Wyoming Candidates Angered Over Mudslinging Pre-Primary Mailers

They come in different shapes and sizes and are flooding Wyoming mailboxes, cellphone text messages and social media.

If there’s one thing most of these mudslinging political mailers have in common, it’s that they're generating a growing outcry from their targets. They claim the messages aren’t politics, but deliberately misleading, inaccurate and potentially libelous.

Over the last few weeks, the mudslinging has ramped up in Wyoming, with a noticeable increase of political mailers and other ads sent to residents originating from out-of-state groups.

Most of the frustration expressed has come from mailers and messages sent out by three groups: Make Liberty Win, the Wyoming Freedom political action committee and Americans For Prosperity.

Make Liberty Win is the only three of the groups that appears to have little to no local representation of any kind in Wyoming. The group’s activity was first reported on by Cowboy State Daily earlier this month.

Americans For Prosperity is based in Washington, D.C., but has a Wyoming state director in former state legislator Tyler Lindholm. The Wyoming Freedom PAC serves as the campaign arm of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which serves under the umbrella of the State Freedom Caucus Network, also based in D.C.

As much as he doesn’t like inaccurate and false mailers, state Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, said Americans For Prosperity and other groups all have the right to free speech in elections. He said he would oppose crafting new laws that would restrict out-of-state groups from sending out mailers like these.

“We all have a First Amendment right,” he said. “They have a right to send the mailers out, the right to lie.”

Local Experiences

Laramie state Senate candidate Gary Crum was offended by a mailer sent out in support of his Republican primary opponent Keith Kennedy. The mailer states that Kennedy is the “only 100% pro-gun candidate in the race.” Crum, who said he owns numerous guns, claims this message is blatantly false and deliberately misleading.

“I’m not going to get into mudslinging with out-of-state PACs,” he said. “Frankly, it’s disgusting.”

On Crum’s campaign website, however, it says he “is dedicated to enhancing public safety measures, including responsible gun control policies.”

Crum explained to Cowboy State Daily that this point was badly written and that he won’t support any law that infringes on the Second Amendment.

But he also supports some forms of gun control such as taking guns away from convicted criminals, and said he would have voted against a bill proposed during the 2024 legislative session to ban gun-free zones in Wyoming.

Unquestionable accuracies in the mailer include its use of the wrong photo of Kennedy, and the claim that he is a current state senator.

Crum said he’s been offered endorsements from a few out-of-state PACs but has rejected them.

“How in the world can you trust what these dark money PACs are saying?” Crum questioned. “This is a Wyoming election for Wyoming people, and I refuse to be influenced from outside. It’s not right.”

Kennedy told Cowboy State Daily the mistakes on the mailer targeting his opponent also bothered him. He said Make Liberty Win, which he has never spoken to, likely pulled the wrong photo from the Albany County GOP website, which also mislabeled him.

Make Liberty Win is based in Alexandria, Virginia, and run by the conservative Libertarian group Young Americans For Liberty.

“Suddenly, this election cycle isn’t between candidates and their policy ideas or vision for Rock Springs like it should be,” Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, said in a Friday press release. “It is between people who’ve never set foot here and their unlimited, undisclosed money and people like me who were born and raised here and will be here long after they get bored and look for another state to colonize.”

RINO Hunt

The mailer supporting Kennedy is relatively mild compared to some of the other mailers sent out by Make Liberty Win and the Freedom PAC.

A number of the mailers sent out by Make Liberty Win encourage the viewer to “join the RINO hunt” against a particular candidate, in reference to the acronym Republican in name only. The doorknob fliers declare “RINO SPOTTED,” with a binocular-style image of the lawmaker seen as not conservative enough for the group.

Weeding out RINOs is a particularly common theme within Wyoming Republican circles, openly espoused by Cody state House candidate Nina Webber and Rock Springs candidate Jeff Ramaj.

Webber had charges dropped against her for reckless endangering in 2023 after originally being accused of shooting bullets in close vicinity of a home and its residents while she was hunting.

Those targeted by the RINO hunting mailers include Reps. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, and Bill Henderson, R-Cheyenne.

Clouston believes using the hunting theme is an example of political violence.

Make Liberty Win used a similar theme in other state races across the country, posting similar graphics when one of these supposed RINOs lost an election with the “(BAGGED AND TAGGED)” printed over their faces.

