The Laramie Reporter 2024 General Election Guide
The Laramie Reporter 2024 General Election Guide
From stark decisions about the future of city leadership to your neighborhood’s representation in Cheyenne, today’s local elections are extremely important. Here’s how to take part.
Albany County voters will cast ballots today for races that will shape the future of their city, county, state and country.
While all eyes are on the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Albany County electorate also faces more immediate decisions.
Voters in Senate District 10 will decide their representation in the state’s upper chamber, while voters in all four of Albany County’s House districts will decide their representation in the lower.
The partisan balance of the Albany County Commission, the makeup of the Albany County School Board and the next two years of city leadership are also on the ballot.
The Laramie Reporter was not able to cover every down ballot race but the Gem City’s headquarters for local, in-depth reporting did highlight the most important races being decided today.
Across media interviews, non-partisan forums, radio programs, party meet-and-greets, campaign websites, attack mailers, and good old fashioned get-out-the-vote door knocking, candidates introduced themselves to voters — asking for another term to continue what they started or asking for a chance to shakeup the status quo with a fresh perspective.
Below is a rundown of the races (and other issues) appearing on your ballot, with a roundup of local and state coverage that will hopefully help voters of all stripes take part in one of local democracy’s most fundamental activities.
How to follow along tonight as results are called
The Laramie Reporter will update subscribers later today, in a separate post, about how to follow live coverage this evening, from both the Reporter and statewide outlets.
For now, just worry about casting your ballot. Keep an eye on your inbox, and we can all watch the results stream in once polls close.
How to vote
Many Wyomingites have already cast their ballots for the 2024 General Election. If you haven’t, you’ll need to figure out three main details: what to bring, where to go, and what’s on your ballot.
What should I bring to the polls?
Wyoming Public Media has published an elections guide answering frequently asked questions about voting — including how to cast one’s ballot and what identification to bring to the polls.
A Wyoming driver’s license, tribal ID, active U.S. passport, University of Wyoming or community college student ID or even a driver’s license or state ID from another state will work. You can find a list of other options here.
ID in hand, where do I go to vote?
Your precinct determines both the races you can vote in and where you go to vote, which is called your polling place. ‘Precinct’ and ‘polling place’ are not the same thing, but they are related.
It’s easiest to start by finding your precinct, which you can do by typing your address into the Precinct Locator tool on the Wyoming Secretary of State’s website.
Your precinct will be labeled something like “46-2” or “13-1.” This label tells you a bit about what’s on your ballot. For example, a voter in 46-2 lives in House District 46 and Laramie City Ward 2, and a voter in 13-1 lives in House District 13 and Laramie City Ward 1. If the second number is a “0” it means you live outside city limits and will not be able to vote in any city council election.
But you don’t have to think too hard about what your precinct number means, because you really just need to take that label to the Albany County Clerk’s Precinct and Polling Place Information page and scan down that page for your precinct.
The chart on that page gives you the location of your polling place and, in the far right column, a hyperlink to your sample ballot.
Because the county is large, some precincts have multiple polling places. If you live in 46-0, you’ll have to pull up the relevant precinct map to see where you’re voting.
Precinct in mind, what’s actually on my ballot?
As we just noted, your sample ballot can be found on the Albany County Clerk’s Precinct and Polling Place Information page. This is the most convenient way to figure out which races you should read about below.
Where can I find more information about the candidates?
The three best sources are the Laramie Reporter, Wyoming Public Media and WyoFile. Those seeking a deeper dive might also be interested in checking out archived candidate forums, the political parties backing local candidates, individual campaign websites and the social media accounts for both political parties and candidates.
But the polls close at 7 p.m. so let’s stick to the works of journalism that have questioned incumbents and challengers alike, interrogated their platforms and sought to explain what’s at stake.
Senate District 10
In Senate District 10, which covers about half the county, voters will be asked to choose between Republican Gary Crum and Democrat Mike Selmer.
The Laramie Reporter introduced readers to both Crum and Selmer, explored what’s on the line in the race between them, and published their responses to the Reporter’s own 2024 legislative candidate questionnaire. Additional coverage of the Senate 10 race highlighted the vast fundraising disparity between Crum and Selmer.
House Districts 13, 14, 45, 46
Wherever you live, you’ll find a Wyoming State House race on your ballot today. In all four Albany County House Districts, incumbents face a challenge in their bid for reelection.
WyoFile noted the three Democratic incumbents have weathered well-funded and coordinated attacks from the local Republican party and related groups.
In House District 13, a one-term Democratic incumbent, Ken Chestek, is defending his seat from a Republican challenger, Shane Swett. The Reporter highlighted Chestek’s vision for Wyoming and Swett’s decision to hide from the limelight this election cycle.
In House District 14, a two-term Democratic incumbent, Trey Sherwood, is defending her seat from a Republican challenger, Joe Giustozzi. The Reporter highlighted Sherwood’s voting record, as well as the representative’s popularity in rural Albany County. Her opponent, Giustozzi, has avoided media interviews and nonpartisan forums, but the Reporter highlighted the challenger’s campaign videos.
