Wyoming has long been viewed as one of America's most conservative states. Yet for years, many of the policies conservative voters wanted most struggled to make it through the legislature. After a new conservative majority took control of the Wyoming House, that changed. Lawmakers approved the largest property tax cut in state history, the nation's first state-level SAVE Act, and a nationally significant school choice law.
“Numbers matter; elections matter and have consequences,” House Speaker and Hazlitt Coalition member Chip Neiman said. “This was a positive consequence for the state of Wyoming because they elected all of the conservative people that were true conservatives that stayed with it. They didn't waffle, they held the line, and that was what made it work.”
For years, the legislature was disconnected from the voters.
“Our legislature was purple, at best leaning blue, while the people were staunch conservatives,” said Freedom Caucus Leader Rep. John Bear, also a Hazlitt Coalition member. “We had the largest majority, percentage-wise, for Donald Trump of any state in the nation. And yet we couldn't get bills passed prohibiting boys from competing in girls’ sports.”
Conservative lawmakers introduced bills on issues like property taxes, school choice, and election integrity in years past, only to watch them stall under legislative leadership that wasn't interested in advancing them.
That began to change after the 2024 elections, when conservatives secured a majority in the Wyoming House and elected new leadership.
“We actually have a conservative majority that was able to elect leadership,” Neiman said. “We saw a major paradigm shift in what was able to be accomplished because of leadership change.”
The foundation for these legislative victories began years earlier with candidates knocking on doors, Liberty Action mobilizing activists, and voters demanding greater accountability from their legislators.
Conservatives, despite being in the minority at the time, began calling for recorded votes to be transparent with constituents.
“We want legislators to own their votes and not hide behind this curtain that nobody knows what happens,” said Majority Leader and Hazlitt Coalition member Rep. Scott Heiner. “When that happened, the citizens of Wyoming started getting involved and voted out those people that were liberal, and voted in conservatives that truly represented their values.
“The vast majority of the citizens of Wyoming are conservative, but the people that were in Cheyenne representing them were not,” Heiner added. “So once we exposed that, the people made the choices at the election booth, and that's what turned the tide.”
Candidates spent a lot of time knocking on doors and listening to voters during election season. Once elected, Freedom Caucus members developed the “Five and Dime Plan” based on what their constituents wanted. The plan was the five most important bills for the people of Wyoming, with a promise to pass them in the first 10 days in the House—which succeeded.
“We knew we had the votes going into that session to get that accomplished,” Bear said. The bigger challenge would be convincing the Senate to go along.
“We took those priorities and then polled the entire state to ensure that we weren't just hearing from our own echo chamber,” Bear said. “We were highly confident that those five bills and the other 20 bills behind them at the tier two level, were all priorities of the people of Wyoming.”
Several lawmakers credited outside organizations with helping build the conservative majority long before lawmakers arrived in Cheyenne in January. Neiman pointed to Liberty Action’s grassroots organizing and youth engagement as an important part of that effort.
“I think what you guys do—out there making phone calls, reaching out to people, you're in the chamber, you're having those conversations—it all matters,” Neiman said. “Conservatives need to do what you guys are doing. We need to rally and we need to get together and we need to cooperate to get the agenda moved ahead. Young people especially getting involved is critical.”
Those victories weren't built during the legislative session. Legislators repeatedly pointed to years of grassroots organizing, voter outreach, and accountability efforts that helped elect the lawmakers who ultimately formed the new governing majority.
With a new majority in place, conservatives had the opportunity to move priorities that had stalled for years. Rather than advancing a single marquee issue, lawmakers tackled several of the policies voters had repeatedly raised on the campaign trail, including property taxes, school choice, and election integrity.
Property tax relief had been discussed for years, but conservatives say it repeatedly stalled under previous leadership. This time, lawmakers approved the largest property tax cut in state history after weeks of negotiations with the Senate.
Neiman said property tax relief was one of their biggest fights.
“We wrastled and wrastled over that property tax deal because we wanted a 50% cut when it left the House,” Neiman said. “The Senate moved it back to 25%…We finally kind of found a spot where they could work with the 25%, but we wanted an ongoing for people. So that was one of the major deals. I still hear comments from people saying, ‘My taxes went down $2,000 this year.’ That's a big deal for people.”
Protecting Wyoming’s elections was also one of their top priorities after conservatives took over the majority.
“Election integrity is a top priority of the people,” said Hazlitt Coalition member Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams. “Over the years throughout Wyoming, there's been a huge grassroots movement to really improve confidence in our elections.”
The bill made Wyoming the first state in the nation to pass a version of the SAVE Act Congress attempted.
“Since we've had an increase of conservatives that were elected into office, we have a clear understanding of Wyoming values and American values,” Williams said. “We were successful. I think that the reality is that the radical Left is loud. But we're delivering exactly what America needs and what Wyoming needs, and we're leading the charge.”
School choice had also been a long-standing priority for conservatives, who argued that parents should have greater control over their children's education. Its passage rounded out a legislative session that touched three of the issues lawmakers said voters raised most often on the campaign trail.
Other states are watching Wyoming, and liberty lawmakers are proud of the example they’re setting in the past two sessions.
“Wyoming is the lighthouse on the hill, as we like to say,” Heiner said. “It is a blueprint. You can see that with the SAVE Act. We were the first one to pass that. We were the first one to pass property tax relief. We, with a conservative majority, have been impactful and other states are watching us.”
Bear is optimistic about the future of the country.
“America is not lost and there's still opportunities to advance conservatism and free markets in America,” he said.
Williams encouraged citizens to make their voices heard on Election Day.
“I personally believe that Wyoming can be a liberty lighthouse state,” she said. “Wyoming has some excellent candidates on the ballot, from the governor's race down the entire ticket. The people of Wyoming need to come to the ballot box on Election Day and they need to vote.”
Wyoming's recent victories weren't simply about passing three major bills. Legislators argue they demonstrate what can happen when a legislature reflects the priorities of its voters. Whether other states follow Wyoming's example remains to be seen, but lawmakers there believe the blueprint has already been written.
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