The 2026 Election, 3rd Edition: The Self Inflicted Wound Edition.

And can they recover?

A major turn occured in the Wyoming election when all three of Wyoming's congressional delegation members supported Mike Lee's Deseret Dream to swipe Federal lands for land raping purposes.  The move was hugely, overwhelmingly, unpopular in Wyoming, but the delegation in part assessed the voters dim, and in part, trusted on them to forget.

Right now, it doesn't look like they will.

And the candidate are beginning to line up.  We have, so far:

Governor:

GOP.

Eric Barlow. Barlow is a state senator from the 23rd district and announced earlier this week. So far, he's receiving a lot of accolades from the none Freedom Caucus Republicans and condemnations from the populist Freedom Caucus, which frankly makes him the front runner.  

Brent Bien.  Bien is retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and another member of the recent Wyoming crowd who declares "after sucking on the government tit my whole life I hate the government and know best for people who haven't had such secure jobs as me".  He's on the far right.

Joseph Kibler.  Kibler is a web designer and might as well drop out right now.

Reid Ranser.  Far right gadfly who doomed his chances, which were non existent anyway, by filing a lawsuit which states that he's a homosexual and was slandered by certain GOP figures.  The slander aside, branding yourself as a homosexual is a bad political move in this atmosphere.  He's highly likely not to be the only homosexual running for a statewide office or perhaps in office, but Wyomingites tend not to draw attention to themselves in that manner during an era such as the one we currently live in.

Waiting in the wings are Chuck Gray, who is already campaigning for something on the far right wing of the far right, save when it comes to nuclear power, were the populist are flower children, so he is too.  Holding Gray up is Harriet Hageman, who seems likely to try to run, but whose position in opposition to the Federal lands is likely to sink any campaign of hers, or at least seriously damage it.

Also waiting in the wings is Mark Gordon, who has clearly not wanted Gray to replace him.  With Barlow throwing his broad brim in the ring, he likely won't run now.

August 15, 2025

This is interesting:

Wyoming crowd boos Hageman retort that protections against greenhouse gases based on ‘false science’

Wyoming crowd boos Hageman retort that protections against greenhouse gases based on ‘false science’: U.S. Rep. Hageman's comment didn't go over well in Pinedale, where residents struggled for years to clean up health-threatening pollution from oil and gas drilling.

Pinedale calls itself the "Icebox of the Nation" and the introduction of oil and gas operations near it are relatively new.  Given both of those, it clearly didn't drink the GOP Koolaide on global warming being a fib.

Hageman has so far received rough crewed treatment in Pinedale, Rock Springs, and Laramie. I suspect she would in Casper as well.  I also suspect she might want to start thinking about selling her house in D.C. and looking to move back to her brother's ranch, as she may be out of work next year. 

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2026, 2026 Election, Climate Change, Harriet Hageman, Petroleum, Wyoming (Pinedale), Wyoming (Sublette County)

Wyoming has been a prime example of "if I make money from it, it must be perfectly okay".  If we could grow big fields of opium here, we'd be loudly in favor of heroin.

Given that, and given that a lot of Wyomingites are imports from warmer regions of the country, people here are huge climate change deniers, even though if you've lived here your whole life its extremely obvious that its going on.  

And Hageman comes from the agricultural which is bizarrely resistant to accepting the reality of climate change, even though if nothing is done, it'll destroy their livelihoods.

So she no doubt thought stepping in front of a Sublette  County audience would mean that the "climate change is a fib" line would be well received.  It wasn't.

Something is finally really starting to change here.  Part of it is that people are waking up to reality, and part of it is that Hageman took a stand for something Wyomingites detest, transfering the Federal lands, and then basically asserted we were dumb for not supporting it ourselves.  She's so all in on these positions, she really can't change them, and stepping in front of audiences makes her situation worse.

August 20, 2025

Congressman Elsie Stephanik was booked off of a New York stage two days ago.

