Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Wyoming

Kelly Dittmar

Gender Watch 2018From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

 

Ahead of the Wyoming primary election on August 21, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in Wyoming primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 1 (1R) of 3 members of the Wyoming congressional delegation (33.3%)
Filed: 1 (1R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R):  8.3% (1 of 12)

SENATE

Current: 0 of 2 senators

  • No woman has ever served in the U.S. Senate from Wyoming.

Filed: 0

Percent of all Filed Senate Candidates (D/R): 0% (0 of 7)

HOUSE

Current: 1 of 1 representative (100%)

  • Incumbent Representative Liz Cheney (R) is running for re-election this year. She is the third consecutive woman to hold Wyoming’s at-large congressional seat (1995-present).

Filed:  1 (1R)

  • Incumbent Representative Liz Cheney (R) is unopposed in the Republican primary.

Districts with Women Candidates:  1 of 1
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  20% (1 of 5)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  0% (0 of 4)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 100% (1 of 1)

Recent history: Liz Cheney has been the only woman candidate for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district between 2008 and 2018.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
One woman has served as governor of Wyoming. Nellie Tayloe Ross (R) became the first woman to be sworn in as a U.S. governor after winning a special election to fill a vacancy caused by the death of her husband.

Filed:  2 (1D, 1R)

  • Democrat Mary Throne and Republican Harriett Hageman are running for Wyoming’s open gubernatorial seat.

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  20% (2 of 10)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates:  25% (1 of 4)
Percent of all Filed Republican Gubernatorial Candidates: 16.7% (1 of 6)

OTHER STATEWIDE ELECTED EXECUTIVE OFFICES

Current: 2 (2R)

  • Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow (R) is running for re-election this year. Incumbent State Auditor Cynthia Cloud (R) is not running for re-election.

Filed:  2 (2R)

  • Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow (R) is running for re-election this year. She is unopposed in both the primary and general election.
  • Kristi Racines is seeking the Republican nomination for the open seat contest for state auditor.

Percent of all Filed Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Office (other than governor) (D/R):  22.2% (2 of 9)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Office (other than governor):  0% (0 of 1)
Percent of all Filed Republican Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Office (other than governor): 25% (2 of 8)

Kelly Dittmar headshot

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).

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