U.S. Senate candidate and former Rep. Cynthia Lummis visits Lusk

Alex Hargrave
Posted 9/30/20

Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Rep. Cynthia Lummis made a campaign stop in Lusk

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U.S. Senate candidate and former Rep. Cynthia Lummis visits Lusk

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LUSK – Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Rep. Cynthia Lummis made a campaign stop in Lusk on Sept. 25. With five weeks remaining before the 2020 general election to be held Nov. 3, the visit was an opportunity for the conservative candidate to meet with local constituents at The Pizza Place on Main Street. 

The event, organized by the Niobrara County Republican Party, featured free pizza for guests and gave voters an opportunity to talk one-on-one with their potential future Senator. State Senator Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle) and State Rep. Hans Hunt (R-Niobrara County) also stopped to talk with Lummis and Lusk residents.

Prior to the event, Joan Lenz, who is a representative for Lummis’ Senate campaign said the former Congresswoman had not been to Niobrara County until now, and she was excited to host her.

“She won the primary and we’re quite certain, in our minds, that she’ll be the next U.S. Senator for the state of Wyoming which is a big deal for Lusk,” Lenz said. 

Abegail Cave, one of Lummis’ campaign staffers, said campaigning in the age of COVID-19 has been a challenge.

“Wyoming’s definitely a retail politics kind of place, so people want to meet you or shake your hand before they’ll vote for you,” Cave said. “Now we’re back on the road being very careful. all of our events are outdoors, we try to socially distance. Every place is different in Wyoming so we defer to our county chairs on that and they tell us what’s most appropriate in their communities.”

In Niobrara County, which has just one active case as of Sept. 25 according to the Wyoming Department of Health, Lummis shook hands with voters wearing a mask around her neck in case she should need one. 

She did not deliver a speech at the event, but she talked with voters about different issues affecting local residents, including rural broadband, country of origin labeling, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and catering to producers’ interests, and social media censorship of conservative viewpoints, Lummis told The Herald. 

“The U.S. Senate is a great leveling field for small states, because we have two senators just like California,” Lummis said. 

Her goal is to help Republicans maintain control of the Senate, which Kentucky Repubican Mitch McConnell currently leads with a 53-47 seat majority. To flip the Senate, Democrats would need to net gain four seats in the upcoming election.

Lummis said she will travel around Wyoming for the next two weeks and then will visit and send staffers to Colorado and Montana, where incumbent Republican Senators Cory Gardener and Steve Daines are running tight races. 

“We want to help our neighbors, because we want the interests of the Rocky Mountain states to be more solidly represented by people who share our values and by people who are more liberal,” she said. 

Lummis represented Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009-2017, serving on the following committees: Agriculture, Appropriations, Budget, Natural Resources, Oversight and Government Reform and Science, Space and Technology. If elected to the Senate this year, she said she will be a ranking Freshman due to her years served in the House of Representatives.

“I will want to use that seniority to get on committees that will benefit Wyoming,” she said. “I’m looking at the Commerce Committee, which is the committee that would have jurisdiction over rural broadband. And then I’m interested in the Finance Committee.”

Virginia Pullem, a member of the Niobrara County Republican Party, said they brought Lummis to town because older residents are familiar with her as a Wyoming resident and former Congresswoman. 

“This is kind of like bringing an old time friend back,” Pullem said. “She’s been in Washington before. And now we expect her to go back and we expect her to be a good representative for us. 

“It’s important for people on the local level to be involved and know their vote counts,” she said. 

The Herald sat down with both Lummis and her opponent, Dr. Merav Ben-David. Look for those interviews in next Wednesday’s edition.