The RINO Problem in Wyoming Just Got a Whole Lot Worse

Wyoming should be the reddest state in America. Trump won it by more than 40 points three times running. Republicans hold a 56-6 majority in the House and 29-2 in the Senate. You’d think conservatives would be celebrating, right? Wrong.

Here’s what actually happened during the state’s recent budget session. Six election integrity bills went down in flames because enough Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats. We’re talking about common-sense measures like prohibiting ballot drop boxes, restricting ballot harvesting, requiring hand count audits, and expanding poll watcher access. The kind of stuff that should sail through a chamber dominated by Republicans.

But these aren’t real Republicans. They’re the political equivalent of fool’s gold, shiny on the surface but worthless when you need them. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus holds a governing majority in the House, yet they can’t get basic conservative priorities across the finish line because of budget session rules that require two-thirds support for non-budget bills. Those rules effectively gave veto power to a bloc of Republicans who’d rather side with Democrats than their own party’s base.

Think about that for a second. You have a supermajority and you still can’t pass conservative legislation because members of your own party keep sabotaging you. It’s not just frustrating, it’s insulting to every Wyoming voter who thought they were electing Republicans.

The Senate isn’t any better. A bill to keep sexually explicit material out of school libraries and children’s sections of public libraries died before it even got a hearing. Just died on the vine because nobody bothered to bring it up before the deadline. Meanwhile, establishment Republicans and the Freedom Caucus spent the session fighting over budget size like it was some kind of philosophical crisis to practice fiscal restraint.

One Wyoming conservative activist told The Federalist something that should make every Republican’s blood boil. “We’re at a really critical turning point in Wyoming politics where the insiders and the establishment class are very, very mad and want all of their power back.” The executive branch? Liberal Republicans. The Senate? Liberal Republicans. Only the House has what this activist called “a very slim majority of true Republicans.”

Now here’s where it gets really interesting. State Senator Cale Case showed up at a forum hosted by Fremont County Democrats in January. Not a bipartisan event. Not a town hall. A Democrat forum, complete with the president of the local League of Women Voters. Case talked about “very divisive factions” in Wyoming politics, an obvious swipe at the Freedom Caucus.

But then he said something that should concern every conservative in the state. He reminded the Democrats in attendance that they could change their party affiliation by May to vote in the August Republican primary. Let that sink in. A sitting Republican senator stood before a room of Democrats and basically gave them a roadmap to hijack GOP primaries.

When pressed about it, Case claimed the audience was mixed and probably had more Republicans than Democrats. Sure. Because Republicans regularly attend forums hosted by county Democrat organizations. That passes the smell test.

This is the RINO problem in its purest form. These people wear the Republican label like a costume they can take off whenever it’s convenient. They’ll campaign on conservative values, collect votes from conservative constituents, then turn around and block conservative legislation while coaching Democrats on how to meddle in Republican primaries.

You know what makes this especially galling? Wyoming voters have done everything right. They’ve shown up, they’ve voted, they’ve given Republicans every advantage possible. Supermajorities in both chambers. A Freedom Caucus majority in the House. And still, the establishment finds ways to thwart the will of conservative voters.

The war isn’t between Republicans and Democrats in Wyoming. It’s between actual conservatives and the Republican establishment that views them as a bigger threat than the left. These establishment types would rather lose to Democrats than win with the Freedom Caucus, because losing to Democrats doesn’t threaten their comfortable position in the political pecking order.

Wyoming conservatives are learning what conservatives across America already know. Red state status means nothing if the people wearing red jerseys keep playing for the other team. The real battle isn’t winning elections anymore. It’s making sure the people you elect actually govern like they promised they would.

Related: Joe Manchin Calls Out John Cornyn for Ditching the Filibuster When It Suits Him