Stephanik likely sacrificed her career for Trump.

Elsie of course crawled into bed with Trump.  She originally was opposed to him.  Harriet Hageman, on the other hand, was never openly opposed to Trump and took the seat of her former friend Liz Cheney opportunistically.

Hageman has had a lot of simple adoring fans since that time, but the bloom is really off the rose.  She was booed in deeply Republican Sublette County last week, and received a hostile crowd in Casper on Monday night.  Indeed, the Casper event was notably not only for the outright hostility to Hageman, but to extent to which a lot of Republicans flatly did not show up leaving a lot of room in the auditorium.

Hageman had her sights set on the Governor's mansion and still might.  If nothing else, she's doubling down on her position on everything.  But that ship has likely sailed, and she stands a good chance, right now, of having to vacate her Congressional seat.

August 29, 2025

And yet. . . 

Joseph Kibler running for governor on promise of ‘being something different

being yet another carpetbagger coming in and complaining of too much bureaucracy, particularly in a state you just moved to, isn't actually different.

September 30, 2025

Sec. Gray has flagged over 2,000 Wyoming voters for County Clerks to investigate s voters who may no longer reside in Wyoming.

This entire topic has been a fictional bee in Gray's bonnet.

Progressive Palestinian American Palestinian State Rep. Ruwa Romman has entered the Georgia Governor's race.

October 22, 2025

The Barlow Effect: Candidates can’t officially join the race till next year, but an unmistakably powerful ingredient has entered the mix, writes columnist Rod Miller.

November 18, 2025

A Federal Court in Texas has blocked the state from using its recently redrawn Congressional District map.

Oops.

This will be appealed, but if the decision is upheld it would mean that the five GOP (probably) seats that the state added won't be, while California, in a recent election, added five.

Oops.

Additionally, early indicators are that Texas Hispanics are following the national tread and are becoming disenchanted with the GOP, so some Texas districts may swing Democratic on their own.

Oops.

All of this could mean that the 2026 election could see the House not only swing Democratic, but perhaps massively so, and that some of the Returning Republicans are no longer big fans of Trump, to which those survivors will be reassessing their loyalty to Trump.

On the last item, Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene are in a flat out war with Trump, and Trump is losing.  Greene has gone from one of Trump's most loyal adherents to an outright anti Trump insurgent.

There's a year to go, of course, but Trump is already acting like unstable and clearly under pressure.  Having pulled out all the stops to prevent the release of the Epstein files, he now is claiming to once again support the release, putting the Senate in the hot seat.  If Trump is acting behind the scenes at the Senate, it puts Senators in a terrible spot at the same time that they have the example of Massie and Greene, who aren't being hurt by opposing Trump.

Locally, it'll be interesting to see if Lummis and Hageman remain lashed to the deck of Trump.  I bet Lummis won't.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 2nd Edition: The early season.

Labels: 2026 Election, Carpetbaggers, Chuck Gray, Cynthia Lummis, Elon Musk, Errare humanum est perseverare diabolicum, Harriet Hageman, homosexuality, Hypocrisy, Lies, Politics, Populism, Republican Party, Sex, The Big Ugly, Wyoming

A 2026 Election Storm Warning.

Donald Trump attempted to steal the 2020 Presidential Election and failed.  Having won the 2024 election, he's now working on stealing the 2026 mid terms.

The 2026 election will be the critical one.  Republicans are going to try to use everything they can think of, legitimately, nad illegitimately, to control the outcome of the 2026 midterms.  If they fail, they'll refuse to accept the results.

The 2026 election may well prove to be the election that breaks the republic.

Marjorie Taylor Greene sounding like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. . . something's going on.

Something is going on.

Recent comments by Marjorie Taylor Greene:

I've been in the Capitol, and there are two things I couldn't find this week: I couldn't find anywhere the Epstein files, and I also couldn't find the Republican plan to fix the health insurance industry.

