have used their high profiles to advance social causes.
Former first ladies Nancy Freudental and Carol Mead advocated for reducing underage drinking and increasing literacy, respectively. Jennie said that balancing her professional duties comes down to honoring her priorities: kids, agriculture and ending food insecurity.
“If it’s ag, I will be there,” she said. “I really love being around kids. I love seeing them succeed. I love seeing them challenged and overcoming some of those challenges that we have. Our kids in this state are just amazing.”
Life in the political spotlight
In 2008, Mark Gordon ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that was being vacated by retiring Rep. Barbara Cubin. Though that bid was unsuccessful, Jennie said it was a good foretaste of their life to come.
“My first impulse was it was just something I wasn’t really interested in doing. With that being said, that role would have been much less high profile as a congressman’s spouse,” she said. “But I think it was a great experience for him to run and to travel around the state to meet people. That part was fun. In the end, obviously, losing was hard, but it was a great experience and kind of made me less afraid to do a statewide campaign.”
In the intervening 16 years, a lot has changed in Wyoming politics, with longtime politicos lamenting the increasing acrimony and personal attacks.
Though the governor enjoys a 70.7% approval rating, making him the nation’s second-most highly regarded governor, he hasn’t been without his detractors.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh, you’ve got thick skin,’ but it still hurts,” Jennie said. “People say things that I feel maybe are unfair, and many times untrue. So it is painful.”
Jennie said she falls back on a piece of advice her boss gave her long ago.
“It’s just information,” she said.
She said she evaluates those pieces of information to discern whether they are true and valid; if so, it might be a legitimate criticism worth working on.
“If it’s not true, you just say, OK, it’s not true,” she said. “I just can’t really hang my hat on it or try to change somebody’s mind. That’s the way it works, but it is still hard. And it is particularly difficult when it’s someone you know, when it’s from your hometown; those are tougher ones for me personally.”
Still, she understands that her husband’s job is often thankless.
“Mark tries to always talk to everyone, even if they’re mad as heck at him, which I admire about him. Mark doesn’t shy away from anything, and he does listen,” she said. “He wanted to do it, and I think has done a wonderful job. And I’m very, very proud of everything that he’s accomplished.
“But will I be ready to hand that off to the next person to see what they can do? Absolutely.”
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