Harriet Hageman, who is running for the Republican nomination for Wyoming’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke at the Powell Church of Christ Saturday. 

If she wins the nomination and is elected to Congress, Hageman said she would bring more accountability to the position — something she said Rep. Liz Cheney is failing to do. 

“I’m running against one of the most powerful political families in the United States, and I’m going to hold her accountable,” Hageman declared to the roughly 50 people who attended the town hall event. 

The candidate discussed her relationships with former President Donald Trump and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, both of whom have endorsed her. 

Attendees asked the candidate about her commitment to fiscal responsibility, election integrity issues, her fundraising activities and if she would maintain her vision if elected. 

Hageman said she has a “long history in Wyoming.” She’s a fourth generation Wyomingite, and her great-great grandfather followed a cattle trail from Texas, arriving in Ft. Laramie. He homesteaded near the Glendo Reservoir, and the property is still in Hageman’s family, she said. 

She went to Casper College on a livestock judging scholarship, and then received her bachelor’s and law degree at the University of Wyoming. 

She’s a water and natural resource attorney, and also a constitutional attorney. She’s practiced law for 33 years, representing oil and gas companies, ranchers and gravel pit operators, to name a few. 

“I work for the folks who put food on your table, fuel in your cars, a roof over your head, and they pave your highways,” Hageman said. 

Battling the federal government

She discussed her work as the senior litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance in Washington, D.C. The Cheyenne attorney said she took the position with the non-profit to “get control of the unlawful administrative state” by getting the federal government out of policymaking in areas that should be left to the state and local level. 

“The federal government has inserted itself into every aspect of our lives, and in doing that, they’re violating the Constitution and they’re violating our civil liberties,” Hageman said. 

She discussed her work in a number of lawsuits, including suits against federal vaccine mandates. 

To illustrate how her work as an attorney ties into her vision reining in the federal government, Hageman said she helped fight a USDA rule that would have required all cattle producers to use radio frequency identification ear tags and register all their ranches with the federal government. 

The New Civil Liberties Alliance stopped the rule from being enacted, which Hageman said was being lobbied for by the major meat packing companies and the manufacturer of the ear tags. 

As a representative for the state, Hageman said she would push for more legislative oversight of agency rulemaking. She would want to see more agencies’ rulemaking come under the auspices of the legislature, which would mean more accountability to the voters. 

Unlike federal agencies, legislators “are the ones you can vote in or vote out,” she said.

“You ought to see the number of agencies who issue an FAQ sheet, and it becomes law,” Hageman said, adding that voters have to “send people there [to Washington] who will disempower themselves.” 

Hageman said she represented people in the agricultural industry, conservation districts, and outfitters in their fight against federal management of wolf population. That battle resulted in an appellate court siding with Wyoming’s wildlife management plan, concluding it was adequate to manage the state’s wolf population.

Criticizing Cheney

Hageman was critical of Cheney for, among other things, her participation in a federal commission investigating the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, in which a number of unruly Trump supporters entered the U.S. Capitol Building in D.C. Hageman argued that the commission is biased against Trump and toward finding him responsible for stirring up the protestors. 

Hageman said that there is a “uniparty” in D.C. that’s unaccountable to the voters and mostly concerned with “protecting what they have.” She said Cheney and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, are part of this group. 

During a question portion of the town hall, Hageman was questioned about her commitment to election integrity and allowing more transparency in elections. She stressed her opposition to federalizing elections. She said she supports voter ID requirements, which Wyoming has. 

If elected, Hageman said she would push to limit absentee ballot requirements and shorten the early voting period. When asked what people could do to help with elections integrity, Hageman encouraged people to volunteer to be poll watchers. 

“Then, if we see something, we can say something,” Hageman said. 

The candidate said that she held a recent fundraiser in which 100 congressional representatives attended. Hageman said it was unusual to see that many because they “never, ever” go against the incumbent. There was a vote of no-confidence against Cheney at the event.  

“She [Cheney] does not have any support in Washington, D.C.,” Hageman assured the town hall attendees.

Taking questions

When asked for an example of work she’s done that directly impacts the residents of Park County, she pointed to her work with the Shoshone Irrigation District, saying she enjoyed doing that work. 

She said a lot of her career as an attorney involved “making sure irrigators have their water supply.” 

Control of natural resources, Hageman explained, is central to a lot of what she does because so much political power lies in who has that control. The more the federal government expands its control over the resources, the more powerful it becomes. This is making it harder for the nation to prosper from those resources, Hageman said. 

“There’s a special place in hell,” she said, apologizing for her swearing, “for people who adopt policies that are intended to increase the cost of energy and housing. Because it impacts the poorest among us the most.” 

A member of the audience discussed how Cheney appeared to have changed after she was elected, and asked Hageman if she would also change if she is elected. 

“I don’t think she [Cheney] changed. I think this is who she always was,” Hageman offered. The candidate noted she supported Cheney in the 2016 election, and while she agrees with some of the ways in which Cheney votes, Hageman believes that Cheney is ultimately a globalist. 

If elected, Hageman said she would continue to be principled in her vision and accountable to the people who voted for her. 

“I’m going to be the same person 10 years from now, perhaps a bit more jaded,” she joked. “But I’m still going to be the same person because I have too much accountability to the people who matter to me to be anything other than who I am.”

Earlier in the day, Hageman held a town hall in Meeteetse, and after the stop in Powell, she held another another in Cody. The filing period for Wyoming’s partisan and municipal races officially opens on May 12, with the primary election on Aug. 16.