____________ 

"Prices have not come down at all. The job market is extremely difficult. Wages have not gone up. Health insurance is going up. Home insurance goes up. Rent is going up. Young people have no hope of buying a home."

_____________ 

“Health care crisis? Ignored.

Wages? Flat.

Bills? Sky high.

And you think this wins midterms?”

______________ 

“I’d never speak on behalf of the president, but I don’t think he’s always getting the best advice.”

_______________

I'm talking to major manufacturing companies and they are saying we're having a problem with these tariffs... 

Has regular people's stress come off? No. That should be the focus. It shouldn't be helping your crypto donors. The focus should be the people that showed up at the rallies. I don't think those people are being served.

____________________

I'm not going to... keep talking the talking points, when my own adult children can hardly afford health insurance premiums.

______________________

I’m not some sort of blind slave to the president, and I don’t think anyone should be.

I serve in Congress. We’re a separate branch of the government, and I’m not elected by the president.

___________________

Have regular people's bank accounts been helped? No, that has not happened, and that needs to be the focus — it shouldn't be about helping your crypto donors.

___________________

I'm going to read you a little list... A Hollywood producer, a royal prince, a high-profile individual in the music industry, a very prominent banker, a high-profile government official, one former politician, one owner of a car company in Italy, one rock star, one magician, half a dozen billionaires, including one from Canada.

(This one riffs of of Massie, whom she is quoting). 

Something is going on.  Greene, who has typically sounded like a bombastic idiot, suddenly doesn't.  It's not just what she's saying, which is shocking given her prior servitude to the far right, it's the way she's saying it.

She's actually not dumb.

This means something. She's saying things that if they came from a Democrat would cause Mike Johnson to put on his little smirk and discount it.  

And then there's this:

They’re not Hamas. They’re literally women and children. And you can’t unsee the amount of pictures and videos of children that have been blown to pieces and are they’re finding them dead in the rubble. That isn’t—those aren’t actors, that isn’t fake war propaganda. It’s very real.

Usually MAGA supports anything Israel does.

This is interesting.  If it starts repeating with other far right figures we'll know that the political winds are shifting.

On rising discontent:

You better start obeying the Constitution. It's going to get real ugly if you don't follow the laws and obey the Constitution like you swore an oath to do.

National Federation of Federal Employees President Randy Erwin puts Trump on notice

A small business owner on Twitter, whose small business depends on Chinese imports, reported "hating" Trump.

A Big-Picture Look at the Threat to Voting Coming From the Trump Adminis...

I suspect it's not so much MAGA, but the NatCons. They know that they need more time to remake the country in the Christian Nationalist image they want it to have.

Wyoming crowd boos Hageman retort that protections against greenhouse gases based on ‘false science’

Wyoming crowd boos Hageman retort that protections against greenhouse gases based on ‘false science’: U.S. Rep. Hageman's comment didn't go over well in Pinedale, where residents struggled for years to clean up health-threatening pollution from oil and gas drilling.

Pinedale calls itself the "Icebox of the Nation" and the introduction of oil and gas operations near it are relatively new.  Given both of those, it clearly didn't drink the GOP Koolaide on global warming being a fib.

Hageman has so far received rough crewed treatment in Pinedale, Rock Springs, and Laramie. I suspect she would in Casper as well.  I also suspect she might want to start thinking about selling her house in D.C. and looking to move back to her brother's ranch, as she may be out of work next year. 

The 2026 Election, 2nd Edition: The early season.

July 6, 2025

I started drafting this, barely, as the Big Ugly started its final set of debates in the Senate.  As I did that, this came out Musk broke, for the second time, with Trump, and claimed he'd form a new party if the Big Ugly passed.

And now Musk has announced he's doing just that.

Well, good for him.

