Taft Love selected to fill vacant seat in Wyoming Senate

CHEYENNE — Taft Love was unanimously selected by Laramie County and Platte County commissioners Friday to fill the vacant state Senate District 6 seat after former Sen. Darin Smith resigned to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming.

The eight commissioners chose from three candidates who were selected by SD 6 Republicans earlier this week. 

For the commissioners, the primary issues that set Love apart from the other candidates were his understanding of how property taxes work, his experience with education as a former trustee for Laramie County School District 2 and a previous display of support from constituents as he came third in the primary election for SD 6 behind Smith in 2024.

For Laramie County Commissioner Troy Thompson, finding a candidate who had the best understanding of property taxes was the most important quality in a candidate.

“For me, it was very important that candidates that go in understand the implications of cutting property tax and the fact that it doesn’t affect the state budget,” he said.

During Friday’s joint meeting at the Laramie County Courthouse, commissioners from both counties spent around 30 minutes asking each of the candidates questions before making a final decision.

Many of the questions concerned property taxes, and perhaps the most pointed ones came from Platte County Commission Chairman Steve Shockley. He asked each of the candidates a series of questions that included, “How are your property taxes calculated? What is a mill? Do you know how many mills are assessed in your current tax district?’”

In Wyoming, a mill levy is the tax rate applied to a property’s assessed value to determine the annual property tax owed. A mill is one one-thousandth of a dollar, so one mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. The total mill levy varies by area but is determined by the number of tax districts that are supported by mills in that area.

When Love answered, he explained how the mill system works in Laramie County, where he lives, and how mill levy taxes are distributed to different special districts in the county.

The other candidates were Roy Birt of Wheatland and Jeff Barnes of Cheyenne.

When Birt was asked these questions, he said his property taxes are determined by an assessor, a mill is a minute part of a dollar and estimated there are seven mills assessed in his district in Wheatland.

When Barnes was asked about this, he said he’d have to review his property tax documents to provide a clear answer, that a mill is something that city and county experts understand, and that he did not know off the top of his head how many mills are assessed in his county.

After his selection by the commissioners, Love said that in his role in the Senate, he would take a cautious approach when considering additional property tax reductions.

“I think we have to be really cautious about hacking away at the budgets of our local communities and counties without allowing the dust to settle,” he said, referencing the property tax cuts that have been passed over the past two years. “And so I think we need to maybe be really cautious about how we’re going to fund the essential services in counties, as far as police and fire and health and safety, and those things are pretty critical, and we don’t want to start eliminating jobs and eliminating opportunities to take good care of our citizens.”

If property taxes are cut further by state officials in the upcoming budget session, he said he’d have to do more research on where to replenish the lost revenue, saying there is no “one-size-fits-all strategy.”

Platte County Commissioner John “Jeb” Baker said it wasn’t an obvious decision to vote for Love, but he appreciates that he may have a better understanding of how property taxes work from his experience on the LCSD2 Board of Trustees, since property taxes help support the education system in the state.

Laramie County Commissioner Ty Zwonitzer asked each of the candidates to name one practical thing they hoped to accomplish in the upcoming budget session.

To this, Love responded by saying the state may find new opportunities for what equality in education looks like in the state as the federal government takes steps away from federal control of state education systems.

“As we form and develop a state education budget, we may be able to ensure a better education, which we did before 1979, when they formed the Department of Education at the federal level. We may be able to get more bang for our buck,” he said. “... If we have the opportunity for savings and ultimately a better education for kids that is based on industry desires or needs for our students and graduates to be good employees that we can retain in southeast Wyoming.”

Based on other questions asked by commissioners, Love indicated he would represent his constituents first, followed by the state as a whole. 

He said he is supportive of more county control over special sales taxes like the fifth- and sixth-penny sales taxes; he is supportive of funded state mandates like immigration enforcement in towns and counties across Wyoming but is cautious of unfunded mandates; and he believes the state should provide research and data on what land use is possible for areas to allow local governments and counties to work within that framework to best suit their communities.

In his closing statement, Love indicated he intends to seek reelection next year when the SD 6 seat is up for a vote by the people.

After graduating from the University of Wyoming, Love moved to eastern Laramie County in 1994, where he and his wife started a small farm and ranch. At the time, he worked in field research for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department before working in Wyoming’s tourism division.

They raised three children in Laramie County, and he served for 10 years on the LCSD2 Board of Trustees. After that, he became chairman of the Laramie County Republican Party.

This story was published on August 30, 2025.