Teton County’s Republican chapter won’t go along with state GOP plans to endorse candidates in the primary, a controversial change during a big election year.
“The Teton County Party is not going to do that. We’ll let the state pave the way, if that’s how they want to move forward,” Chair Kat Rueckert told KHOL.
The local decision came as a relief to some party members from Jackson who worried a new loyalty test would limit who runs for Republican seats.
Candidates who want the state GOP’s stamp of approval and eventual financial backing before the general election must now promise to support 80% of the party platform after a rule change at the party’s April 25 annual meeting in Douglas. Teton County Republican Tote Turner was there and said it sets a bad precedent.
“I don’t like the litmus test. I don’t think it’s up to a few members of the party to decide who’s Republican enough to run as a Republican,” he told KHOL.
State GOP Chair Bryan Miller said some dissenting counties were to be expected.
But he told KHOL most of the state will start vetting candidates shortly after the May 29 filing deadline. Those interviews will take place as the state GOP files a federal lawsuit for the right to spend money on certain candidates, which is currently prohibited by state law.
Stephen Klein of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Barr and Klein said he plans to argue that parts of Wyoming law Title 22 unconstitutionally violate free speech. He doesn’t expect the issue to be settled by the August primary.
“There’s obviously a lot of controversy around this,” he told KHOL.
But the former Laramie County precinct committeeman said his experience living in Cheyenne from 2010 to 2015, when he worked for the Wyoming Liberty Group, convinced him that “parties should have more power.”
He and Miller point to a 1989 Supreme Court case, Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee, where the court ruled that California could not ban political parties from endorsing candidates in primaries.
That precedent opened the door for other state groups to pick favorites before the general election.
Wyoming lawmakers, however, have long resisted the change. That pushed Miller and the GOP to strike out on their own this year.
Miller said they won’t wait for the legal case to play out before backing candidates. That doesn’t sit well with some on the other side of the aisle.
“This is very par for the course for the state GOP, very much that ‘We don’t have to follow anyone’s rules but our own,’ and that’s just what happens when you have such a massive supermajority,” said Lucas Fralik, head of Wyoming Democratic Party, which does not plan to follow suit.
“It’s up to the voters and the people, not the party, to decide these things. That’s the whole reason why we have primary elections to begin with,” he said.
Some Jackson Republicans agree. Alex Muromcew, who considers himself more moderate, said the changes in Douglas were made with little chance to debate.
“If they win the lawsuit, then they can ‘primary’ disloyal elected officials,” he said, which would be a significant change from how the Teton County party has historically operated.
“It just discourages people from running for public office,” he said.
Rueckert, Teton County’s chair, said she hopes other counties won’t take the loyalty test and “wield it against people.”
But that appears to be the intention of some party leaders.
In the crowded U.S. House race, Miller said, “I only know like four of those candidates, because the others have never talked to anybody in the party.”
That failure to engage would make them less likely to get support, he suggested.
Candidates across the state are split on whether they want the new endorsements. Congressional candidate Kevin Christiansen told KHOL he would welcome it if the process is transparent. One of his opponents, Teton County rancher Frank Chapman was more critical.
“I have always thought it is best for the voters to make the decision of who to vote for,” Chapman said.
Miller and state GOP Vice Chair Bob Ferguson both think state endorsements will have more sway than Trump endorsements. The party, they say, is more representative of the state.
But they also acknowledged Wyoming voters can think independently.
“Do I think the Trump endorsements are going to win the day?” Miller said. “Maybe not as much in Wyoming as in other states.”
So far the president has backed Rep. Harriet Hageman for U.S. Senate and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder for governor. It remains to be seen whether those candidates will also see the inaugural support from the state party.
