Rammell to run for governor
Rammell to run for governor
By Tom Coulter
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via Wyoming News Exchange
CHEYENNE — While no stranger to regional politics that have consistently left him on the losing side, Rex Rammell believes he could have a more successful campaign leading up to the 2022 primary for governor in Wyoming.
Rammell, a Rock Springs veterinarian and a perennial candidate for higher office who lost in the Wyoming governor’s race in 2018 after previous unsuccessful campaigns, announced his bid Wednesday to unseat Gov. Mark Gordon in the 2022 Republican primary.
After his previous bids, most recently last year for a seat in the Wyoming Senate, Rammell has not changed his overriding platform: putting all federal lands in Wyoming under state control, a move that he argues is feasible under the U.S. Constitution.
“No governor has ever stood up to the federal government like I would,” Rammell said in an interview Wednesday.
“On day one, I would sign an executive order, justified by the United States Constitution – in particular, the 10th Amendment. I would order all federal land buildings, in particular, the Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service, that they be taken over by the state.”
Rammell maintained the executive order could be done, despite constitutional scholars flatly rejecting the idea, adding that no governors have “had the guts” to pursue such an aggressive policy.
He pointed to Texas, where federally owned land only makes up about 2% of the state, as an example of the benefits Wyoming could reap under his plan.
With the state facing a long-term budget deficit, Rammel was also adamant that his proposal would potentially double the state’s revenues from oil and natural gas and eliminate any need for possible revenue increases.
“We really don’t have to raise taxes,” Rammell said. “We really don’t have to cut government – I’d like to see it trimmed, for sure – but if (all of) the money off the public lands was Wyoming’s, it solves a lot of problems.”
Rammell speculated the move by Wyoming’s governor would create “a cascade” of states rights issues being raised across the United States.
Beyond his focus on taking back federal land, Rammell raised other points that he said put him in contrast to Gordon. For example, he said the statewide public health orders issued in Wyoming were overreaching.
“If I were to be the governor, I draw the line between private and public,” Rammell said. “A governor has the power to mandate masks for public employees, in public buildings, stuff like that.
“But a governor doesn’t have the power to mandate private businesses shut down and have to wear masks and to distance yourself,” he continued. “I really feel like it was an abuse of power that he doesn’t understand … there were only a few governors that knew their boundary.”
With his announcement Wednesday, Rammell becomes the first candidate to publicly announce a bid for governor in next year’s race. After initially running in a crowded field in the Republican primary race for governor in 2018, Rammell left the party temporarily and ran as a Constitution Party candidate in the general election, picking up about 6,700 votes, or 3.3% of those who cast ballots.
Rammell said his decision to run in the Republican primary boils down to one reason: “You can’t get elected on third party.”
“I’m just hoping that there aren’t a bunch of vote-splitters with me,” Rammell said. “If there are, it makes the rest more complicated.”
Before moving to Torrington to work as a livestock veterinarian in 2012, Rammell was a perennial Republican candidate in his home state of Idaho, where he lost races for the state House in 2002 and 2004, a run for U.S. Senate in 2008 and a run for governor in 2010. In his last run in Idaho, and one of his more competitive bids to date, Rammell received nearly 43,000 votes in the Republican gubernatorial primary, accounting for 26% of the vote.
“I ended up with 26% in the Republican primary, which is not bad for a veterinarian who has never been elected to anything,” Rammell said. “But it wasn’t enough. We took on the establishment of Idaho, which reminds me a lot of the establishment of Wyoming.”
Despite his relatively poor performances in races in Wyoming, Rammell was confident that now, with Democrats firmly in power in Washington, more Wyomingites will realize that he was right and that the state should “fight” for its land.
“Some may look at me and say, ‘Rammell’s never really gotten any traction, don’t worry about him,’ but I’ve never had a political environment like this either,” he said. “In 20 years, this is the best situation I’ve ever had. … If things are going OK, if there’s hope, things just stay status quo, and the guy that puts up the most money, runs feel-good ads, they win. But in times like this, it changes everything, so I’m excited for the race.”