“The phrase ‘RINO hunting’ implies violent behavior and intent against anyone labeled a RINO in the political arena,” Clouston said. “Many traditional Wyoming Republicans have been labeled RINOs by individuals who identify as part of the far right.

“As citizens of this great nation and our wonderful state, we should engage in civil discourse and conduct ourselves with respect, both in our words and actions.”

Stith said the binoculars don’t bother him so much as Make Liberty Win’s “reckless disregard for the truth.” He said these out-of-state mailers are purposely misleading and designed to draw a knee-jerk reaction from less-informed voters who don’t know the real facts.

“I understand the right to the First Amendment,” he said. “What you don’t have the right to is to knowingly spread false material and misstatements of fact. The First Amendment does not protect against libelous or defamatory speech.”

Make Liberty Win claimed Stith and others “sold our state out to the Chinese Communist Party.”

This is likely in reference to his opposition to various bills restricting foreign ownership of land in Wyoming.

Stith said he’s not opposed to restricting foreign ownership around critical infrastructure and military installations, but doesn’t want to do a sweeping ban, as it could wipe out three of the four trona mines in Sweetwater County that have foreign ownership, an industry that provides nearly 3,000 jobs there.

He also believes the bills could have chilled investment for Project West, a new $2.6 billion trona mine being built in southwest Wyoming.

“I look forward to crafting and supporting narrowly tailored legislation that does not jeopardize our trona industry,” he said.

Freedom Caucus Mailer

The Wyoming Freedom PAC’s mailers also took a controversial approach.

In a few different mailers, the group accuses certain lawmakers of voting “with the radical left to remove” former President Donald Trump from the ballots.

Calling this claim a stretch would be generous.

Kari Drost, chairman of the Wyoming Freedom PAC, explained to Cowboy State Daily in an email that this was in reference to certain House members’ support of a budget footnote made during the most recent legislative session that would have prevented Secretary of State Chuck Gray from using state money for out-of-state

litigation without specific legislative authority.

The footnote came in response to amicus briefs Gray filed with the Colorado Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court opposing efforts to remove former President Donald Trump’s name from the 2024 election ballots.

Gray told Cowboy State Daily he filed the brief with private money.

Wylie, who is described as “woke” in the Freedom PAC flier, said his vote for the budget footnote had nothing to do with opposing Trump and everything to do with retaining authority to file lawsuits solely with the governor’s office.

“It’s a bunch of blatant lies,” he said.

Drost stands by the statements made in her fliers and said these lawmakers were incorrectly trying to legislate through the budget.

“The secretary of state is in charge of election matters and the people of Wyoming clearly want President Trump on the ballot,” she said.

Drost is also chair of the Weston County Republican Party.

During the State GOP convention this spring, a bylaw proposal was brought forward by the Weston GOP to implement significant requirements for serving as a Republican precinct committee member.

Freedom PAC is also going after certain newcomer candidates like Sheridan resident Gail Symons, who it criticized for supporting former congresswoman Liz Cheney's campaign.

Symons said the rise of the Freedom Caucus was part of the inspiration for her campaign.

"The Wyoming Freedom Caucus knows I will not support them," she said. "It appears they made a list of what would turn off Republican voters then wrote a mailer accusing me of all of them with total disregard for reality. I’m not willing to join a group who wants to bring that kind of divisive politics to my state. And I will never take daily direction on how to vote from an outside organization."

Fake Conservatives?

Allemand was one of the legislators endorsed by Make Liberty Win.

He attended a convention for Young Americans Liberty last August in Orlando, Florida. Speakers at the event included former congressman Ron Paul, his son U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

“It was an awesome convention, I’d never been to anything like it,” Allemand said.

Allemand believes Americans For Prosperity (AFP) is committing the real mischaracterizations as it is calling certain candidates it’s endorsing conservative, when he doesn’t believe it to be so.

“The people they are endorsing are not mostly not conservative,” Allemand. “When you start saying Clark Stith and Ken Clouston are conservative, that’s just not true. They’re nice people but they’re not conservative.”

AFP has also accused legislators like Reps. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, and Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, of “bringing Washington’s failed values to Wyoming.”

“That’s the farthest thing from the truth,” Allemand said.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.