At least for now, one of the rising stars in the Wyoming Legislature is leaving the job.
Tuesday, Big Horn Republican State Rep. Cyrus Western told Cowboy State Daily that he will not be running for a fourth term in office this fall to serve House District 51.
Western, who is 34 years old, said that he and his wife want to start a family.
“I need to pay attention to my family right now,” Western said. “I enjoy this job, and I plan to come back at some point. But for now, I need to focus on starting a family.”
Western is the party whip in the House. He was first elected to the legislature in 2018.
In 2018 and 2020, he easily won his first two Republican primary races. But in 2022, he beat Bryan Miller, the chair of the Sheridan County GOP, by just 36 votes.
Western said he was thankful for the time he spent in the Legislature and loved his job there. He also said he hasn’t ruled out running for the Legislature again in the future.
“I appreciate that the voters gave me the chance in the first place.” “Thank you very much for that,” Western said.
Western-supported a bill that passed both houses of the legislature during the most recent session. The governor is now thinking about it as a way to make it harder for people to lease oil and gas on Wyoming state lands without following more rules and being supervised.
Besides that, he pushed for and the governor signed a bill that said who can use open banking.
What It Signifies
Western is one of the most important Republicans in the Wyoming Caucus, which was formed in answer to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
Western probably would have had to deal with a very tough race for reelection against Laurie Bratten, a resident of Sheridan who announced earlier this month that she was going to run for the Legislature.
Western said that the fact that he might have to run against that candidate and the fact that there was a lot of fighting in the Legislature had nothing to do with his choice.
He said, “I always love the chance to show voters why I’m the best, but right now I need to focus on my family.”
Western, who has already said bad things about Bratten, said he doesn’t know of anyone else who wants to run against her right now.
Western said, “I’m sure in the next few days and weeks there will be someone, but right now I don’t know of anyone else who plans to run.”
Moving On
Western said that even though he isn’t running for office, he will still back the campaigns of his fellow lawmakers in the Wyoming Caucus.
“I want my friends to do well.” He said, “If there are ways I can help them be successful in coming back and taking part in good governance, I’m more than happy to do so.”
Western will stay in office until the end of the year to finish his term.
For now, he has one last piece of advice for his fellow lawmakers: don’t make moves that only benefit yourself, but instead focus on great government and compromise.
His words, “I encourage them to really focus on the act of governing,” “It’s cool to try to get as much attention as possible right now, but sticking to the main goal of following the constitution and promoting good government is hard and takes a lot of work.”