Laramie County GOP chairman joins the crowded race for Senate District 6

May 22—CHEYENNE — When Taft Love told Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, he planned to run for his seat in Senate District 6, the incumbent wasn't too pleased.

"He was irritated by that decision," Love told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday.

Love announced his candidacy for Senate District 6 on May 14, a couple weeks after he informed Bouchard of his intentions. Love said it's important "to make sure your opponent knows you're there." And Love could tell Bouchard was disappointed.

So far, four candidates, including Love, have announced their intention to run to represent Senate District 6, and the incumbent has yet to reveal his re-election plans. Love said when he announced his run for Senate, Bouchard "fired back at (him) immediately."

"To me, that says a lot," Love said, adding he didn't plan to retaliate. "I really don't intend to get into a back-and-forth about those kinds of things."

Keeping the political peace

Love might have the biggest name recognition out of his three opponents, since he serves as chairman of the Laramie County Republican Party. One of his biggest tasks as chairman, he said, is to build a working relationship between his county and the state Republican Party.

Tensions rose in 2022 when the Wyoming GOP Central Committee voted against seating Laramie County's 37 delegates. The state Central Committee decided a week earlier in a 15-8 vote that the Cowboy State's largest county broke party bylaws during the delegate election process.

Love said he had been asked by other members to "help bridge the gap." He said there were issues of miscommunication and in-party fighting, where emotions often ran high during heated debates.

"I was asked to try and heal that divide, and then reunite, or at least build a working relationship with, the state party, so that we could all move forward as a state," Love said. "We've been very successful in bridging those gaps."

Laramie County not only rejoined the state convention this year, it also hosted the multi-day event. Love said the entire convention went "really smooth," and he was proud to be the hosting chairman.

It really helped to restore communication and respect in civil discourse, Love said. He prioritized uplifting everyone's voices and giving thorough explanations behind any decision-making processes.

"It clears up a lot of miscommunication and a lot of misinformation that gets put out based on raw emotion," Love said. "Once everybody's heard and understood, that usually makes the decision-making process a whole lot easier."

If elected as a state senator, Love said these were the values he'd take with him to the Capitol. Instead of focusing on political ideologies, he's more interested in working on the issues at hand.

"Depending on the issue, I may align with different groups at that time," Love said. "But I'm very, very conservative by nature."

Ever since he's been elected as Laramie County GOP chairman, Love said people have continued to put him in one box or another.

"I really don't like boxes," Love said.

Supporting teachers, education

Love served 10 years on the Laramie County School District 2 Board of Trustees, and was chairman of the board for two of those years. LCSD2 moved to a four-day school week under his leadership, which resulted in an 18% increase in student achievements over the following three years, Love said.

LCSD2 also hired a private sector business manager, who successfully renegotiated contracts and yielded between $600,000 and $800,000 a year in savings. This new surplus went toward buying educational materials and building additions to schools in eastern Laramie County.

On a statewide level, Love said funding is always an issue for the K-12 public school system. The Legislature was shaken up in terms of education funding after Wyoming stopped receiving revenue from federal coal lease bonuses.

The state is bound by a Wyoming Supreme Court decision to fund all schools equally, and lawmakers are still coming up with ways to fund certain projects within the education system. A main concern for school districts is keeping up with population growth, especially in the southeast corner of Wyoming. School buildings aren't big enough to hold the number of students who are enrolled, Love said.

"The school systems never seem to feel they're funded efficiently enough or effectively enough," Love said. "The Legislature is trying to do as much as they can."

Protecting state industries

Wyoming's coal and oil industries fuel a huge chunk of the state's spending budget, and state officials continue to fight the federal government on environmental policies that threaten to shut it down. While he acknowledges that Wyoming's economy is still heavily dependent on its mineral revenue, Love said he also believes the state should be open to exploring avenues of green energy.

"I don't know how many people remember, but Wyoming has lost tens of thousands of jobs in the coal industry," Love said.

Wyoming's industries have an opportunity to lead in areas such as nuclear, solar and wind power, he said, but the transition into green energy won't happen overnight. His stance on the issue is to protect and preserve the Cowboy State's coal and oil industry, while also exploring renewable resources.

"We have to allow time to build the infrastructure, and design the products it's going to take to be efficient in the green energy and electric industries," Love said.

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.