Trump-aligned conservative emerges from crowded primary to decide who fills Wyoming’s lone House seat
Wyoming’s Republican Secretary of State Chuck Gray has won the GOP nomination for the state’s at-large U.S. House seat to replace Rep. Harriet Hageman, who is running for Senate.
Gray emerged from a crowded primary to become the heavy favorite to represent the deeply conservative state in Congress. Gray, a prominent Trump-aligned conservative who has served as secretary of state since 2023, defeated a field that included businessman Steve Friess and Reid Rasner.
The Republican primary was triggered by Rep. Harriet Hageman’s decision to give up Wyoming’s lone House seat and run for the U.S. Senate. Hageman, who was first elected to Congress in 2022 after defeating former Rep. Liz Cheney in a nationally watched Republican primary, is seeking the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis.
The reshuffling has produced an unusual number of open races in Wyoming, with the governorship, Senate seat and House seat all open in the same election cycle for the first time in more than three decades.
The contest to replace Hageman drew a sprawling Republican field and became the most expensive race on Wyoming’s primary ballot.
The race unfolded without an endorsement from either Trump or Hageman, leaving candidates to compete for many of the same conservative voters. That stood in contrast to other major Wyoming primaries: Trump endorsed Hageman in the Senate contest and state Superintendent Megan Degenfelder in the governor’s race.
Whoever captures the Republican nomination will be heavily favored in November. Wyoming is among the most Republican states in the country with Trump carrying the state by nearly 46 percentage points in 2024, his largest margin in any state.
Wyoming has elected just one Democrat to statewide office in more than three decades. Republicans also hold every statewide elected office and overwhelming majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature.