Wyoming’s crowded U.S. House primary race could produce a winner without a majority

When Wyoming Republicans show up to vote in August’s primary election, they may face a long list of choices in the race for the state’s lone U.S. House seat. The official candidate filing period is still a month away, but 10 Republicans have announced they plan to run for Congress.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who now holds the seat, announced last year she will run for U.S. Senate — a decision partly responsible for the crowded field of candidates who see an opportunity in a rarely open seat. The candidates so far include current office holders such as Wyoming Senate President Bo Biteman and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, as well as former officials like Jillian Balow and one-time Cheyenne lawmaker John B. Romero-Martinez. Former U.S. Senate candidate Reid Rasner is also running alongside five other Republicans who would be new to public office.

“You’ve got an open seat, and they don’t come along very often,” Jim King, University of Wyoming emeritus professor of political science, told WyoFile. Still, King said he’d be surprised to see as many as 10 candidates actually run. The candidate filing period opens May 14 and closes May 29, leaving plenty of time for candidates to drop out. Federal campaign records show that only three candidates — Frank Chapman, Chuck Gray and Reid Rasner — have reported campaign receipts, almost all in the form of personal loans.

Crowded Republican primaries for higher office aren’t completely unusual for Wyoming. Eight Republicans ran for U.S. House in 2016, while 10 sought a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2020. When six Republicans vied for governor in 2018, Mark Gordon ultimately won the primary with 33.4% of the vote. “Which you can’t really say that’s the preferred candidate of most people in the state, because it’s not,” Matthew Harris, a political science professor at Park University in Missouri, told WyoFile.

Harris has written about crowded primaries across the country and the way they lower the number of votes needed to secure a nomination. “The concern there is that when you lower the bar, that means that somebody who’s maybe fringe or extreme or not very qualified can, if they can hold that 25%, that can be enough to win,” he said. A crowded primary can also create a confusing choice for voters, especially when there may be little daylight between candidates. “In a lot of these GOP races, it’s sort of who can demonstrate that loyalty to President Trump,” Harris said.

Trump has not weighed in on Wyoming’s U.S. House race as he did in 2022, when he backed Hageman to oust then-Rep. Liz Cheney. It remains unclear if the president will back someone this time around, but several candidates have said they are seeking his endorsement. Runoff elections and ranked-choice voting can help require candidates to meet a certain threshold of support, but neither have been widely adopted. In 2025, Speaker of the House Chip Neiman brought legislation to create a runoff election for Wyoming’s top five elected offices, but the bill died in the Senate. Meanwhile, lawmakers voted that same year to prohibit ranked-choice voting in any election in Wyoming. Wyoming voters have until May 13 to make any changes to their party affiliation.