Further reporting briefly examined the $49,000 raised in the battle for House 14.
In House District 45, a two-term Democratic incumbent, Karlee Provenza, is defending her seat from a Republican challenger, Paul Crouch. The Reporter dug into Provenza’s first four sessions as a lawmaker, Crouch’s recent arrival in Wyoming and his motivations for running, and the candidates’ differing views on everything from the function of public education to climate change.
In House District 46, a two-term Republican incumbent, Ocean Andrew, is defending his seat from a Democratic challenger, Chris Lowry. At least, that’s how this election cycle began. As the Reporter first reported last month, Lowry suspended his campaign, all but clearing the way for Andrew’s third term.
Andrew is endorsed by the state’s right-wing Freedom Caucus and his victory will put the faction one step closer to the majority it’s seeking in the Wyoming State House.
Albany County Commission
Laramie Mayor Brian Harrington faces local locksmith Thad Hoff in the race for an open seat on the Albany County Commission. Every voter in Albany County gets a say in this race.
The Reporter has covered the race between Harrington and Hoff, highlighting their divergent policy positions and fundraising philosophies.
Albany County School Board
There are two school board races on Albany County ballots this year: “Area A” and “At-Large.” The distinction between those two races doesn’t matter much to you, the voter, because every voter in Albany County gets to take part in both. (The “area” in “Area A” limits candidacy, not voter participation.)
The Reporter covered both of these races, which have drawn six total candidates and will determine four total seats. These are nonpartisan races, meaning candidates do not run explicitly as Republicans or Democrats.
In Area A, three incumbents are hoping to continue what they’ve started while a challenger new to the world of politics hopes to shake things up.
For the “At-Large” seat, Tom Mullan — a Republican and the only official school board candidate backed by a local political party — hopes to unseat one-term incumbent Kim Sorenson. The Albany County Republican Party is encouraging voters to write in alternative candidates for Area A.
Laramie City Council
Five of the Laramie City Council’s nine seats are on the ballot this year, meaning a majority of the governing body is up for grabs. Those seats include two in Ward 1, two in Ward 2 and a single seat in Ward 3.
The Primary Election whittled the field of candidates from the 14 who originally filed to a number twice as large as the available seats — in this case, 10.
In its coverage of the city council races, this publication has reported:
Across wards, a slate of four progressive candidates is co-campaigning on a platform of aquifer protection, housing reform and renter protections. These four candidates, organized under a political action committee called ACTPAC, dominated their opponents in the Primary Election.
In Ward 1, ACTPAC’s Sharon Cumbie and William Bowling will face Paul Montoya and Roxie Hensley in the General Election. Montoya and Hensley are not explicitly campaigning together, but both are endorsed by the Albany County GOP, which Hensley chairs.
In Ward 2, ACTPAC’s Melanie Vigil and Jim Fried will face Brett Glass and Brett Kahler in the General Election. Glass is endorsed by the local GOP; Kahler is not.
In Ward 3, there are no ACTPAC candidates. The GOP-endorsed Bryan Shuster is vying with Matt Lockhart for the only seat on the ballot.
Everything else on your ballot
Albany County voters will also elect three Albany County Hospital District trustees, two rural Laramie Rivers Conservation District trustees, and one urban Laramie Rivers Conservation District trustee to helm what are known as special districts.
The local League of Women Voters and the Laramie Boomerang published a voter guide in which candidates for these special district positions submitted answers to a series of uniform questions.
Local voters will also decide whether circuit, district and state supreme court judges keep their jobs on the Judicial Retention portion of their ballots.
WyoFile broke down how to read the Wyoming Bar Association’s performance assessments of each judge, which can be found here:
Circuit Court (Second Judicial District)
District Court (Second Judicial District)
Wyoming Supreme Court
Constitutional Amendment A would split residential property and commercial property into two different taxable classes. They are currently classed together, which means lawmakers cannot lower property taxes for homeowners without lowering property taxes for businesses too.
During the most recent legislative session, this was identified by politicians on both the left and the right as a hurdle to providing more significant property tax relief to struggling homeowners.
Both Wyoming Public Media and WyoFile have broken down what the amendment says, what it would do, and who is pushing for its success.
Funny: Jeff omits photos of myself and of Roxie Hensley while prominently featuring ones of our opponents. He also promotes one specific PAC which he favors, but does not mention the others which have supported and endorsed candidates for City Council. This is yet another example of his exremely biased blogging (it is not "reporting"). For UNBIASED information on City Council candidates, see the League of Women Voters' voter guide at https://vote411.org. And since Jeff's "Election Guide" did not include links to candidates' Web sites (as any election guide should), I'll plug mine here: http://voteglass.org. As the only politically moderate Ward 2 candidate, I urge you to read through my policy positions and consider me as your choice for City Council.