I'm not posting this a a cheerleader for Musk.  Musk is very much part of what's wrong with the United States.  He's a poster child for what occurs in a country where has unrestrained capitalism.  His caring about people claim can be doubted.  The largest donor to the 2022 election, and the former Gauleiter of DOGE, there's no reason to trust that his view of what the nation's politics ought to look like comport with an actual decent set of political beliefs.

But this does symbolize something I'd noted at the time.

The 2026 election has begun.It'll interesting to see how this pays out.

Lummis is up for reelection, assuming she runs, and she will.  She'll blame the Democrats for anything that goes wrong, and talk about being the Cyberqueen.

If she faces a solid challenger, after the Public Lands vote, she'll be in trouble.

The House seat is also up.  Hageman won't run for that however, she's going to run for Governor.  She's going to lose that.

Chuck Gray is going to run for the House, and he'll lose that.

Times are changing. Whether or not The Big Ugly passes, Trump has shot his bolt.  True acolytes can wear "Trump was right about everything" truckers caps, but the opposite is proving to be true.

And this is about to get a lot worse for the GOP.

cont:

And now Nebraska's Don Bacon.  The Congressman is in a district that's becoming increasingly Democratic, and my guess is it likely now will be a Democratic seat.  The Republicans only hold a seven seat majority right now, which will be reduced to a five seat majority once the Democrats fill two vacant seats.  Even assuming the Republicans hold every seat they currently have with out Bacon, that would reduce them to a four seat majority.

But they won't hold every seat. The House will flip.

cont:

Even Elon suddenly woke up.

At the time I posted that, I noted the departure of Don Bacon from the candidate rolls for the next election.  Now, Tennessee's Mark Green has outright left.  The GOP held 220 seats and the Democrats 213, but two of the unfilled seats will go to Democrats once vacant seats are replaced, reducing the pre Big Ugly margin to 220 to 215.  With Green actually now gone, that's 219 to 215.

The House will return to the Democrats in the 2026 election.

By that time, it's my guess that the utility of Donald Trump will be gone, and the utility of being shocked that he has dementia will set in.

J.D. Vance will be President by then, with the NatCons hoping that he isn't tainted by anything that went wrong under Trump.  Without Vance, nothing that's happened so far will last very long.

What will occur in the Wyoming midterm, which will address in another post on a somewhat separate theme will be really interesting. There's a good chance that Hageman and Lummis won't survive the midterms and that Gray will be defeated in his effort to climb the next rung of the latter, a sign that he'll he'll soon leave the state entirely, it no longer serving any purpose for him.

July 10, 2025

Interesting article pointing out that Musk's third party effort is a long shot, but still has a shot.

Jonah Goldberg: Elon Musk’s America Party is a long shot

Already, I'd note, the one thing the Democrats and the GOP are agreeing on right now is that you must not vote for any new Musk party.

Not that I would.  The values that the South African Mass Sperm Donor Billionaire hold are very far from mine.  DOGE was stupid beyond belief.  And frankly, I don't think that the Federal Government needed to be smaller in the first place, and that the common belief that it does is simply a "common sense" bromide that people believe because they believe it.  But he is right about the looming budget crisis.  I'd fix that much differently than Musk would.

But I don't think his party, should he form it, can necessarily be discounted.  By next election the declining Trump, will sound more and more like mush.  Trump already often sounds like this:

Or this:

 

The room to take Trump on is increasing, and the question is how much the NatCons really want to invest in a bowl of oatmeal as a figurehead.  That could prove to be a bad strategy.

One thing I'll note is that I have a thread I haven't posted yet pondering a sort of Wyoming Party.  I should have finished it as I could sort have been to this topic first.

And Musk certainly has the cash to get his views out. As he does that, the GOP will spend a lot of cashing yelling "don't listen to the right wing nut!"

Of course, the Democrats will agree with the Republicans on that, as not voting for a third party is the one thing they agree on. . . which is ironically one of the things that an American Party could point to as a reason to vote for it.

I'd also note that if an American Party was intelligent, which there's big reason to doubt that it would be, and carved off some of the real conservative topics from the GOP, and was actually fiscally conservative, it might appeal more broadly than the GOP suspects.

