Wyoming Senate
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.
Wyoming State Senate | |
---|---|
66th Wyoming State Legislature | |
Type | |
Type | |
Term limits | None |
History | |
New session started | January 12, 2021 |
Leadership | |
Vice President of the Senate | |
Majority Leader | |
Minority Leader | |
Structure | |
Seats | 30 |
Political groups | Majority
Minority
|
Length of term | 4 years |
Authority | Article 3, Wyoming Constitution |
Salary | $150/day + per diem |
Elections | |
Last election | November 3, 2020 (15 seats) |
Next election | November 8, 2022 (15 seats) |
Redistricting | Legislative Control |
Meeting place | |
State Senate Chamber Wyoming State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming | |
Website | |
Wyoming State Legislature |
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
Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) |
Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Democratic | Vacant | ||
End of 59th Legislature | 23 | 7 | 30 | 0 |
End of 60th Legislature | 23 | 7 | 30 | 0 |
End of 61st Legislature | 26 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
End of 62nd Legislature | 26 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
End of 63rd Legislature | 26 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
End of 64th Legislature | 27 | 3 | 30 | 0 |
End of 65th Legislature | 27 | 3 | 30 | 0 |
Beginning of 66th Legislature | 28 | 2 | 30 | 0 |
Latest voting share | 93% | 7% |
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 Dan Dockstader of District 16 (Afton).
Position | Name | Party |
---|---|---|
President of the Senate | Dan Dockstader | Republican |
Senate Vice President | Larry Hicks | Republican |
Majority Leader | Ogden Driskill | Republican |
Minority Leader | Chris Rothfuss | Democratic |
Minority Whip | Mike Gierau | Democratic |
Members of the Wyoming Senate
District | Representative | Party | Residence | Counties Represented | Next election |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ogden Driskill | Republican | Devils Tower | Campbell, Crook, Weston | 2022 |
2 | Brian Boner | Republican | Douglas | Converse, Platte | 2024 |
3 | Cheri Steinmetz | Republican | Lingle | Goshen, Niobrara, Weston | 2022 |
4 | Tara Nethercott | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie | 2024 |
5 | Lynn Hutchings | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie | 2022 |
6 | Anthony Bouchard | Republican | Carpenter | Laramie | 2024 |
7 | Stephan Pappas | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie | 2022 |
8 | Affie Ellis | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie | 2024 |
9 | Chris Rothfuss | Democratic | Laramie | Albany | 2022 |
10 | Dan Furphy | Republican | Laramie | Albany | 2024 |
11 | Larry S. Hicks | Republican | Baggs | Albany, Carbon | 2022 |
12 | John Kolb | Republican | Rock Springs | Fremont, Sweetwater | 2024 |
13 | Tom James | Republican | Rock Springs | Sweetwater | 2022 |
14 | Fred Baldwin | Republican | Kemmerer | Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater, Uinta | 2024 |
15 | Wendy Davis Schuler | Republican | Evanston | Uinta | 2022 |
16 | Dan Dockstader | Republican | Afton | Lincoln, Sublette, Teton | 2024 |
17 | Mike Gierau | Democratic | Jackson Hole | Teton | 2022 |
18 | Tim French | Republican | Powell | Park | 2024 |
19 | R. J. Kost | Republican | Powell | Big Horn, Park | 2022 |
20 | Ed Cooper | Republican | Ten Sleep | Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park, Washakie | 2024 |
21 | Bo Biteman | Republican | Ranchester | Sheridan | 2022 |
22 | Dave Kinskey | Republican | Sheridan | Sheridan, Johnson | 2024 |
23 | Jeff Wasserburger | Republican | Gillette | Campbell | 2022 |
24 | Troy McKeown | Republican | Gillette | Campbell | 2024 |
25 | Cale Case | Republican | Lander | Fremont | 2022 |
26 | Tim Salazar | Republican | Riverton | Fremont | 2024 |
27 | Bill Landen | Republican | Casper | Natrona | 2022 |
28 | James Lee Anderson | Republican | Casper | Natrona | 2024 |
29 | Drew Perkins | Republican | Casper | Natrona | 2022 |
30 | Charles Scott | Republican | Casper | Natrona | 2024 |
History
Women in the Senate
Senator | Party | Residence | Senate Term | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dora McGrath | Republican | Thermopolis | 1931–1933 | First woman in the Wyoming Senate[1][2] |
Edness Kimball Wilkins | Democratic | Casper | 1967-1973 | First woman to serve as Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives[3] |
June Boyle | Democratic | Laramie | 1973–1985 | |
Catherine Parks | Republican | Gillette | 1979–1985 | |
Win Hickey | Democratic | Cheyenne | 1981–1991 | |
Lisa Kinney | Democratic | Laramie | 1985–1995 | |
Della Herbst | Democratic | Sheridan | 1987–1993 | |
Harriet Elizabeth Byrd | Democratic | Cheyenne | 1989–1993 | First African-American to serve in the State Legislature[4][5] |
Susan Anderson | Democratic | Casper | 1993–1995 | |
April Brimmer-Kunz | Republican | Cheyenne | 1993–2005 | First female President of the Senate |
Barbara Cubin | Republican | Casper | 1993–1995 | Resigned to become U.S. Representative |
Cynthia Lummis | Republican | Cheyenne | 1993–1995 | Later served as State Treasurer, U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator |
Mary MacGuire | Republican | Casper | 1993–1995 | Son Joe MacGuire currently serves in the Wyoming House of Representatives |
Irene Devin | Republican | Laramie | 1997–2005 | |
Rae Lynn Job | Democratic | Rock Springs | 1997–2009 | |
E. Jayne Mockler | Democratic | Cheyenne | 1997–2009 | |
Kathryn Sessions | Democratic | Cheyenne | 1999–2011 | |
Jana Gunter | Democratic | Cheyenne | 2004–2005 | |
Patricia Aullman | Republican | Thayne | 2005–2009 | |
Saundra Meyer | Democratic | Evanston | 2009–2011 | |
Leslie Nutting | Republican | Cheyenne | 2011–2015 | |
Bernadine Craft | Democratic | Rock Springs | 2013–2017 | |
Liisa Anselmi-Dalton | Democratic | Rock Springs | 2017–2021 | |
Affie Ellis | Republican | Cheyenne | 2017–present | Member of the Navajo Nation, first Native American to serve in the Wyoming Senate.[6] |
Tara Nethercott | Republican | Cheyenne | 2017–present | |
Wendy Davis Schuler | Republican | Evanston | 2019–present | |
Lynn Hutchings | Republican | Cheyenne | 2019–present | |
Cheri Steinmetz | Republican | Lingle | 2019–present |
Past composition of the Senate
References
- "Wyoming Women in the Legislature" (PDF). Historical Information. Wyoming: Wyoming Ssecretary of State Office. 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- Associated Press (January 19, 1931). "Nation's 147 Women Legislators Active". The Palm Beach Post. 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.'")
- American legislative leaders in the West, 1911-1994. Sharp, Nancy Weatherly., Sharp, James Roger, 1936-. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 1997. ISBN 031330212X. OCLC 35138609.CS1 maint: others (link)
- University of Wyoming-UW Profiles Harriet Elizabeth "Liz" Byrd
- "Liz" Byrd, first black woman in Wyoming House, dies at 88"
- "First Native American". Women in Wyoming. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020.