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Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, easily fended off a late write-in challenge in Tuesday’s primary election, picking up 72.8% of Republican votes.
“I’m really excited,” said …
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Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, easily fended off a late write-in challenge in Tuesday’s primary election, picking up 72.8% of Republican votes.
“I’m really excited,” said Laursen, who’s seeking a fourth term in the House of Representatives. “I’m honored and humbled and sure appreciate everybody getting out and voting, for sure — and voting for me. I appreciate it a bunch.”
Laursen received 1,237 votes in House District 25, with 229 people (11.8%) writing in an alternative. The vast majority of those voters presumably wrote in Justine Larsen, who launched a campaign in late July.
She got into the race after Laursen’s initial challenger, Chris Good, withdrew from the race after his wife was seriously injured. Good dropped out of the running after the ballots had already been printed and he still received 298 votes (15.4%).
Larsen, a Powell paraeducator, ran an active campaign and picked up support from Reps. David Northrup and Sandy Newsome, along with the Wyoming Education Association, but that didn’t translate to a surge at the polls; the percentage of votes for Laursen, Good and write-ins remained consistent between early/absentee voting and the ballots cast in-person on Tuesday.
Rep. Laursen said that, assuming voters elect him in November, he’ll enter the 2021 Legislative Session with a main mission of opposing new taxes.
“I’m not going to vote for taxes, increases. I’m going to fight them and we’ve got to go tighten the belt,” he said. “I know people don’t want to hear it; it’s going to be painful. But I don’t know if people realize how much their taxes might go up if they want to keep what they’ve got.”
Laursen also reiterated his belief that K-12 education should be subjected to cuts like other branches of state government.
Beyond reducing spending, he said the state needs to encourage business and job growth, saying Wyoming is well-positioned to draw “great people” here with conservative values. He said the “COVID issue will go away soon,” calling it “a big medical issue for those most vulnerable, while describing the government’s response as “out of control.”
“I am optimistic with what is going to happen in Wyoming,” he said.