In more local news, former primary candidate Reid Rasner, who ran to the right of John Barrasso, and who forced Barrasso to run to the right of himself, has filed a lawsuit in the 2nd Judicial District against far right former state senator Anthony Bouchard for defamation.

July 10, 2025, cont.

So, the news on Ranser and Bouchard seems more clear.  Rasner claims that Bouchard ruined a major economic deal he was working on to buy TikTok by emphasizing that Rasner is a homosexual, which Rasner does not deny. Bouchard had a sexual scandal of his own that came to light earlier on, which, the way I typed it out, would seem to suggest that Rasner's being a homosexual is a scandal, which he doesn't deny (his orientation) in his lawsuit. 

Bouchard dropped out of the legislature after his own rather gross sexual scandal came to light, so the fact that he'd make any kind of a big deal out of Rasner's homosexuality is really petty.  Apparently screwing and impregnating 14 or 15 year olds, albeit when he was 19, is not as bad as Rasner having same sex attraction.  At least, the argument seems to be, you are screwing the opposite gender, so that's better.  I'll leave that to others to judge. But why would one far right figure go after the other?

Proper sexual orientation seems to be the only reason. So, really, in the MAGA world screwing a 14 or 15 year old when you are 19 is, well, one of those "Romeo and Juliet" type of deals, to use Bouchard's words, but being a homosexual is just wrong.

Of course, from an Apostolic Christian point of view, sexual relations are only licit between a man and a woman inside a valid marriage, which can occur only once, while both of the couple are living.  Inclination doesn't matter, and is not sinful inside itself.  But that's not the modern United States, where a serial polygamist is the alleged President and who was a friend of a procurer (which perhaps he was unaware of), but he's okay as he has the right attraction.  Most Populist Americans seem to believe that there's nothing really wrong with 1960s sexual libertine behavior, as long as its directed towards the opposite sex.

Rasner must figure his bolt is shot politically, as publishing himself as a homosexual will kill any chance he has of office in contemporary Wyoming.  He's not the first Wyoming homosexual to have sought office, and three Wyomingites who were homosexuals have served in elective office, with two of them being open about it.  I'd be stunned if there aren't any now, other than the one legislator who admits to being homosexual.  Indeed, it'd be interesting if the sexual conduct of every Wyoming political figure came to light so that the MAGA adherents could be exposed to the full sunlight.   Maybe they're all pure in their carnal desires, and properly oriented, but I'd be surprised.

An interesting thing here, I'd note, is that Rasner ran to the right of Barrasso, which puts him in full NatCon territory.  The NatCons feel that homosexuality is a total abomination.  This points out a really curious aspect of it, however, as individuals who can carry the Populist banner don't seem to see a conflict with those who would basically burn them at the stake.  No matter what a person thinks of it, homosexuality wasn't something that traditional conservative Republicans cared about at all.  Hardcore NatCons sure do.

July 11, 2025

The Secretary of State, whose job in Wyoming is to be a Secretary, is once again criticizing the Governor, whose job is to govern.

Gordon Defends Energy Platform; Gray Says Wind, Solar A ‘Woke Clown Show’

Gray clearly can't stay in his own lane, and is clearly running for something else.  Wyomingites are pretty sharply divided on him, with the far right seeing him as some sort of brilliant crusader, and many others seeing him as a self serving buffoon looking for the spotlight to shine on himself.

July 22, 2025

In what was very clearly the first political campaign rally of Chuck Gray's 2026 campaign for Governor, Chuck spoke at The Hanger in Bar Nunn. 

Spewing his usual stew of nonsense decrying "the radical left", he then turned against Radiant Energy, which has reportedly received opposition in Bar Nunn.  Chuck has learned how to sound like a diehard full Trump right winger except on things unpopular, at which point he becomes nearly a Green Peace activist.  You really can't thread his positions together in a straight line.

