Scott Court

Less than a week after announcing he was running for the Park County Commission, a Cody lawmaker dropped out of the race.

State Rep. Scott Court, R-Cody, had declared on June 1 that — instead of filing for re-election to the Wyoming House of Representatives — he would seek to become a county commissioner.

However, on the afternoon of June 7, Court notified Park County Clerk Colleen Renner that he was bowing out — and hinted he might run for another term in the House after all.

“I hate to do this, but I am dropping out of the Park County commissioner race,” Court wrote to the clerk on June 7. “I don’t think that I am versed enough on the county issues.”

Court’s exit leaves 10 Republicans — incumbent Joe Tilden and challengers Bob Berry, Zach Bowman, Richard George, Anton Lehman, Dossie Overfield, Cathy Marine, Bob Stevens, Pat Stuart and Lloyd Thiel — vying for three available seats on the commission.

Court’s withdrawal from the race came early enough that his name will not appear on the Aug. 21 Republican primary election ballot.

Meanwhile, three Republicans — Richard Jones, Sandy Newsome and Denise Shirley — and Democrat Paul Fees are running to replace Rep. Court in House District 24.

In his email to the county clerk, Court left the door open to jumping into that contest.

“Maybe I will jump back into the Legislative race as an independent!” he wrote.

To run as an independent candidate in November’s general election, Court would need to collect 104 signatures from registered voters within the district and submit a petition to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office by Aug. 27.

House District 24 includes the western part of Cody, Wapiti, the North and South forks and the northern part of Yellowstone.

Court defeated then-Rep. Sam Krone, R-Cody, in the 2016 Republican primary, then bested Newsome — who entered the race late as an independent candidate — and Fees in the general election.