The 2022 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the U.S. representative for . The election coincided with other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections.
Although incumbent Republican Liz Cheney had been reelected with 68.6% of the vote in 2020, she faced backlash from her party for her opposition to Donald Trump, vocal support of Trump's second impeachment, and vote in favor and service on the January 6th Committee. She was defeated by pro-Trump candidate Harriet Hageman in the Republican primary on August 16, 2022, with a landslide 66.3% of the vote going to Hageman. Cheney's margin of defeat marked the second-worst for a House incumbent in the last 60 years, behind that of South Carolina Republican Bob Inglis in a 2010 primary runoff. Democrats nominated nonprofit founder Lynnette Grey Bull, who was also their nominee in 2020.
As expected in the solidly Republican state of Wyoming, Hageman won in a landslide. However, Grey Bull did manage to flip Albany County, which she had lost in 2020.
Background
Incumbent Liz Cheney was strongly criticized by supporters of former president Donald Trump for her vote to impeach him, as well as refusing to object to the certification of the Electoral College results in the 2020 presidential election. Following her impeachment vote, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz appeared at a rally at the Wyoming State Capitol in support of ousting Cheney, with Donald Trump Jr. also supporting it by phone in January 2021. For the same reason, the Wyoming Republican Party later voted to censure her and requested that she resign or be primaried in the next election. Later that year, it also voted 31–29 to no longer recognize Cheney as a member due to her actions to participate in the January 6 Select Committee shortly after being removed as Conference Chair.
In February 2021, members of the Freedom Caucus attempted to have Cheney removed from her position as Chair of the House Republican Conference in response to her impeachment vote. In a secret ballot, 61 members of the conference voted to remove, while 145 voted not to remove. Cheney retained her position in large part because of the support by these Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise. Eventually, however, Cheney's continued criticism of Trump lost her support by more Republicans, including McCarthy and Scalise, and McCarthy was caught on a hot mic saying "I've had it with her" in reference to Cheney. On May 12, 2021, Cheney was removed from her position as conference chair by a voice vote and replaced with Elise Stefanik.
On May 21, 2021, challenger Anthony Bouchard admitted that as a teenager he fell in love with and started dating a 14-year-old girl who he subsequently impregnated and then married. Bouchard was 18 at the time. He claimed he went public with the story because he had learned that it was being investigated by others, though the Cheney campaign denied investigating it. He compared his relationship with the unnamed girl to "the Romeo and Juliet story." The two were married but divorced three years later, and she committed suicide at age 20. Bouchard continued to raise their son after her death, though he says the two are now estranged.
Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were censured by the Republican National Committee at its meeting in Salt Lake City on February 4, 2022, due to "actions in their positions as members of the January 6th Select Committee not befitting Republican members of Congress". The Wyoming delegation to the committee also submitted a "Rule 11" letter formalizing support for challenger Harriet Hageman and allowing the RNC to spend money allocated for Wyoming's party branch on her behalf. At the same time, support of Hageman surged following the censure of Cheney. Hageman has referred to Donald Trump as "racist and xenophobic" and also called him "the weakest candidate" during the 2016 presidential election; at the same time Hageman endorsed Cheney and called her a "proven, courageous, constitutional conservative."
Following Cheney's defeat, she called Hageman to concede the race. However, Hageman alleged that Cheney only left two words: "Hi Harriet". This prompted Cheney to release the full audio recording of the call which showed that she did, in fact, concede the race. The Hageman camp asserted that a technical glitch was at fault.
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Harriet Hageman, lawyer, former member of the Republican National Committee and candidate for Governor of Wyoming in 2018
Eliminated in primary
Robyn Belinskey, businesswoman Anthony Bouchard, state senator from the 6th district Liz Cheney, incumbent U.S. Representative, vice chair of the House January 6 Committee and former chair of the House Republican Conference Denton Knapp, retired U.S. Army colonel
Withdrawn Chuck Gray, state representative for the 57th district (ran for Secretary of State) Bryan Miller, chair of the Sheridan County Republican Party and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and 2020 (endorsed Hageman) Darin Smith, attorney, Christian Broadcasting Network executive and candidate for this seat in 2016 (endorsed Hageman)
Declined Bo Biteman, state senator from the 21st district (endorsed Hageman) Edward Buchanan, Secretary of State of Wyoming William Perry Pendley, former acting director of the Bureau of Land Management
Endorsements
Debates and forums
Wyoming PBS has had a tradition of hosting one debate for each for the Democratic and Republican primaries for all candidates on the ballot in their respective primaries, as well as one general election debate for all candidates on the ballot. All Republican candidates on the ballot who did not withdraw were included in the sole debate. This debate was not open to the public, but was open to media outlets. Due to Liz Cheney's role as Vice Chair in the hearings for the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack which were broadcast, different MSNBC hosts would later show debate clips of her defending her work in the committee.
