Speaker of the House Sommers loses bid for Senate seat

FROM WYOFILE:

Kemmerer woolgrower takes down Pinedale cattleman, ending a 12-year stint in the statehouse. The speaker’s former House seat goes to Schmid, who tops Urbigkit.

PINEDALE—Rep. Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) lost to a political newcomer in a close-fought contest for a state Senate seat Tuesday, an upset that ousts one of the most influential figures in Wyoming politics in recent years.

Laura Taliaferro Pearson, a sheep rancher and school bus driver who lives north of Kemmerer, thanked the residents of her four-county district late on Tuesday as she held onto a small lead. The Associated Press called the race around 11 p.m., when Pearson topped Sommers by a 3.4% margin.

“I’m thrilled to be a senator representing our great state,” she told WyoFile. “It means the world to me that our Senate District 14 residents could see the need for change, and they took a chance on me.”

Pearson was motivated to engage in politics for the first time by Wyoming’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I thought that they should have done more to protect our freedom,” she said. “I didn’t feel like it was right that there were vaccine mandates, coercion of the vaccine, mask mandates, things like that.”

Although Pearson lacks experience in elected office, she’s been a regular attendee of committee hearings and frequent testifier during recent legislative sessions.

Sommers, a lifelong cattle rancher, was a 12-year veteran of the Wyoming House of Representative who rose to become the speaker of the House for the 67th Legislature. In keeping with Wyoming legislative tradition, he attempted the leap to the upper chamber after the incumbent, Sen. Fred Baldwin (R-Kemmerer) announced he wasn’t seeking reelection.

Shortly after the AP called the race Tuesday, Sommers lamented not being able to build relationships in southern parts of the sprawling Senate district. He took 55% of the vote in Sublette County, but Pearson benefitted from sizable margins in portions of Uinta, Sweetwater and Lincoln counties.

“That’s the way it goes,” he said.

The outgoing speaker of the House said he’ll be watching to see how a Legislature functions with a strengthened farther-right bloc.

“The people of Wyoming wanted those folks in power, I guess,” Sommers said. “We’ll see how they govern.”

Sommers has been involved in the Wyoming Caucus, a bloc of the Republican Party that has long held power in Cheyenne. Pearson, meanwhile, has aligned herself with members of the GOP seen as farther to the right. Photos on her website show her embracing political figures such as U.S. Sen. Harriet Hageman and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who were both endorsed by former president Donald Trump during the 2022 election.

Sommers spent part of Tuesday night at a Boulder Bar election party put on by Cat Urbigkit, a Sublette County sheep rancher and writer who was vying for his vacated seat in House District 20. She faced Mike Schmid, an oil and gas industry business owner from La Barge who unsuccessfully challenged Sommers for the seat in 2022.

Schmid handily won the seat this go around, taking 63% of the vote by the time the Associated Press called the race.

The incoming representative isn’t entirely new to government service, having served on the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. Outspoken in that role, he was removed from the post by Gov. Mark Gordon in January 2021.

Schmid named further reforming property taxes as his top priority, but added that wildlife management will also be a focal point. Recently he testified in opposition to protections for the migration corridor used by the Sublette Pronghorn Herd.

“I want to work on shutting down what I call the weaponization of our wildlife,” Schmid told WyoFile. “Our wildlife is being used to move political agendas.”

Schmid said he’ll go into his first legislative session with no allegiances to any factions of the Republican Party. He’s been viewed as a farther-right candidate, however.

“I’m a supporter of the Wyoming Republican Party platform — all 23 planks of it — so people align me with [the Freedom Caucus],” Schmid said.

Urbigkit called Schmid late on Tuesday to congratulate him and wish him well.

“I hope that he’s successful, because our ability to be successful hinges on him being successful,” she said.

A former columnist, Urbigkit said she intends to get back to writing. The 2024 primary election moved the Legislature farther to the right and could even mark a turning point, she said.

“This is a change for Wyoming,” Urbigkit said, “that’s for damn sure.”

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

This story was posted on August 21, 2024.