Republicans take county commission, progressives take city council

After four years of Democratic control, the county’s highest board will soon be in GOP hands. On the city side, a coalition promising housing reform and renter protections has joined the council.

Albany County voters decided the future of their county and city leadership Tuesday, giving Republicans control of the Albany County Commission and delivering a progressive victory across the Laramie City Council ward races.

Hoff flips the commission

In the commission race, Republican Thad Hoff bested Democrat Brian Harrington. The commission will now have a Republican majority.

“It’s probably going to be a little more conservative,” Hoff said of the commission following his win. “I don’t think you’re going to see a huge shift. I’d like to see a little less special interest, but the county’s still got to function. We still have to serve the constituents and the residents, so nothing’s going away, and I don’t think people should expect a dramatic change anywhere.”

Commissioner-elect Thad Hoff (then a candidate) passes out candy during the Laramie Jubilee Days Parade in July. // Photo: Jeff Victor

Hoff will take over the seat vacated by Sue Ibarra, a one-term Democrat whose narrow 2020 victory gave her party control of the county commission.

Ibarra endorsed Harrington, currently the mayor of Laramie, to be her successor. Harrington’s campaign launch kicked off the local 2024 election cycle. He ran unopposed in the primary.

Hoff ran in the county’s most crowded primary, beating out three other Republican hopefuls to clinch his party’s nomination.

Unlike other races in the county and across Wyoming, Harrington and Hoff avoided speaking about their opponents, openly committing themselves to running a cleaner race. The local Republican party and a local PAC made attack ads targeting Harrington, but Hoff said he had no hand in their creation. The candidates raised a collective $34,000 in their bids for the seat.

“I’m disappointed, I’m bummed,” Harrington said following his loss. “Our campaign put a lot of energy into this race. We knocked 3,000 doors, sent mail to more folks than that. We did everything we could. There’s no stone left unturned. And for that to come up short is just a little bit disappointing. But I’m proud of the campaign we ran, and I think we sort of walked the walk. And so I guess I’m just going to leave this feeling quite proud.”

Harrington said he was heartened to see such a strong turnout in Albany County even though it ultimately didn’t benefit his campaign.

Mayor Brian Harrington listens during a Laramie City Council meeting in April. // Photo: Ashton Hacke

The mayor said he didn’t want to speculate about where the county is headed under Republican leadership, but noted it will be “certainly a divergence from the county governance that we’ve had for the last few years.”

“I think my opponent’s policies were quite moderate, so I’m hopeful that it doesn’t mean entire rollbacks of the hard work that’s gone into aquifer protection and things like that,” Harrington said. “Frankly, I wish him luck. The job won’t be easy, and so at the end of the day, I just hope it treats him well.”

Hoff will join the commission in a strong position. As a moderate Republican, he will likely be able to cast the deciding vote on any issues that divide Commissioners Pete Gosar, a Democrat, and Terri Jones, a right-wing Republican.

When it comes to aquifer protection — one of the few reliably partisan issues the commission has faced in recent years — Hoff said he’s looking to make changes, but not big ones.

“I think that the aquifer is probably not adequately protected in the recharge zones, but I think, surface level, there’s probably been a little bit of government overreach, or an attempt,” he said. “I’m still all for clean water and protecting the aquifer, but you can’t talk about economic development and housing and say, ‘Nope, you can’t build here, we can’t do this, we can’t do that, in the interest of public drinking water,’ when the city and the county are picking through the information that they want to put in front of the public.”

Progressives conquer the council

City council races are nonpartisan, but that doesn’t mean they’re apolitical. Councilors and the candidates who hope to become them often fall along a continuum of conservative to progressive — with the important caveat that every issue is unique and liable to inspire unique coalitions.

But when it comes to hot-button issues like housing reform, tenant protections, aquifer protection, climate action or police oversight, council observers have an easier time placing their municipal representation into labeled camps.

This cycle, an explicitly progressive slate of four candidates across two council wards ran together, pooling funds and resources and appearing together on mailers and other campaign literature.

City Councilor Sharon Cumbie and Councilor-elects William Bowling, Melanie Vigil and Jim Fried (then candidates) pose for photos while canvassing. // Photos courtesy of Micah Richardson and Jessi Colehour.

Those candidates — Councilor Sharon Cumbie, William Bowling, Melanie Vigil and Jim Fried — organized themselves with help from the Albany County Tomorrow PAC, or ACTPAC. The PAC was co-founded by Rep. Karlee Provenza (HD-45) and its affiliated candidates dominated their primaries this year.

On Tuesday, they dominated the general as well.

In Ward 1, Cumbie and Bowling received more votes than their opponents, each earning more than 2,000 votes. The next highest candidate, Paul Montoya, earned 1,742 votes.

Cumbie was the only incumbent councilor to be reelected this year. Two other councilors seeking reelection were eliminated during the primary.

In Ward 2, Vigil and Fried earned 1,723 and 1,585 votes respectively. The next highest candidate, Brett Glass, earned 1,226 votes.

The city council has nine seats, so the four candidates backed by ACTPAC will not, in themselves, form a majority. But they will join other progressives on the council who have been vocal about affordable housing, police accountability, the need to address climate change and the power imbalances caused by income inequality.

In Ward 3, neither candidate was affiliated with ACTPAC and neither billed themself as a progressive. Matt Lockhart won the day, receiving 52% of the vote to defeat Bryan Shuster, a GOP-endorsed former city councilor seeking a return to the government body.

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Albany County Commission

In the race for a single open seat among the Albany County Commission, Republican Thad Hoff received 53% of the vote, defeating Democrat Brian Harrington by 1,097 votes. More than 17,000 voters cast ballots in the race for county commission.

• Thad Hoff: 9,155 (53%)

• Brian Harrington: 8,058 (47%)

• Write-in: 42

Laramie City Council Ward 1

Sharon Cumbie and William Bowling won the Laramie City Council Ward 1 race. More than 7,300 votes were cast.

• Sharon Cumbie: 2,100

• William Bowling: 2,036

• Paul Montoya: 1,742

• Roxie Hensley: 1,368

• Write-in: 79

Laramie City Council Ward 2

Melanie Vigil and Jim Fried won the Laramie City Council Ward 2 race. Nearly 5,400 votes were cast.

• Melanie Vigil: 1,723

• Jim Fried: 1,585

• Brett Glass: 1,226

• Brett Kahler: 790

• Write-in: 72

Laramie City Council Ward 3

Matt Lockhart won the Laramie City Council Ward 3 race, defeating Bryan Shuster, a former Laramie City Councilor backed by the Albany County Republicans. More than 4,300 voters cast ballots in the Ward 3 race.

• Matt Lockhart: 2,254 (52%)

• Bryan Shuster: 1,989 (46%)

• Write-in: 63 (1%)

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