Kemmerer’s Pearson beats House Speaker in senate race

By Bryon Glathar, Gazette Managing Editor
Posted 8/27/24

EVANSTON — With last week’s Primary Election in the books, local offices will see a shakeup in January.

Sen. John Barrasso will move forward with his reelection bid after knocking …

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Kemmerer’s Pearson beats House Speaker in senate race

Posted

EVANSTON — With last week’s Primary Election in the books, local offices will see a shakeup in January.

Sen. John Barrasso will move forward with his reelection bid after knocking out opponents Reid Rasner and John Holtz in the Primary Election. Barrasso earned 70,437 votes statewide to Rasner’s 25,424 votes. Holtz brought up the rear with 7,867 total votes.

Barrasso will face Scott D. Morrow in November. Morrow ran unopposed and earned 10,088 votes from statewide Dems.

Congresswoman Harriet Hageman cruised to an even easier victory than Barrasso did last week. She beat Steven R. Helling 82,765 votes to 19,738.

Democrat Kyle G. Cameron, who ran unopposed, received 10,047 to advance to November, when he’ll face Hageman.

Laura Taliaferro Pearson of Kemmerer beat current House Speaker Albert Sommers of Pinedale, who was trying to make the leap from the House to the Senate. Pearson took home 2,211 votes to Sommers’ 2,025 votes to succeed Sen. Fred Baldwin in Senate District 14. Bill Winney finished last with 490 votes.

Lincoln County was especially pro-Pearson as she earned 841 votes, and Sommers received only 323. Pearson also beat Sommers in Uinta County, where they received 117 and 95 votes, respectively. Sommers, however, got many more votes than Pearson in Sublette County. The current legislator received 1,446 votes to Pearson’s 929 there.

In SD-6, which includes much of Lincoln County and part of Teton County, Dan Dockstader of Afton earned 3,188 votes in his unopposed primary.

Green River’s Scott Heiner, who is more aligned with the far-right Wyoming Freedom Caucus than the more moderate Wyoming Caucus, received 1,190 votes to advance to the General Election. Heiner, the incumbent in House District 18, beat Tom Crank of Kemmerer, who received 733 total votes. Heiner beat Crank 603 to 483 in Lincoln County and 194 to 71 in Uinta County.

Rep. Jon Conrad, incumbent for HD-19, lost by a couple of hundred votes to challenger Joe Webb. Webb earned 1,019 votes to Conrad’s 792 in the valley contest.

Mike Schmid, who aligns closely with the Freedom Caucus, picked up Sommers’ current seat in House District 20. Schmid beat Cat Urbigkit 1,755 votes to 1,029. Lincoln County residents preferred Shmid with 170 votes to Urbigkit’s 23.

Incumbent Rep. Ryan Berger of Evanston won’t be reelected. He lost to Robert Wharff, who collected 812 votes to Berger’s 725.

Mel Shumway won the primary for Lincoln County Commissioner with 1,328 votes. Jerry Hansen received 1,230 votes, while Joe Heward tallied 836, and Eileen Merritt received 808 votes.

Robert Bowen ran unopposed for Kemmerer mayor and received 507 votes, though there were 114 total write-ins. In nonpartisan races, the top two vote-getters will advance for each open office.

Four candidates ran for three seats on the Kemmerer City Council. Bill Price led the way with 432 votes, and David McConkie took second with 429. Emily Hartmann took third with 340 votes and Dale L. Hicks rounded out the field with 318 votes.

Cokeville Mayor Colby Martin Peck received 91 votes in his reelection bid, though there were 62 write-ins.

For Diamondville Town Council, Nicole Petersen received 127 votes and there were 43 write-ins.

There are two seats to fill on the Opal Town Council, but Mary Hall was the only candidate running. She received 17 votes and there were 15 write-ins.

LaBarge saw a similar situation as Jess Meeker was the only candidate running with two seats available on the town council. Meeker received 97 votes and there were 49 write-in votes.

The General Election is scheduled for Nov. 5.