Women could regain a majority on the Teton County Commission this fall if two candidates advance in the general election. But Latino residents remain underrepresented in local leadership.
Town leadership has recently had a female mayor and several female councilors, but Natalia Macker has been the only woman on the five-person Teton County Commission since 2021. She served with two other women when she was first appointed in 2015 and is excited that women could regain the majority.
“My dream world is women all up and down the ballot, and that women could represent across the political spectrum,” Macker, 42, said.
Ali Dunford and Karyn Chin beat two male incumbents in the August Democratic primary. They face two Republicans and an independent in the general, including a third woman, Vicky O’Donoghue. Dunford, 37, thinks voters are ready for change.
“People are sensing that things aren’t working and since male leadership has been the norm for so long, this is a place where we can try to experiment with doing things differently,” she said.
If women regain the majority, Macker said that would free them up to focus on a variety of topics rather than being pigeonholed into so-called women’s issues.
Chin, 41, agreed.
“Being the only person to hold a specific identity, no matter what it is, I think puts you in an incredibly difficult position emotionally, capacity-wise — your ability to actually impact what matters to the community that you represent,” she said.
They suggest that broader representation could mean better awareness of issues that impact the community. Such as a recent commission vote to pass a resolution honoring immigrants. Or Macker’s effort to bring baby-changing tables to the county administration building.
“Getting people with that lived experience is really important,” she said.
Not everyone running agrees. O’Donoghue said gender identity isn’t a big deal because she “can work with anyone.”
She suggested people “stop labeling” and “just look at others as human beings.”
Jackson’s “Petticoat Rulers” served as the nation’s first all-female town council. And Wyoming is known as the Equality State because it was the nation’s first to grant women the right to vote and hold office. But Macker says it struggles to live up to that moniker.
“It’s still very aspirational,” she said.
Women make up a quarter of state lawmakers, making Wyoming among the bottom 10 states in the nation for gender parity in the statehouse.
There are currently no majority-women county commission boards in Wyoming, though Albany County recently had one, according to Jerimiah Rieman, leader of the state association of county commissioners.
But there’s another kind of diversity even more lacking at the local level.
Despite making up nearly a third of Jackson’s estimated population, a Latino has never been elected to the Jackson Town Council or Teton County commission.
Nobody from the community has even run for office, according to available records and interviewed leaders. The reasons why aren’t entirely clear. But several said government needs to become more accessible before more people can join.
Antuanett Lopez, 29, was a finalist for a town council appointment that year after several community members encouraged her to run.
The first Latino in office still “needed to be created,” rather “stepping into the steps of someone else,” she said. “So with that in mind, I was very nervous when I sent that application.”
Lopez came to the U.S. from Peru as a teenager and owns a therapy practice in town. Also a volunteer podcast host at KHOL, she said her biggest barrier to running was the complexity of meetings held in English.
Three Hispanic residents served on the town’s Equity Task Force for three years before town councilors canceled the initiative in 2025 to avoid violating a new Wyoming law banning diversity initiatives.
Another Latina who has considered running for office, Julie Gonzalez, 32, said she felt encouraged by younger women running for county seats.
“Maybe we could see more people who reflect the different diasporas of experiences happening in our county,” Gonzalez said.
If people are too nervous to run, the nonprofit worker said there are other ways to make a difference. Gonzalez accomplished that by serving on a volunteer board.
Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen said another reason that Latino residents don’t run could be housing insecurity. Others said it’s hard to justify leaving a job to campaign with the uncertainty of winning.
Chin said an uptick in immigration enforcement plays a part.
“Our Latinx community here is so under attack,” she said, “and I can imagine that that chills the desire to want to be public. There are very real threats to their safety, their family’s safety.”
Chin was a founding member of Jackson Hole Pride and said that as a queer person, she worried about having her home address published when she decided to run.
“As a first-time candidate, it has been incredibly intimidating. It’s been incredibly vulnerable,” Chin said. “So, to be from an even more marginalized, persecuted community, that would be incredibly hard.”
Early and absentee voting starts Oct. 6. Election Day is Nov. 3.
