Meet Your Candidates: Governor

CASPER, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - We reached out via email and phone to all candidates filing for the Governor race in Wyoming. Below are the candidates running who responded to our request. The information below is written by the candidates and unedited by Wyoming News Now.

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY CANDIDATES

NAME: BRENT BIEN

AGE: 54

PARTY AFFILIATION: Republican

OCCUPATION: Marine Corps Colonel (Retired), Aviator

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: -Shaped college tuition reform and wind energy permitting reform legislation in NC (neighboring states followed suite with similar tuition reform).

-Shaped legislation to better facilitate the construction of the new Marine Corps base and associated training areas/ranges on Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

-Participated in international, interagency, and interstate governmental coordination and planning.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN WYOMING? A native of Laramie; an adult resident of Wyoming since the age of 18.

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? To make Wyoming the freest state in our nation by actively Protecting personal freedoms, Pursuing government accountability, and Promoting state sovereignty.

WHAT IS WYOMING’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW? The lack of principled conservative leadership in Cheyenne, federal overreach, inflation, high property taxes, high fuel prices, anti-American wokeism indoctrination in K-12, UW, and in the business sector through promulgation of ESG scores, fiscal irresponsibility.

NAME: MARK GORDON

AGE: 65

PARTY AFFILIATION: Republican

OCCUPATION: Rancher and Governor of Wyoming

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: I have served the people of Wyoming as State Treasurer and as Governor

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN WYOMING? Lifelong

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? Wyoming has been my family’s home for generations. I grew up on my family ranch outside of Kaycee. In time I bought my own place east of Buffalo. My wife Jennie and I still ranch and currently serve as your Governor and First Lady. I’m a lifelong conservative, staunch defender of Second Amendment Rights, and an advocate for smaller government closest to the people.

I am committed to protecting our State from the increasingly heavy hand of the federal government and more acutely the Biden Administration’s failed policies.

I have guided our State through the worst pandemic in a century and the largest drop in state revenues in our history. Wyoming emerged strong because we constantly focused on the lives and the livelihoods of Wyoming people.

What Wyoming and her people have to offer America and the world in this time of conflict and peril is greatly needed. Beyond the energy and food our nation depends on, we produce character. Our western values of individual liberty, common sense, and shared purpose are invaluable as we face the challenges of today.

I believe in limited government closest to the people, personal freedom, individual responsibility, and free enterprise. And I believe I have and can continue to make those the watchwords for our state. Wyoming has weathered the past two years with our heads up and a sense of purpose that has made us the envy of our nation, and we know we’ll be fine if we stick together and move forward.

WHAT IS WYOMING’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW? Federal overreach is the biggest challenge we face, and we will continue to face until we elect a Conservative to the Oval Office in 2024. I have been fighting for Wyoming industries my whole time in office from asking the Trump Administration to impose tariffs on foreign dumped uranium to, today, seeking to overturn the Biden ban on leasing federal mineral resources. We are addressing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere without hurting our legacy industries by unleashing innovation and new technologies, not by keeping our abundant energy in the ground. Moving production from here, where we do it carefully, to places like Venezuela, where they don’t, just doesn’t make sense for us or our environment..

Events globally and regionally provide remarkable opportunities for Wyoming. New manufacturing, financial services, and tourism are all quite promising. Expanded opportunities for agriculture from local produce, to carbon sequestration that is truly verified (not implied) will open doors to other forms of compensation which could well include digital tokens, currencies, and fintech – all of which Wyoming is pioneering.

Taking advantage of these opportunities will require a robust school system. My RIDE initiative is starting from the ground up with parents, students, communities, and schools matching the work of the Board of Education in seeking an appropriate education based on what we want and need for our schools, not some consultant’s pontifications. The Wyoming Innovation Partnership is revolutionizing post-secondary education to make it more nimble, more adaptable, and more responsive to the needs and desires of today’s graduates while simultaneously better aligning with the requirements of today’s emerging industries.

Wyoming’s schools are tough and resilient. I successfully fought Biden’s push for school closures, vaccine mandates and other overreaching and excessive requirements. Just look at our record: Wyoming led the nation with more in-person school days with a greater percentage of kids. That was good for our students, good for our communities, good for our economy, and something we can all be proud of.

NAME: JAMES SCOTT QUICK

AGE: 57

OCCUPATION: Owner/Operator of a oilfield service company.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None, this is the first thing I’ve ran for.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN WYOMING? I’ve lived in Wyoming since I was 4 years old, so 53 years.

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? There are several reasons, one main reason is we citizen have lost our voice and I refuse to be silenced. Hopefully I will inspire others to stand up and be heard.

WHAT IS WYOMING’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW? The economy (fuel prices, food prices, shortage in the workforce). Worries of what’s coming next, the unknown makes everyone uneasy.

NAME: REX RAMMELL

AGE: 61

OCCUPATION: Veterinarian

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: 20 years political experience as an advocate for state’s rights and the public land transfer

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN WYOMING? 10 yrs official resident, 44 years part time resident

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? I am running to make Wyoming sovereign over all its land and natural resources and the billions and billions of dollars to come with it.

WHAT IS WYOMING’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW? The biggest challenge is overcoming the environmental movement using climate change to eliminate fossil fuels and other multiple uses of public lands.

DEMOCRAT PRIMARY CANDIDATES

NAME: THERESA A LIVINGTON

AGE: 72

OCCUPATION: Retired. I worked for the Bureau of Land Management for 15 years & in the US Air Force for 9 years. I have lived in Taiwan, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Alaska, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, California, & Wyoming. Living in other places gives me a diverse background in life, school, government, and different needs.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Ran for Senator for Dist 20 in Wyoming. Election Judge. Encourager of people to run for office. Encourager to get people to vote. My favorite project is getting younger people to vote.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN WYOMING? I moved to Lander in 1992 to raise my children in a small town with good schools. I spent a year & half of insanity in Florida. I returned to Wyoming in 2000 and since then have lived in Cheyenne & Worland.

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? I want some changes in Wyoming to make it better. We need to truly be ‘the equality state. I am running for Health care rights for women. All of the health care rights, no exceptions. I also believe that we need medicare expansion. All people in Wyoming need access to all health care. Two of our hospitals have closed down maternity wards. Many other hospitals in Wyoming are struggling to stay open. Medicare expansion will give these hospitals the money they need to stay open. We need a healthy Wyoming. A healthy Wyoming will be a better Wyoming. I also would like to see project-based education, vocational, & technical programs in our schools. We lose too many kids in high school from boredom. Let’s make school fun & exciting for our children. Let’s give them skills to have the job skills we need in our state. I would like to see our state work towards having more rehabilitation instead of more jails. We should decriminalize marijuana. States with legalized marijuana have less opiate usage. I believe there is always a better way to do things in our state. People first.

WHAT IS WYOMING’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW? Finding our footing again. We seem to be totally out of balance right now. We need to put people first when making decisions about our state. We need to search out other ways to bring income into our state. Renewable energy is a good place to start. Alternative uses for coal. Wyoming is still giving money to help coal but I don’t think it is the solution. Oil & gas is making record profits but not sharing their wealth. Tourism is gaining momentum in Wyoming. I feel that tourism with an emphasis on outdoor recreation will grow more every year. All seasons of tourism will benefit from many sources of income. We are an amazing state that is resilient to all adversity. We have managed to deal with many economic ups & downs.

Rex Wilde, the other Democratic candidate for governor, has not yet responded to a request for comment from Wyoming News Now.

Copyright 2022 Wyoming News Now. All rights reserved.