2022 Wyoming Republican U.S. Representative primary debates Date Host Moderator Link Participants Participant Absent Non-invitee Invitee Withdrawn Liz Cheney Robyn Belinskey Anthony Bouchard Harriet Hageman Denton Knapp Chuck Gray Bryan Miller Darin Smith 1 June 30, 2022 Wyoming PBS Bob Beck Steve Peck Craig Blumenshine Steven Dahl WWW
Polling Aggregate polls Source of pollaggregationDatesadministeredDatesupdated AnthonyBouchard LizCheney HarrietHageman UndecidedMarginRealClearPoliticsJuly 7 – August 6, 2022August 12, 20223.5%29.0%54.5%13.0%Hageman +25.5 Graphical summary
Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error AnthonyBouchard LizCheney ChuckGray HarrietHageman DarinSmith Other UndecidedUniversity of WyomingJuly 25 – August 6, 2022562 (LV)± 4.1%2%28%–57%–1%12%WPA Intelligence (R)July 12–14, 2022400 (LV)± 4.9%5%31%–59%––5%5%36%–54%––5%5%39%–51%––5%Mason-DixonJuly 7–11, 20221,100 (LV)± 3.0%5%30%–52%–2%11%Fabrizio Lee (R)June 1–2, 2022400 (LV)± 4.9%8%28%–56%–<1%7%WPA Intelligence (R)May 24–25, 2022400 (LV)± 4.9%12%26%–56%––6%Fabrizio Lee (R)December 14–15, 2021400 (LV)± 4.9%13%26%–34%–2%26% September 14, 2021 Gray suspends his campaign September 9, 2021 Smith withdraws and endorses HagemanMcLaughlin & Associates (R)July 26, 2021300 (LV)± 5.6%17%23%18%–7%5%30%–23%25%–14%–39%–24%63%–––14%Remington Research Group (R)July 25–26, 2021766 (LV)± 3.3%18%19%14%–24%–25%–20%––70%–10%McLaughlin & Associates (R)January 25–26, 2021– (LV)–28%21%17%–––34%50%23%––––27%–23%50%–––27%
Results
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Lynnette Grey Bull, nonprofit founder, member of the Northern Arapaho tribe, and nominee in 2020
Eliminated in primary Steve Helling, attorney and pro-Trump activist Meghan Jensen, chair of the Sweetwater County Democratic Party
Debates and forums
2022 Wyoming Democratic U.S. Representative primary debates Date Host Moderators Link Participants Participant Absent Non-invitee Invitee Withdrawn Lynnette Grey Bull Meghan Jensen Steve Helling 1 August 4, 2022 Wyoming PBS Bob Beck Steve Peck Craig Blumenshine
Results
Independent and third-party candidates Constitution Party Nominee Marissa Selvig, former mayor of Pavillion
Eliminated at convention Joe Shogrin, Laramie County contact for the Wyoming Constitution Party
Libertarian Party Nominee Richard Brubaker, nominee for this seat in 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2020
Independents Failed to qualify for ballot Casey William Hardison, chemist
General election In the general election, Hageman faced Democratic nominee and Native American activist Lynnette Grey Bull, who was Cheney's opponent in 2020. However, Hageman was overwhelmingly favored in November. Republicans had a nearly 7-to-1 advantage in registration over Democrats, and Trump carried the state in 2020 with almost 70 percent of the vote, his strongest state-level performance in the nation.
Hageman won the 2022 election. She is the fourth consecutive Republican woman to represent Wyoming in the House. Barbara Cubin won the seat in 1994, followed by Cynthia Lummis in 2008, followed by Cheney in 2016, and followed by Hageman.
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political Report October 25, 2022 Inside Elections October 11, 2021 Sabato's Crystal Ball October 5, 2021PoliticoApril 5, 2022RCPJune 9, 2022Fox News July 11, 2022DDHQJuly 20, 2022538June 30, 2022
Debate + 2022 Wyoming U.S. House of Representatives debate Date Host Moderator Link Republican Democratic Libertarian ConstitutionKey: Participant Absent Not invited Invited Withdrawn Harriet Hageman Lynette Grey Bull Richard Brubaker Marissa Selvig1 Oct. 13, 2022 Central Wyoming CollegeWyoming PBSWyoming Public Media Craig Blumenshine
Post-primary endorsements
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error HarrietHageman (R) LynnetteGrey Bull (D) Others UndecidedUniversity of WyomingOctober 22 – November 3, 2022436 (LV)–62%23%4%11%
Results
By county CountyHarriet HagemanRepublicanLynnette Grey BullDemocraticRichard BrubakerLibertarianMarissa SelvigConstitutionWrite-inMarginTotal votes#%#%#%#%#%#%Albany5,69945.176,08548.233062.432141.703132.48-3863.0612,617Big Horn3,44981.4650411.90972.291082.55761.792,94569.564,234Campbell10,44684.071,2159.783202.582682.161771.429,23174.2912,426Carbon3,43473.3389219.051703.631262.69611.302,54254.284,683Converse4,04480.0060211.911292.552094.13711.403,44268.095,055Crook2,81485.823069.33692.10511.56391.192,50876.493,279Fremont8,53963.663,51926.234203.136865.112501.865,02037.4313,414Goshen3,83579.0476615.79861.77761.57891.833,06963.254,852Hot Springs1,64175.3136716.84552.52743.40421.931,27458.472,179Johnson3,00377.8260115.571002.59611.58942.442,40262.253,859Laramie17,53958.919,57232.159143.078632.908832.977,96726.7629,771Lincoln6,11881.6999813.331592.121121.501021.365,12068.367,489Natrona15,39968.695,23523.356562.934782.136492.9010,16445.3422,417Niobrara93686.43756.93161.48393.60171.5786179.501,083Park9,65876.221,92215.173132.472161.705624.447,73661.0512,671Platte3,10778.1860315.17812.041182.97651.642,50463.013,974Sheridan8,49770.332,70422.383122.582181.803512.915,79347.9512,082Sublette2,76877.9760417.01712.00481.35591.662,16460.963,550Sweetwater8,36270.712,55521.604934.172251.901911.625,80749.1111,826Teton2,95729.386,44764.053353.33670.672592.57-3,490-34.6710,065Uinta5,11978.1898715.071782.721612.461031.575,26063.089,107Washakie2,43080.0443514.33933.06431.42351.151,99565.713,036Weston2,41286.392569.17471.68441.58331.182,15677.222,792 Totals132,20668.1847,25024.375,420 2.804,5052.324,5212.3384,95643.81193,902 Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Albany (largest municipality: Laramie)
Notes
Partisan clients
References
External links