Wyoming State Senate

Wyoming State Senate

Summary

The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 30 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne.

Members of the Senate serve four year terms without term limits. Term limits were declared unconstitutional by the Wyoming Supreme Court in 2004, overturning a decade-old law that had restricted Senators to three terms (twelve years).

Like other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and the federal U.S. Senate, the Wyoming Senate can confirm or reject gubernatorial appointments to the state cabinet, commissions, boards, or justices to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

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The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 31 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne.

Members of the Senate serve four-year terms without term limits. Term limits were declared unconstitutional by the Wyoming Supreme Court in 2004, overturning a decade-old law that had restricted Senators to three terms (twelve years).

Like other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and the federal U.S. Senate, the Wyoming Senate can confirm or reject gubernatorial appointments to the state cabinet, commissions, boards, or justices to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Composition of the Senate

AffiliationParty
(Shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
RepublicanDemocraticVacant
End of 59th Legislature237300
End of 60th Legislature237300
End of 61st Legislature264300
End of 62nd Legislature264300
End of 63rd Legislature264300
End of 64th Legislature273300
End of 65th Legislature273300
End of 66th Legislature282300
End of 67th Legislature29231[a]0
Beginning of 68th Legislature292310
Latest voting share94%6%
  1. ^ A 31st district was created during redistricting.

Leadership

Wyoming, along with Arizona, Maine, and Oregon, is one of the four U.S. states to have abolished the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, a position which for most upper houses of state legislatures and indeed for the U.S. Congress (with the Vice President) is the head of the legislative body. Instead, a separate position of Senate President is in place, removed from the Wyoming executive branch.

The current Senate President is Republican Ogden Driskill of District 1 (Devils Tower).

PositionNameParty
President of the SenateOgden DriskillRepublican
Senate Vice PresidentDave KinskeyRepublican
Majority LeaderLarry HicksRepublican
Minority LeaderChris RothfussDemocratic
Minority WhipMike GierauDemocratic

Members of the Wyoming Senate

Map of current (March 2021) partisan composition of legislative districts for state senate:
  Republican senator
  Democratic senator
DistrictRepresentativePartyResidenceCounties RepresentedNested House districts[1]First electedNext election
1Ogden DriskillRepublicanDevils TowerCampbell, Crook, WestonHD 1, HD 5220102026
2Brian BonerRepublicanDouglasConverse, PlatteHD 6, HD 622015*2024
3Cheri SteinmetzRepublicanLingleGoshen, Niobrara, WestonHD 2, HD 520182026
4Tara NethercottRepublicanCheyenneLaramieHD 7, HD 820162024
5Lynn HutchingsRepublicanCheyenneLaramieHD 12, HD 4220182026
6Anthony BouchardRepublicanCarpenterLaramieHD 4, HD 1020162024
7Stephan PappasRepublicanCheyenneLaramieHD 9, HD 4120142026
8Affie EllisRepublicanCheyenneLaramieHD 11, HD 4420162024
9Chris RothfussDemocraticLaramieAlbanyHD 13, HD 4520102026
10Dan FurphyRepublicanLaramieAlbanyHD 14, HD 4620202024
11Larry S. HicksRepublicanBaggsAlbany, CarbonHD 13, HD 4520102026
12John KolbRepublicanRock SpringsFremont, SweetwaterHD 17, HD 4820202024
13Stacy JonesRepublicanRock SpringsSweetwaterHD 39, HD 6020222026
14Fred BaldwinRepublicanKemmererLincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater, UintaHD 18, HD 2020162024
15Wendy Davis SchulerRepublicanEvanstonUintaHD 19, HD 4920182026
16Dan DockstaderRepublicanAftonLincoln, Sublette, TetonHD 21, HD 2220082024
17Mike GierauDemocraticJackson HoleTetonHD 16, HD 2320182026
18Tim FrenchRepublicanPowellParkHD 24, HD 5020202024
19Dan LaursenRepublicanPowellBig Horn, ParkHD 25, HD 2620142026
20Ed CooperRepublicanTen SleepBig Horn, Hot Springs, Park, WashakieHD 27, HD 2820202024
21Bo BitemanRepublicanRanchesterSheridanHD 29, HD 30, HD 40, HD 51[a]20182026
22Dave KinskeyRepublicanSheridanSheridan, Johnson2014*2024
23Eric BarlowRepublicanGilletteCampbellHD 3, HD 3120222026
24Troy McKeownRepublicanGilletteCampbellHD 32, HD 5320202024
25Cale CaseRepublicanLanderFremontHD 33, HD 5419982026
26Tim SalazarRepublicanRivertonFremontHD 34, HD 5520202024
27Bill LandenRepublicanCasperNatronaHD 35, HD 362007*2026
28James Lee AndersonRepublicanCasperNatronaHD 56, HD 5720122024
29Bob IdeRepublicanCasperNatronaHD 37, HD 5920222026
30Charles ScottRepublicanCasperNatronaHD 38, HD 5819822024
31Evie BrennanRepublicanCheyenneLaramieHD 43, HD 6120222026
*Senator was originally appointed

