The Wyoming House of Representative is the lower house of the state legislature. Similar to the U.S. House of Representatives, they work with Senators to create laws, set the state budget, and determine state tax rates. State Representatives are elected to a two-year term with no term limits.
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Powell is home, and I've spent nearly 20 years serving this community — as a City Council member, Mayor, and Chamber of Commerce President — alongside 30 years of local board and volunteer work. I've helped bring projects like our community aquatic center, high-speed internet infrastructure, and the Shoshone River boat ramp to life, working alongside neighbors, not around them. That experience taught me how to listen, build consensus, and get things done without empty promises. I'm running for House District 25 because Powell and Park County deserve a voice in Cheyenne who understands how decisions made at the state level actually land here — on our schools, our land, our economy — and who has the track record to show for it.
I oppose the 50% ballot initiative. The Legislature already delivered a 25% property tax reduction along with targeted relief measures, and I believe those tools deserve a real chance to work before we take the blunt approach. Part of the problem is that these relief options aren't fully understood or used yet — we need more education and outreach so people, especially seniors facing the sharpest impact from inflation, actually get the help available to them. Property taxes also fund essential services people depend on. I support relief, but any further reduction must be paired with a plan to backfill local services funding that is lost. I trust the Legislature can solve this responsibly — that's a better path than a ballot in initiative.
I oppose the broad sale or transfer of federal public lands to the state — Wyoming doesn't have the resources to manage that scale without risking the very outcome we're trying to avoid, and once it's gone, it's gone. That said, I support targeted, common-sense transactions: resolving landlocked parcels so hunters and anglers have real access to land they already own, and exchanges that consolidate management or deliver genuine local benefit. Any of that needs local input at the table, not decisions made over our heads. My test is simple: does it expand access and benefit the broader public, or move land into fewer hands? If the former, I'm open to it.
Yes, I believe funding is adequate. Wyoming's constitution requires the state to fund a quality K-12 education, a standard shaped and reinforced through decades of court decisions. Where I'd like to see change isn't the funding level, but the structure — I support returning to block grant funding, which gives local school boards real flexibility to direct resources based on what their community and students actually need, rather than being boxed in by state-level formulas that don't fit every district the same way.
Wyoming has one of the lowest overall tax burdens in the country when you look at the full picture across all taxes we pay. That gives us room to responsibly fund a reasonable level of social services, and I believe we should. Well-spent social services dollars aren't just compassionate policy — they're smart fiscal policy, since they reduce downstream costs in law enforcement, emergency response, and healthcare. Investing early and wisely saves taxpayers money later, while helping our most vulnerable neighbors get back on their feet.
