We’re building a

BETTER WYOMING

Good Ol’ Boy’s Club politics and a ‘free ride’ from the fossil fuel industries won’t cut it for our state any longer. That’s why we’re educating, organizing, and mobilizing Wyoming residents on behalf of statewide change. We’re the generation that must build a Better Wyoming.

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Latest News

Does Governor Gordon really care about mental health?

November 10, 2022

The governor convened a recent conference about Wyoming’s mental health crisis. But, at the same time, he says he opposes Medicaid expansion, which rural states across the U.S.—including every single one of our neighbors—have used to bring about actual solutions to their mental health challenges. If he really cares about Wyoming’s mental health crisis, why does he oppose a proven solution?

Protesters who railed against masks, LGBTQ books, and "critical race theory" have traded their signs for campaign slogans and are running for school board seats across Wyoming. (photo: The Sheridan Press)

Education takes a backseat to "hot button" social issues in Wyo. school board races

October 14, 2022

Instead of focusing on teacher retention, balanced budgets, student mental health, and other less dramatic—yet critical—school district subjects, candidates across the state this year come straight out of protest groups focused on banning books and outlawing mask mandates.

The City of Laramie butts up against the aquifer that provides the town's drinking water. (image via Albany County Clean Water Advocates)

Local Wyoming elections have climate impacts

September 30, 2022

Climate change is a global problem, but many of the decisions and actions to help fight it are local. As Wyoming voters head to the polls this fall, keep in mind that city, county, and state officials impact our climate resilience.

Post-“Roe” Wyo: The upcoming fight for abortion rights

September 14, 2022

Abortion remains temporarily legal in Wyoming as challenges to the Legislature’s 2022 “trigger ban” play out in court. If state judges ultimately decide that the ban is unconstitutional—a pretty likely outcome—the fight will move back to the Legislature and then, potentially, to a vote in 2024. The 2022 general election this fall will play a large role in shaping these events, and in any case pro-choice advocates will need to organize to win. Overturning Roe v. Wade did not end abortion rights in Wyoming. In fact, it was just the beginning.

Clockwise, from top left: Rep. Albert Sommers, Sen. Cale Case, Rep. Sandy Newsome, Rep. Steve Harshman, Sen. Stephan Pappas, Rep. Barry Crago, Sen. Wendy Schuler, and Rep. Landon Brown all support Medicaid expansion and won their 2022 GOP primaries.

GOP Medicaid expansion supporters defeat primary challengers

August 18, 2022

Many GOP lawmakers have wrung their hands and worried that doing what they know is right—supporting Medicaid expansion—would cost them at the polls. But overwhelmingly, GOP incumbents who backed Medicaid expansion won on Tuesday, dispelling those fears.

See how happy you'll feel after you cast your primary election ballot?

DERAILED: Everything you need to vote smart in the 2022 Wyoming primaries (Part 4)

August 4, 2022

Our “DERAILED” series explained why you should vote in the 2022 Wyoming primary elections. Now we tell you how. Find your new voting districts, polling place, and learn how to research your candidates to cast a smart ballot this August.

The Wyoming Gun Owners and WyoRINO both use strategies that target primary elections.

DERAILED: Special interest groups count on low turnout to influence Wyo. primaries (Part 3)

July 29, 2022

Many groups with narrow agendas target the primary elections in order to flip seats in the Wyoming Legislature, and they depend on low turnout to succeed. The more Wyomingites vote in the elections that count, the less influence special interest groups will have over our state.

If you wait til November to vote, you're missing the boat!

DERAILED: No matter what you learned in school, Wyoming Election Day is not in November (part 2)

July 22, 2022

Despite what we learn in school, Wyoming’s real Election Day is in August. All six races for statewide and Congressional seats in 2022 will be decided by then, along with all but a handful of Legislative and county-level contests. If you’re waiting until November to cast a ballot, you’re missing the chance to make your vote count.

DERAILED: The Wyo. Legislature’s 2022 trainwreck budget session (part 1)

July 15, 2022

The Wyoming Legislature's 2022 budget session was a prime example of how our state lawmakers ignore the real problems of Wyoming and instead focus on emotional "hot button" national issues. As home and healthcare prices go up, the struggling fossil fuel industries fail to pay for public schools, and Wyoming can't keep young people living here to build a future, the Legislature is transfixed on issues they repeat from national media. This is the kind of representation we get when only 30 percent of Wyoming residents vote in the elections that count: the primaries.

Illustration by Amanda Pittman

DERAILED: How Wyoming’s Legislature got off track, and how to steer it back (series intro)

July 8, 2022

The Wyoming Legislature has become more concerned with squabbling over hot-button national issues than addressing the real problems of our state. In a new series, Better Wyoming looks at how this happened, and what we need to do to get back on track.

Women in Rawlins will have to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby in a hospital.

Wyoming lawmakers stand by as two more hospitals close their maternity wards

June 3, 2022

Wyomingites understand that we do not have the cutting-edge medical facilities that big cities offer. But that does not mean we should force small-town women to face stressful and even dangerous situations in order to safely give birth. Our state can have a hospital system that serves us all. But that means we need legislators who are willing to help support it.

Nothing to see here, folks. Just some foreign currency drying off after a nice Wyoming bath.

Wyoming’s laws invite dirty money with no benefit to state residents

May 6, 2022

Russian oligarchs and other bad actors take advantage of Wyoming’s lax laws governing trusts and LLCs to hide their fortunes here. What do we get for acting as a global dirty money laundromat? Not much.

The Legislature's tax giveaway won't help Wyoming coal workers—but it will put money in CEOs' pockets.

Wyo. Legislature finally (sort of) admits that the coal industry is dying

April 21, 2022

Unfortunately, state lawmakers’ responses to the industry’s decline won’t save jobs or help coal communities. They will, however, lead to less funding for public schools and higher energy costs for Wyoming residents.

Actual image of Wyoming lawmakers redrawing the state's election map

Save the politicians, screw the people: “Redistricting” showed the bald self interest that drives the Wyoming Legislature

March 18, 2022

Members of the public made clear their wishes for better representation during the Wyoming Legislature’s 2022 “redistricting” process. But in the end, the chaotic ordeal confirmed that most lawmakers’ number one priority is protecting their own political interests.

As anti-choice grassroots advocates have grown more powerful, the Supreme Court ruling has seemed like the only thing preventing abortion bans.

Wyoming Legislature passes law to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned

March 11, 2022

The Equality State will become the 13th in the nation with this kind of “trigger law,” which would put a ban into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its landmark reproductive rights decision.

COMING SOON: GET OUT THE VOTE 2022!

Stay tuned for details….

HELP US FIGHT FOR A HEALTHY WYOMING!

Better Wyoming is a proud member of the Healthy Wyoming coalition, which leads the fight for Medicaid expansion in Wyoming.

Roughly 25,000 people in our state lack access to basic affordable healthcare because the Wyoming Legislature has refused to update the state’s Medicaid program to cover low-income residents.

I’m in!

SUPPORT OUR CLEAN POWER ECONOMY

Renewable energy development will be a critical part of Wyoming’s economic future. But some folks are desperate to cling to the past.

Join us to support a wind project in Albany County that will bring jobs and tax revenue to a struggling economy, but that’s under threat by an anti-renewables campaign.

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Together, we can build a better Wyoming

Join thousands of people just like you to build the kind of Wyoming that works for everyone

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