Candidate debate

Cvannoy

On Thursday night, June 30, Wyoming PBS, the Sheridan Press and the Wyoming Public Media hosted the Wyoming Republican Debate with the five candidates who are running for the lone seat as Wyoming Representative to Washington.

It was held in the Whitney Center for the Arts Building at Sheridan College. Craig Blumenshine, PBS, moderated the debate and three panelists Steve Peck, Wyoming PBS, and Bob Beck of Wyoming Public Media, and Steven Dow, Sheridan Press, asked questions of the panelists.

The five candidates are Robyn Belinskey, Harriet Hageman, Denton Knapp, Liz Cheney, and Anthony Bouchard, who was a Wyoming State Senator representing District 6.

Questions involved how each candidate would handle the rife in the republican party, with some republicans symbolically drumming Cheney out of the party, and what this would mean for the GOP in Wyoming.

Hageman felt that more of a threat to our democracy was what she referred to as the two separate justice systems in the country. And people not being held accountable. She also felt the current administration was a disaster.

Cheney felt that what happened on Jan. 6 at the Capitol was clearly an attempt to delay the count of the electoral votes. Cheney is on the Jan. 6 committee.

Senator Bouchard felt it was a lot of distraction, because they aren’t talking about real issues that Wyoming people care about, such as putting gas in their tanks. One issue that is more important to the voters is the economy.

Knapp felt that there was a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability in government, and that made people distrust the election results. He said that these problems have to be found and fixed.

Robyn Belinskey felt that Wyoming people were more concerned with gas prices and their kids’ safety, not Jan. 6 committee hearings.

Ukraine invasions was another topic of discussion, and Hagemen commented;

When asked by Dow if $5 gas was good or bad for Wyoming, as the high price the oil companies get does help the Wyoming economy, Cheney said that the Biden administration was;

On the question asked about parental involvement in the schools, the candidates were all in agreement that parents should be involved with their children’s education.

On the issue of school safety, Senator Bouchard had this to say;

Other topics discussed included Bitcoin, the Wind River Indian Reservation, Covid vaccines and government regulations.

Blumenshine, at the end of the debate, thanked the candidates and the audience for maintaining civility in the debate. “This is how you conduct a civil discussion on the issues that are important to our state,” he said.