History

Women in the Senate

SenatorPartyResidenceSenate TermNotes
Dora McGrathRepublicanThermopolis1931–1933First woman in the Wyoming Senate[2][3]
Willa Wales CorbittDemocraticRiverton1965-1969
Edness Kimball WilkinsDemocraticCasper1967-1973First woman to serve as Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives[4]
June BoyleDemocraticLaramie1973–1985
Catherine ParksRepublicanGillette1979–1985
Win HickeyDemocraticCheyenne1981–1991
Lisa F. KinneyDemocraticLaramie1985–1995
Della HerbstDemocraticSheridan1987–1993
Harriet Elizabeth ByrdDemocraticCheyenne1989–1993First African-American to serve in the State Legislature[5][6]
Susan C. AndersonDemocraticCasper1993–1995
April Brimmer-KunzRepublicanCheyenne1993–2005First female President of the Senate
Barbara CubinRepublicanCasper1993–1995Resigned to become U.S. Representative
Cynthia LummisRepublicanCheyenne1993–1995Later served as State Treasurer, U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator
Mary MacGuireRepublicanCasper1993–1995Son Joe MacGuire currently serves in the Wyoming House of Representatives
Irene DevinRepublicanLaramie1997–2005
Rae Lynn JobDemocraticRock Springs1997–2009
E. Jayne MocklerDemocraticCheyenne1997–2009
Kathryn SessionsDemocraticCheyenne1999–2011
Jana H. GunterDemocraticCheyenne2004–2005
Patricia AullmanRepublicanThayne2005–2009
Saundra MeyerDemocraticEvanston2009–2011
Leslie NuttingRepublicanCheyenne2011–2015
Bernadine CraftDemocraticRock Springs2013–2017
Liisa Anselmi-DaltonDemocraticRock Springs2017–2021
Affie EllisRepublicanCheyenne2017–presentMember of the Navajo Nation, first Native American to serve in the Wyoming Senate.[7]
Tara NethercottRepublicanCheyenne2017–present
Wendy Davis SchulerRepublicanEvanston2019–present
Lynn HutchingsRepublicanCheyenne2019–present
Cheri SteinmetzRepublicanLingle2019–present
Evie BrennanRepublicanCheyenne2023–present
Stacy JonesRepublicanRock Springs2023–present

Past composition of the Senate

Main article: Political party strength in Wyoming

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Only two senate districts not nested.

References

  1. ^ "HB0100 - Redistricting of the legislature". Wyoming Legislature. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "Wyoming Women in the Legislature" (PDF). Historical Information. Wyoming: Wyoming Ssecretary of State Office. 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
  3. ^ "Nation's 147 Women Legislators Active". The Palm Beach Post. Associated Press. January 19, 1931. Retrieved March 29, 2010.("In Wyoming, where women have been voting since 1869, Mrs. Dora McGrath is the first woman ever elected to the senate. Following her election last September she remarked that rather than go down to the legislature she would prefer to 'stay home and win prizes for my apple pies.'")
  4. ^ American legislative leaders in the West, 1911-1994. Sharp, Nancy Weatherly., Sharp, James Roger, 1936-. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 1997. ISBN 031330212X. OCLC 35138609.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ University of Wyoming-UW Profiles Harriet Elizabeth "Liz" Byrd
  6. ^ "Liz" Byrd, first black woman in Wyoming House, dies at 88"
  7. ^ "First Native American". Women in Wyoming. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020.

41°08′25″N 104°49′13″W / 41.14028°N 104.82028°W / 41.14028; -104.82028

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Senate

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