Hunt will run again

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Filing dates for the upcoming election start next month and State Rep. Hans Hunt, R-Newcastle, has announced that he will run for reelection to the Wyoming House of Representatives in the 2020 election. 
“I have decided to stand for reelection this year,” Hunt said. “It is a great honor and privilege to serve the constituents of House District 2, and I humbly ask for your vote again.” 
A Weston County native, Hunt is serving his fifth term in the House. He has chaired the Agriculture, State and Public Lands, and Water Resources Committee since 2016. 
If reelected, Hunt said, he plans to work on ongoing issues pertinent to eastern Wyoming and rural Wyoming in general. He said these issues include the “economic expansion and development of locally-sourced agriculture, more stable funding for rural critical access hospitals, and a more equitable local tax collection method on projects such as pipelines.”
Hunt also said he hopes to be a seasoned voice in the redistricting process that will be addressed in the interim after the 2021 session. 
“The issue of redistricting comes around every 10 years following each census. Having experienced the process as a freshman legislator in the 2011 interim and the 2012 session, I found that it is very difficult for legislators without seniority to have a meaningful say in the process,” Hunt said. “It is my hope that the rural districts will be proportioned along county lines as closely as possible, and that rural counties are not divided up among multiple districts. When this happens, it makes it very difficult for less-populated counties to have a voice in the legislature.” 
According to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office, all Wyoming House members are up for election to their two-year terms, including Rep. Tyler Lindholm, R-Sundance. Senate seats in the even numbered districts are also up for grabs in 2020.
Both the circuit court judge and district judge for the Sixth Judicial District, made up of Campbell, Crook and Weston Counties, are also up for election.
On the county level, Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock said there are two commission seats open, which are the seats currently held by Tracy Hunt and Ed Wagoner, a well as the position of clerk of district court. 
As far as the Newcastle City Council goes, the City of Newcastle website says that Mayor Deb Piana’s seat is up for election as well as councilman Roger Hespe, Michael Alexander, Tom Voss. 
On the national level, Wyoming has a U.S. Senate seat up for election, as well as a seat in the House of Representatives. Sen. Mike Enzi announced in May that he would not seek reelection.
The candidate-filing period begins on May 14 and goes through May 29, Hadlock said. What the process looks like all depends on where the county is with the COVID-19 situation, she said.