With months left before Wyoming’s 2025 legislative session, several Republican lawmakers are already jockeying for leadership positions, promising to reflect the statehouse’s recent shift further to the right.
The maneuvering comes as the statehouse’s hard-line factions appear poised to control both chambers of the Legislature following their success in August’s primary election. While the Republican Party’s right flank has grown in recent years, until now the more traditionalist faction has maintained control of the top leadership positions in the House and Senate.
“The state of Wyoming through this last election obviously has got an agenda or a mind involved here that they want to see things moved in a more conservative direction,” Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), who will run for House speaker, said during a Wednesday AARP webinar.
“I respect that, and I want to work toward that end, and I want to do it with the help of the rest of the Legislature and do a good job.”
Neiman, a Wyoming Freedom Caucus member, currently serves as House majority floor leader — a second-in-command post that has long been a stepping stone to the speakership. It was, however, unusual when Neiman’s peers appointed him to the position in just his second term. Leadership positions have historically favored seniority.
Keeping with tradition in the Senate, Majority Floor Leader Sen. Larry Hicks (R-Baggs) will run for Senate president.
Sen. Larry Hicks (R-Baggs) listens during the 66th Legislature’s 2022 budget session. (Mike Vanata/WyoFile)
“In the recent primary the people of Wyoming have sent a crystal-clear message ‘they support and demand a conservative government,’” Hicks said in a press release in GoCo NOW.
“I intend to deliver on that mandate and work closely with our colleagues in both the Senate and the House to accomplish the will of the people.”
Hicks announced his presidential bid as part of a slate with Sens. Brian Boner (R-Douglas) and Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle), who will run for majority floor leader and vice president respectively.
“Collectively we have over 34 years of experience in the Wyoming Legislature with significant experience in every aspect of the Legislature,” the three lawmakers wrote in the release.
“As the Wyoming House of Representatives changes to better reflect the values of the people of Wyoming, the Senate retains a solid conservative majority.”
Other lawmakers may be maneuvering behind the scenes, but none have made bid announcements for leadership posts.
The positions come with considerable statehouse sway. That’s particularly true for the speaker and president, who decide committee assignments and chairmanships. Those two also decide whether bills move forward to a committee — a requisite step for successful legislation — and in what order. Effectively, they have the power to kill bills that might otherwise advance and direct legislation to committees that may be predisposed to either support or deny a measure.
While voters determine the composition of the Legislature, it’s up to lawmakers to appoint leadership. That process initially takes place through a closed-door caucus meeting before each chamber takes an official vote on day one of the session.
Sen. Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle) speaks during the 2024 budget session while Sen. Larry Hicks (R-Baggs) listens. (Ashton J. Hacke/Wyofile)
The House
Until recently, it was uncommon for lawmakers to vie for leadership positions, since those roles were assumed to be decided by seniority. However, in both 2020 and 2022 Rep. Mark Jennings (R-Sheridan), a Freedom Caucus ally, challenged the senior pick.
Jennings was unsuccessful in both instances, but Neiman bucked tradition in 2022, when he beat Rep. Jared Olsen (R-Cheyenne) for majority floor leader. Olsen was House majority whip at the time and headed into his fourth term. Neiman was just finishing his first.
Neiman, a Crook County rancher, said Wednesday there may be skepticism about whether he’s ready for the job.
“[They’re saying,] ‘Well, he doesn’t have the experience.’ Well, you know what? Nobody told me how to handle the second year of a marriage with a 9-month-old baby, either. But I got through that, and we had others, and I’m still with the same woman, and I love her to pieces.”
“There’s some division in the House,” Neiman said, but passing legislation would rely on “a cooperative effort.”
There are several bills Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed earlier this year that Neiman wants to get through the upcoming session, including additional abortion regulations and the elimination of gun-free zones. Lawmakers will need to work quickly to get them across the finish line in order to override a gubernatorial veto if necessary, Neiman said. They would also need a supermajority — meaning the Freedom Caucus wouldn’t be able to override a veto without help from other members.
Majority Floor Leader Chip Neiman (R-Hullett) at the 2024 Wyoming Legislature. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile)
“Those are things that we’re going to bring back up and have that discussion again,” he said. “We’re going to need to talk to the governor. We’re going to need to be able to work through some of those.”
As majority floor leader, Neiman faced criticism from senior, traditional Republicans during the 2023 session when a record number of bills died in the House by missing an initial deadline.
The Freedom Caucus returned fire the next year with scorn for Speaker of the House Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) for killing a handful of bills by holding them back, or keeping them “in his drawer.”
The practice, outlined in the lawmaker-approved rules, has been employed by many speakers, but Sommers’ use caught the attention of Fox News after the Freedom Caucus’ Washington-based organization kicked off an online campaign.
Asked at the webinar what he would do about “the famous drawer” if elected to speaker, Neiman said “I’m going to have to take that on a case-by-case basis and see what the legislation is.”
“I don’t know of any speakers, I guess that I’ve talked to, that brought all pieces of legislation out,” Neiman added. “I’ve heard some did. It’ll depend on the legislation.”
He also said property taxes would be a top priority of his as speaker, but did not commit to backfilling lost revenue for local governments.
“I can only guarantee that we’ll have the discussion,” Nieman said. “We’ll look at it, and then we’ll go from there.”
The Senate
While the Freedom Caucus is exclusive to the House, the hard-line Republican group does have allies in the Senate. Hicks, Boner and Steinmetz are among them.
Earlier this year, the three were among the 14 Senators to vote against the budget, which passed in the upper chamber by just two votes. Both Hicks and Steinmetz brought motions to challenge Senate President Ogden Driskill (R-Devils Tower) — both instances had to do with committee assignments made by Driskill.
While Hicks and Steinmetz led the charge on opposing funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programming at the University of Wyoming during the 2024 session, Boner shepherded a bill to bar state officials from enforcing federal rules and to let the governor decide which regulations make the cut.
Sen. Brian Boner (R-Douglas) speaks with a colleague during the 2024 budget session. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile)
Now, Hicks, Boner and Steinmetz “are focused and motivated to move forward with a conservative agenda for Wyoming on behalf of our citizens,” according to their joint press release.
“We will not waste this rare opportunity given to us by Wyoming citizens that have placed trust in conservatives to govern in both the House and Senate,” the three wrote. “For this reason, as common-sense conservative leaders in the Senate with a successful track record on the issues critically important to the people of Wyoming, we offer our service and experience to govern the state.”
Hicks, Boner and Steinmetz pointed to several top priorities, including “a fiscally conservative budget,” property taxes, K-12 education, school choice, second amendment rights and “protections for the unborn.”
All three have experience chairing committees and all three have a professional background in agriculture.
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