The End of an Era: Simpson's Final Victory
The year 1990 marks a neat starting point for this political story. That year, the sharp-witted and nationally recognized Republican Alan Simpson, who had served since 1979, won his third and final term. Simpson defeated Democrat Kathy Helling with roughly 64% of the vote. While a comfortable 28-point margin, it would look like a nail-biter compared to what was to come. Simpson, a figure known for his bipartisan work on issues like immigration, was a political scion whose father had also been a Wyoming governor and senator. He chose not to run for reelection in 1996, opening the door for a new generation of Republican leadership.
The Rise of Thomas and Enzi
The mid-1990s cemented the state’s deep-red identity. In 1994, then-U.S. Representative Craig Thomas ran to succeed
retiring Senator Malcolm Wallop and defeated popular Democratic Governor Mike Sullivan by a convincing 20-point margin. Two years later, in the race to fill Simpson's open seat, Republican Mike Enzi, a former mayor of Gillette, beat Democrat Kathy Karpan. Enzi had emerged from a competitive primary that notably included a future senator, John Barrasso. With these two victories, the duo of Thomas and Enzi would go on to define Wyoming’s presence in the Senate for more than a decade, winning reelections by massive margins. In 2000 and 2006, Thomas won with 74% and 70% of the vote, respectively. Enzi was just as dominant, securing 73% in 2002 and a staggering 76% in 2008.
A Sea of Red: When Landslides Are the Norm
Looking at the numbers since 1990, the lack of competitiveness in Wyoming's general elections for the Senate is stark. After the 1990s, no Democratic candidate has managed to secure more than 30% of the vote in a regular Senate election, with one exception in 1994 and 1996. Margins of victory for Republican incumbents regularly exceeded 40 or 50 percentage points. For instance, in 2014, Mike Enzi won his fourth term with 72% of the vote, leaving his Democratic challenger with just over 17%. These results show that the most significant political battles in Wyoming are not fought in November against Democrats, but in the August Republican primaries. The general election often feels more like a coronation than a contest.
The Modern Guard: Barrasso and Lummis
The current delegation continues this long-standing tradition. Following Senator Craig Thomas's death from leukemia in 2007, then-state senator John Barrasso was appointed to the seat. He handily won a special election in 2008 with 73% of the vote and has been reelected by similarly overwhelming margins since, including in 2012, 2018, and 2024. When Mike Enzi announced his retirement in 2019, it opened up a seat for the first time since 1996. In 2020, former U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis won the seat, becoming the first woman to represent Wyoming in the U.S. Senate. She defeated her Democratic opponent by over 46 points, earning 73% of the vote and reinforcing the state's unshakeable Republican streak.
