Free Republic

Former Wyoming State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis announced today (Wednesday) that she will seek election to Wyoming's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 53-year-old Lummis ended her second term as state treasurer early last year. She's also served seven terms in the Wyoming Legislature and served two years as chief counsel to former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer. Lummis is running for the seat that will be vacated by Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., who recently announced that she won't seek re-election this year. Lummis was among three finalists the Wyoming Republican Party submitted to Gov. Dave Freudenthal for his...

House Republicans were hit with two additional retirements Friday, losing a veteran New Jersey member with a history of winning comfortably in a competitive district and an underachieving Wyoming lawmaker who ran uncomfortably close races in a conservative state. So far, 16 House Republicans have announced their retirements, compared with only four Democrats. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) announced he would not be running for reelection, giving Republicans another difficult open seat to defend in a highly competitive and expensive southern New Jersey district. In a statement, Saxton said health concerns played a prominent role in his decision. He has been...

Wyoming Congresswoman Barbara Cubin will face more competition to keep her job next year. Retired naval officer Bill Winney of Sublette County says he plans to seek the Republican Party nomination for Cubin's seat. Cubin last year received 60 percent of the primary vote to beat Winney in the Republican Party primary. Other Republicans ...

Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) has virtually no money left in her campaign account after raising only $11,000 in the entire third quarter. She ended the third quarter with $8,651 cash-on-hand. Her meager fundraising will continue to fuel speculation that the seven-term lawmaker may not run for re-election. Despite running in the heavily Republican state of Wyoming, Cubin has faced serious Democratic challenges in recent years. In 2006, Cubin only defeated rancher Gary Trauner by less than a one-point margin in the state’s closest House race in 36 years. Trauner announced Monday that he would be seeking a rematch against Cubin....

CHEYENNE -- Democratic newcomer Gary Trauner decided Thursday not to seek a recount in his narrow loss to Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin in Wyoming's closest U.S. House race in 36 years. "It is time to put this election to rest and look to the future," Trauner said in a statement released through his campaign. "Wyoming is counting on Mrs. Cubin to provide first-rate representation for all the people of the state, and I trust she will do so." In a telephone interview, Trauner said he had not talked to Cubin and wasn't sure if he would. "That's something I will...

Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to be in Billings today for a brief visit including remarks at a reception for Rep. Denny Rehberg and Montana Republicans. Earlier in the day, Cheney will be in Casper, Wyo., to deliver remarks at a luncheon for Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo. The event, which starts at 12:30 p.m., will be at the Casper Event Center. Both Cubin and Rehberg are seeking re-election on Nov. 7. Cheney is scheduled to leave Casper at 1:15 p.m. and arrive at Billings Logan International Airport at 2:15 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., he's scheduled to speak at an...

Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Barbara Cubin has won a substantial but not overwhelming victory over her primary challenger Bill Winney, a retired Navy officer, for the state’s only U.S. House seat. Cubin is leading 42,908 – 60% to Winney's 28,274 – 40% with 91% of the precincts reporting. Cubin lost only two of Wyoming’s 23 counties, Laramie (Cheyenne - the state capital) and Teton (the wealthy ski resort of Jackson Hole) which was the only Wyoming county to support John Kerry.

(Snip) The one interesting statewide race is the battle for Wyoming's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Wyoming is one of seven sparsely-populated states which send only a single congressman to that chamber. Since 1942, with one exception, the state's Member-at-Large has been a Republican. But Representative Barbara Cubin, first elected in 1994, now leads Democratic challenger Gary Trauner by only four percentage points, 47% to 43% and the GOP can hardly take her reelection for granted. This becomes one more contest to which the GOP may have to devote resources during an election year in which the party...

Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin is a known commodity in Wyoming, which has fewer people than any other state and an electorate in which Republican registrants outnumber Democrats by a 2-to-1 ratio. Yet Cubin — who first won for Congress in 1994 — is not the most popular Republican to have held Wyoming’s only House seat, which previously was held by current two-term Sen. Craig Thomas and incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney. While the GOP ticket of President Bush and Cheney was sopping up 69 percent of the Wyoming vote in 2004, Cubin was elected to a seventh term with 55...

Asay, Case 'open' to ceding to each other By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - A conversation between two GOP congressional candidates reveals their resolve to unseat Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., in this year's election. Earlier this week, state Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, gave a speech in Riverton. He mentioned that he and Cheyenne attorney Bruce Asay had talked about one or the other of them dropping out to ensure a strong challenger in the August Republican primary, now less than three months away. On Wednesday both men confirmed they had had the conversation, and both...

Casper Dem runs for House John Henley devoted most of his announcement to health care but feels strongly about other issues By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE – Casper attorney John Henley says the nation’s health-care pricing system is broken and that, in part, is why he’s seeking Wyoming’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. “I am running because there are problems on the horizon, most of which neither the incumbent nor any of the other announced candidates have raised for discussion,” he said at a news conference here Tuesday. Henley is the latest candidate...

Energized by the gubernatorial victory of Dave Freudenthal last November, the Wyoming Democratic Party vowed Saturday to raise more money and field more candidates, and especially to "kick butt" against U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo. in 2004. Ron Akin, the Democrat's 2002 candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was cheered when he announced his candidacy and intent to defeat Cubin in 2004. Akin said he'll be moving to Casper shortly and will start campaigning this spring for the Democratic nomination. "I'll be traveling around the state to organize, plan and raise money," Akin said. State Chairwoman...

Every legislative body in America has a few idiots, dolts, nincompoops -- elected officials who would hardly draw any notice at all were it not for their incompetence, bigotry or venality. You can find them in City Halls, state legislatures and even the hallowed halls of Congress. So it hardly qualifies as front-page news that U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) recently made blatantly racist statements in which, in essence, she tarred all black Americans as drug users. Cubin's remarks punctuated a debate over a bill to limit lawsuits against gun manufacturers -- a debate that was already offensive since it...

Despite long odds,Cubin runs for committee head By Allison Fashek Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE – Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., will meet with a group of 28 members of the House of Representatives in the Capitol this afternoon to present her vision for the chairmanship of the congressional Resources Committee. If she is named chairwoman in Wednesday’s vote, Cubin said she would work to revive energy policies, take a closer look at mining laws that need to be reauthorized and, most important, bring with her the knowledge of what it’s like to live in a state with a federal...