SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
You've heard a lot about swing states in the election, but what about states that were already heavily Republican, including Wyoming, where an already Republican legislature has shifted even more to the right? Chris Clements of Wyoming Public Radio reports on the outlook for his state, where the Freedom Caucus is in the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
CHRIS CLEMENTS, BYLINE: At a recent business forum in Laramie, Wyoming state Senate President Ogden Driskill told the crowd - scores of people in cowboy hats and bolo ties - that his advice might not be as helpful as it used to be.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
OGDEN DRISKILL: I'm Christmas past. I've been there, and it's really not my place to forward policies to you folks.
CLEMENTS: The Republicans who will be in charge now see him as too moderate, and he expects to lose his leadership role.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OLD COWBOY BLUES")
DAN ROBERTS: (Singing) Cowboy blues.
CLEMENTS: As the meeting ends and the country music starts, it's clear the tides are shifting in the legislature. The right-wing faction known here and nationally as the Freedom Caucus won big in the elections.
JEREMY HAROLDSON: Well, I think that right now, we kind of are in an unprecedented time.
CLEMENTS: That's state Representative Jeremy Haroldson, a member of the Freedom Caucus, who says, in an interview, voters handed the caucus new power to carry out their agenda. The state's Freedom Caucus - part of a national network - doesn't publicly list every member so it's hard to know their exact numbers. But Wyoming Public Radio estimates that they now hold a majority of the state House and have increased their clout in the Senate. There's a lot on the to-do list. State Representative John Bear says he'll be bringing a bill...
JOHN BEAR: That will ensure that only residents of Wyoming with proof of residency and only citizens of the United States with proof of citizenship will vote in Wyoming.
CLEMENTS: State officials say very few noncitizens actually try to vote. Meanwhile, Freedom Caucus state Representative Christopher Knapp says he's aiming for legislation to back fossil fuels.
CHRISTOPHER KNAPP: It's important for our revenue to have the cheapest, dispatchable, most common form of energy that Wyoming has, which is called natural gas.
CLEMENTS: The caucus is also looking to restrict diversity programs in higher education and ban gun-free zones, like at the Capitol or state offices. Some of these measures were vetoed by Republican Governor Mark Gordon in the past. Wyoming may be the state where a Freedom Caucus faction has made the biggest inroads.
RYAN WILLIAMSON: Wyoming is one of a few - if not the only one - where the Freedom Caucus has this much influence.
CLEMENTS: Ryan Williamson is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The caucus is gaining strength partly because Democrats are so scarce. They're only about 10% of the legislature and less than 20% of voters, Williamson says.
WILLIAMSON: That creates a vacuum. All the competition, whether it's electorally, politically, ideologically, even - that happens all within the Republican Party. And so the lack kind of viable competition from the left means that all of the battles happen between the right and the center right.
CLEMENTS: Representative Clark Stith is a Republican who lost his seat to a Freedom Caucus candidate.
CLARK STITH: The one - perhaps the change that I would expect to see in the legislature is probably sort of social legislation - and frankly, from my point of view, may amount to a fair amount of grandstanding over, you know, school books, what people can read.
CLEMENTS: But Freedom Caucus lawmakers say they're excited to be taking office around the same time as an ally, President-elect Donald Trump.
For NPR News, I'm Chris Clements in Laramie.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILKDRIVE'S "ORION'S WALTZ") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
