Gordon To Face Three Challengers in 2022 Gubernatorial Primary
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon will battle three other candidates for the Republican nomination for governor in August, while incumbent congresswoman Liz Cheney faces four opponents in her bid for renomination.
The deadline for major candidates to file for the primary election was Friday evening. Third-party candidates, such as Libertarians or members of the Constitution Party, are chosen by their parties at party conventions or caucuses and do not file for the primary election.
Gordon, who is running for a second term, faces challenges from Brent Bien of Sheridan, James Scott Quick of Douglas and Rex Rammel of Rock Springs. Rammel has run numerous campaigns for political office previously in both Idaho and Wyoming, so far without success.
Rammel, sometimes described as a "perennial candidate," got a little over 3 percent of the vote as the Constitution Party candidate for governor in the 2018 general election.
Meanwhile, two Democrats are vying for that party's nomination. Rex Wilde, who has run twice for governor as well as once for the U.S. Senate and one for mayor of Cheyenne, lost all of those bids in the primary election. Theresa Livingston of Worland ran unsuccessfully for the Wyoming Legislature from Senate District 20 in 2020, losing to Republican ed Cooper in the General Election.
Perhaps the most high profile election in Wyoming in 2022 [and one of the most-watched races in the nation] is the battle for Wyoming's lone seat in congress. Incumbent Liz Cheney, an arch-nemesis of former President Donald Trump, is facing four challengers, including a Cheyenne attorney backed by Trump and a conservative legislator from Laramie county who says he is running "against the swamp.''
Cheney is one of the few Republican officeholders in the country who have openly stood up to Trump. The former President, for his part, visited Casper recently for a rally that was largely aimed at promoting the candidacy of Harriet Hageman, Trump's choice for the seat. Cheney holds a significant fundraising advantage over Hageman, but some polls have her trailing the Cheyenne attorney, who finished third in the GOP race for governor in 2018.
Cheney is billing herself as a constitutional conservative who works hard for the state in congress. Hageman is touting the Trump endorsement and says she is "Wyoming tough."
Also in the race is state Senator Anthony Bouchard of Laramie County, whose Facebook page says is running "against the swamp." Bouchard has compiled a very conservative record in the state legislature, where he was earlier this year stripped of all committee assignments for allegedly trying to intimidate other lawmakers and the public. Bouchard has called Hageman and Cheney "BFFs forever" on Facebook and portrays himself as an unapologetic conservative who speaks the truth regardless of consequences.
Also in the race for congress on the Republican side are Denton Knapp and Robin Belinsky. Democrats who have filed for congress include Lynette Greybull, the party's 2020 nominee, as well as Meghan Jensen and Steve Helling.
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