Attack mailers focused on national issues and funded by out-of-state money dominated many races for the Wyoming Legislature in the primary election last week.
But in a race for the Senate district representing rural Albany County, a local issue with local support helped propel a first-time Republican candidate to victory: access to affordable healthcare.
Gary Crum, who chairs the Albany County hospital board, won his election against agriculture lobbyist Keith Kennedy by 20 percentage points.
Kennedy had backing from the same organizations that helped usher other far-right candidates into legislative office this election in Wyoming.
Virginia-based PAC Make Liberty Win spent roughly $370,000 on Wyoming GOP primary races across the state. The group supported Kennedy with a mailer attacking Crum’s position on Second Amendment Rights.
Crum, meanwhile, returned again and again to his focus on Wyoming’s inadequate healthcare system.
“Gary believes in ensuring access to affordable and comprehensive health care for all, especially in rural areas,” his website states. “He is dedicated to supporting local health care facilities and expanding health care services in underserved communities.”
When pressed on national hot-button issues like abortion, Crum returned to this focus.
“We spend so much time talking about this one single issue that we forget about all the other healthcare needs out there,” he said at a candidate forum. “We need to focus on OBGYN services for mothers that have to travel from Rawlins or Wamsutter to Laramie to deliver a baby. We have to find a way to get medical doctors and pediatricians in those communities. We have to find a way to solve mental health issues in this state. We have to find a way to make sure there’s ambulance and emergency medical services.”
Crum’s emphasis on access to medical care attracted the support of Wyoming-based healthcare advocacy groups.
Better Wyoming, a grassroots nonprofit whose members advocate for increased healthcare access, took action on behalf of Crum’s campaign via its 501c4 electioneering arm, Better Wyoming Action + Research (BWAR).
BWAR knocked on the doors of more than 1,200 Republican voters in Senate District 10 prior to last week’s election.
Roughly 85 percent of the hundreds of Republicans who answered said that they are more likely to support a state senator who would fight for better healthcare access in our state. In turn, BWAR’s volunteers delivered 1,000 flyers to targeted voters highlighting Crum’s dedication to healthcare.
Republicans in Senate District 10 made their preference clear, delivering Crum a landslide victory.
“Healthcare is an issue that Wyomingites feel deeply in their own lives and the lives of their family members and friends,” said Nate Martin, Better Wyoming’s executive director. “It is obvious to many residents that our state lawmakers need to do better. That means driving down our highest-in-the-nation healthcare costs, ensuring basic coverage for hardworking people whose jobs don’t provide insurance, addressing mental health and suicide, and doing what we can to make sure our rural communities have adequate facilities and providers.”
With Crum in the race, Republicans in Senate District 10 were able to vote for candidates who champion rural healthcare up and down their primary ballot. U.S. Senator John Barrasso, who won his primary election, forefronts the need for better rural healthcare in Wyoming. Even Donald Trump, who once attempted to overturn the Affordable Care Act, now says he wants to improve it as nationwide demand for healthcare reform grows.
“Our broken healthcare system is a commonsense issue in Wyoming that everyone can get behind, and it’s not going away until we fix it,” Martin said. “BWAR will keep on working on behalf of candidates who support better healthcare access until it improves.”