He also predictably railed against Governor Gordon.  Gordon is theoretically barred from a third term, but only theoretically.  Gray clearly feels that Gordon may be running, and the fact that Gordon hasn't been a far right drone has made him the target of Gray's ire. 

An interesting thing here is that this the opening of his attempt at the Governor's office. Very reliable inside information had Gray going for Harriet Hageman's seat, but this would suggest that might have changed, or that Gray just doesn't have anything real to discuss.  If Hageman decides to run for a second term, which as an opponent of public lands she might regret doing, Gray won't challenge her.  Hageman may know, however, that her chances for the Governor's office are now dead in the water. For that matter, her chances of reelection to Congress may be as well, but there she can try to deflect attention by clinging tightly to her support of the still popular, in Wyoming, for right now, Trump.

You also can't really explain why a Secretary of State would need a "town hall".  The job is about as interesting as wall paper paste if it's actual role is discussed.

July 29, 2025

From the Cowboy State Daily:

Hageman's Popularity Has Many Uncertain If They’ll Run For Governor

Worth noting, Hageman might not be as popular as she once was following her support of Mike Lee's land grab effort.

July 30, 2025

Gordon among nation’s most popular governors despite criticism from right flank, poll finds

: National survey of Wyoming voters shows Gordon’s popularity has remained steady throughout his tenure.

July 31, 2025

Tom Lubnau:  Which Gubernatorial Candidates Can Raise the Funds Necessary to Run

August 2, 2025

Gray weighs his odds in race for Wyoming governor or U.S. representative

Anonymous Rifle-Themed Site Targets Hageman For Defending Public Lands Sale

The site:

Project Winchester

Hageman has condemned the site as promoting violence due to its use of a rifle theme, which is pretty ironic for the GOP in Trump's era.

August 11, 2025

I suspect people are beginning to get a bit nervous about what their support of the land disposal move will mean at the ballot box.

They should.

One reason I suspect this is that billboards thanking the politicians are showing up.  Two billboards featuring all three are thanks from "the energy industry', and ironically show the background of the Tetons.

That presumably means petroleum and coal, but it's really hard to say. The energy industry wasn't under attack to start with, so its not even clear what the thanks is for.  Why do they need to be thanked?

Somebody wants everyone to remember, I guess, that all three stand with the "energy industry".  We knew that. They stand with us on public lands. That's the point.

Another one around here thanks John Barrasso from the health industry.  That's laughable.  It's supposed to be for cutting waste from Medicaid.  His support of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says all you really need to know about where Dr. John's heart really lies.

Both Barrasso and Gov. Gordon were at some  health related event last week.  I've lost track of what it was.  Barrasso isn't up for reelection for years, so all of this image redirection is really interesting.

August 13, 2025

Sen. Eric Barlow will run for Wyoming governor: The Gillette Republican and former Speaker of the House will vie for the state’s top post in 2026.

Wyoming State Senator Eric Barlow Announces Run For Governor

This is the first really significant announcement in this race.  Barlow is a somewhat known name, and definitely a serious candidate. He's a Wyoming native (which Gray is not), a working rancher (which Hageman is not) as well as a veterinarian and apparently not well liked by the Freedom Caucus (which Gray and Hageman are).

There's reason for some cautious optimism here, although I frankly don't know that much about him.

The 2026 race goes into a different phase at this point.  It's actually on.  Gray and Hageman. . . as well as Gordon, have to decide what they're going to do.  Hageman at this point may choose to stay in the House of Representatives, or try to.  Gray has to run for something, but his chances of a long term political career are evaporating.

Barlow noted he wasn't going to run a nasty campaign right away:

Barlow Says If GOP Primary For Wyoming Governor Gets Ugly, It Won’t Come From Him

Barlow knows it will get ugly.  If either Hageman or Gray run for Governor, it will by default. Gray can't order breakfast at McDonalds without going into a tirade about left wing communist news media conspirators, it's his brand.  Hageman would likely not go nasty, but her populist backers would.

