Who is James Temple?
James Temple
House District 29
Sheridan County
Freedom Caucus Candidate
James Temple is a Freedom Caucus candidate running to represent House District 29, in Sheridan.
He is running against Myca Sturtevant, a local small business owner.
Freedom Caucus funding
During the Wyoming Legislature’s 2026 budget session, the House convened a special committee to investigate the incident where Teton County Freedom Caucus donor Rebecca Bextel was caught handing out checks to lawmakers on the floor of the capitol.
For the investigation, Bextel submitted screenshots of text messages to the committee in which she discussed with Freedom Caucus leader Rep. John Bear which candidates would need support in 2026.
In the text messages, Bextel and Rep. Bear go back and forth about who needs a check. Temple is among the candidates Bextel suggests.
Ultimately, Rep. Bear tells Bextel that Freedom Caucus member Mark Jennings, who lives in Sheridan, would know best about who needs funding in that part of the state for their campaign.
Abolish the Wyoming Business Council
Like his Freedom Caucus colleague Rep. Ken Pendergraft, James Temple supports abolishing the Wyoming Business Council. This is according to flyers that Temple has mailed to voters and statements at public events.
The Wyoming Business Council is a state-run economic development agency. It supports the creation of new businesses and the growth of existing employers.
In Sheridan, the Wyoming Business Council has played a major role in attracting companies like Weatherby, Vacutech, and other good-paying employers to the community. These companies provide hundreds of Sheridan residents with jobs, including many in House District 29.
Abolishing the Wyoming Business Council would harm Sheridan’s economy and others around the state. But Temple’s extremist views lead him to believe that there is no role whatsoever for government in diversifying Wyoming’s economy.
Eliminate property taxes
Wyoming homeowners benefit from the Legislature’s recent reductions in state property taxes. But James Temple wants to take this to the extreme and eliminate property taxes altogether.
Public services in Wyoming like education, law enforcement, hospitals, libraries, and even roads and trash collection depend on funding from local property taxes.
None of these things are free. Eliminating property taxes will result in major cuts to services our communities depend on.
Plus, if James Temple and the Freedom Caucus succeed in eliminating property taxes, these services will be paid for in some other way. Most likely, this will be from increased sales tax.
Sales tax would need to skyrocket to more than 20% in order to support the services that property taxes currently fund. This would be devastating for businesses that make large purchases, and even to families trying to buy things like appliances and pickups.
Against school choice
In a public debate, James Temple explained that he supports eliminating individual school districts in Sheridan County and forcing them to all operate from one large, centralized administration.
The savings to taxpayers from this consolidation would be minimal. But it would have severe negative impacts on local communities’ ability to make decisions about how to educate their own children.
Currently, Sheridan County has three public school districts. They are each funded by the state according to how many students they enroll.
Importantly, these school districts each have their own locally elected board of trustees and local administrators who make major decisions about how the schools operate and how children are educated.
James Temple’s plan to consolidate all these districts into one would create a one-size-fits-all education program that would eliminate choice for parents and local communities.