Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, August 18th. I'm Mac Watson.

–

It's primary election day in Wyoming, with many races up for grabs. Cowboy State Daily's political reporter Claire McFarland breaks down our coverage and what you can expect.

"The primary election in Wyoming tends to be more decisive than the general election because it's such a deep red state. So a lot of these big struggles are between Republicans, and so today we can expect to see Freedom Caucus versus non-Freedom Caucus showdowns, struggles over the U.S. House, one U.S. Senate seat, the governor, Secretary of State, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Treasurer. Cowboy State Daily is going to have live coverage, analysis, and up-to-date stories throughout the evening."

Our live coverage of the primary starts at 7PM at Cowboy State Daily dot com.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The New York Times featured the Wyoming Senate race between Chip Neiman and Ogden Driskill as an example of Wyoming's Republican Party divide. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that's accurate, but no one in that race thinks Neiman represents the "far right."

"The New York Times story went over the Ogden Driscoll/Chip Neiman race, which was a showdown for Senate between an anti-Freedom Caucus figurehead and a Freedom Caucus figurehead. That's Chip Neiman. No one was really bent out of shape. It's just that Wyoming politics is incredibly nuanced, and anyone used to covering it from kind of a 'Democrat versus Republican' approach is going to miss it because the big power plays in Wyoming are all infighting in factions within the Republican Party."

That race is anthemic of the divide between the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and its intra-party foes, multiple news outlets and the NYT have agreed. But it's difficult to capture the nuance of it.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The Virginia-based PAC Make Liberty Win, which favors the Freedom Caucus, spent nearly $550,000 on Wyoming's primary election and more than $60,000 attacking specific candidates. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports the group's director, Barrett Young says there's a reason to go negative.

"Make Liberty Win has consistently been a big spender in Wyoming's elections for the last two election cycles. Now, spending the neighborhood of 300,000 in 2024, and more than half a million this time around. And they'll go positive, but they'll also go negative, really negative. One flyer attacking former House Speaker Albert Summers showed a crying child and called him out for his nay vote on a bill that he said he had constitutional doubts about, rather than you know merit concerns. The director of Make Liberty Win, which backs Freedom Caucus aligned candidates, said that that groups will go negative because it works."

Make Liberty Win is among Wyoming's top-spending state-level PACS and traces all this year's contributions for Wyoming races to Virginia, its campaign report says.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Lindsay Woods of Jackson was poised to win the grueling 620-mile Mongol Derby but heatstroke and food poisoning left her unconscious in a river. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that even though this ends her b