Speaking loudly in Barlow's favor, the real MAGA crowd is already attacking him on social media, according him of being a RINO.  In Wyoming, the accustors in that category are Cornfederates, that crowd that figures everything went wrong since Lee surrendered at Appomattox and are deep into the lastest wacky conspiracy.  Indeed, Barlow's announcement gave them a chance to declare, as I saw in one comment, that he "didn't protect us during COVID", by which they mean he didn't deny COVID existed and everything was A-Okay, which even their beloved leader King Donny didn't state.

So there's some hope here.

And this will conclude this edition.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 1st Edition: Spring Training Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2026, 2026 Election, Carpetbaggers, Catholic, Conservatism, homosexuality, Politics, Populism, Predictions, religion, Republican Party, The Big Ugly, The relationship between men and women, trends, Wyoming

A Lummis reply.

Well, now that the Big Ugly moved on the House and its safe to say something, I received an emailed letter from Sen. Lummis.

It stated:

Senator Cynthia Lummis State of Wyoming (202) 224-3424 www.lummis.senate.gov

July 2, 2025 Yeoman Dear Yeoman: Thank you for contacting me about public lands. As you know, Wyoming and other western states are blessed with beautiful public lands that offer endless opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts. The outdoor recreation industry also generates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for our state.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for administering federal lands to support a range of uses, including for commercial, recreation, and conservation activities. Currently, BLM manages over 245 million acres of land, primarily in the 11 westerns states. In Wyoming alone, the BLM manages over 18.5 million acres, or 48% of the state’s land.  While the BLM is generally mandated by Congress to retain public lands in public ownership, under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the agency may dispose of lands on a case-by-case basis and deemed in the public interest. FLPMA outlines the criteria for these land dispositions, allowing the sale of lands that are difficult and uneconomic for BLM or other agencies to manage, are no longer needed for the purpose it was acquired for, or would serve important public objectives, such as establishing houses, parks or schools. Recently, Democrats have mischaracterized multiple proposals and put forward bad faith efforts to obstruct President Trump’s agenda, rather than protect our federal lands as they claim. One example was a proposed amendment by the U.S. House Natural Resource Committee that would have allowed for the sale of less than 1% of federal lands in Utah and Nevada. This would have allowed those states to utilize underused parcels for economic development, a reservoir, vital infrastructure projects, and the expansion of an airport. However, this was mischaracterized by Democrats as an attempt to privatize land.  I am aware of a proposal from Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) that would require BLM to establish a robust public nomination and identification process to identify underutilized federal land near existing infrastructure to address the current housing crisis. I understand the proposal would focus on less than 0.5% of BLM land in 11 western states and would include protections for existing rights and uses like grazing permits, mineral leases, mining claims, and special use authorizations. Ultimately, this proposal was not included in the Senate budget reconciliation package. It is one of my top priorities to maintain and improve public access on public lands for activities such as hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, hiking, and biking. However, we must address the significant challenges for local communities, state government, and efficient land management practices that comes from federal ownership of nearly half of all Western land. It is important that we empower Wyoming-based stakeholders and local experts to enact thoughtful management systems that serve our communities while protecting our national treasures. I welcome the opportunity to communicate with you regarding issues impacting Wyoming. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if I can ever be of any assistance. Kind regards, Cynthia M. Lummis United States Senator

Once again, everything is reduced to the Big Bad Democrats are picking on us wee little Republicans, lying, stealing our lunches, etc.

Horseshit.

I've read these bills.  I will contact Sen. Lummis, but part of the reason I will is to state that without a massive public retraction on this, I won't be casting any votes for her if she seeks to retain her job in the future.

I'd also note, for somebody accusing the Democrats of lying, there's a lie in here. The Lee bill didn't pertain to just Nevada and Utah, but everywhere with public land save for Montana.