Popcorn, pound cake and ... politics?: A peek inside one hyper-local Wyoming caucus

In the small town of Wheatland, roughly three dozen conservative voters assembled in a local church for the Platte County Republican Convention - the last one before the Wyoming Republican Party Convention in April.

During the state’s unusual months-long, bottom-up presidential caucus system, registered voters meet at the precinct and county level from early February to mid-April to vote on resolutions to add to the state’s Republican party platform and select 29 delegates for the state convention.

Snacking on homemade lemon pound cake and popcorn topped with bacon and black pepper, the local voters debated on political issues and resolutions, with the nomination of Donald Trump for president being a foregone conclusion during Wyoming’s County Republican Convention.

The lone man in a suit was Wyoming’s Secretary of State Chuck Gray, 34, who opened the convention with a speech highlighting his solidarity with former President Donald Trump, his frustration with legislators in Wyoming that he saw as emblematic of the “radical left,” and the dangers of “woke” politics infiltrating Wyoming.

“The radical left, they don’t believe in our republic. And they were going to try to take him [Trump] off the ballot. And we said Wyoming is going to be a leader in pushing back on this nationwide effort,” Gray said. “We were the only secretary of state in the nation to file an amicus brief.”

Gray’s speech was received with applause and occasional warm laughter, and the audience shared his focus on the ballot. Resolutions are made and voted upon at county conventions and sent to the state convention in hopes of becoming part of the Wyoming Republican Party’s platform.

The first resolution introduced, “Return to Hand Counting in All Wyoming Elections,” addresses voter fraud and manipulation concerns. It alleges that there is no process to protect election outcomes and that backdoor access to voter machines is a security threat.

“We’ve never had anyone accuse us of having a problem in Platte County. So rather than let that happen here, we decided to take a proactive approach,” Platte County Republican Party Chair Jerry Cundall said.

Gray supported Wyoming’s push toward more stringent election measures, although, according to the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, there have only been three documented cases of voter fraud in the state since 2000.

One of the other resolutions, titled “Opposition to Negative Net Zero CO2,” opened by alleging that “scientific data shows that modest warming and increasing CO2 are beneficial to the environment.”

The resolution’s author, Lucinda Houtchens, pulled inspiration and research from the CO2 Coalition, who spoke at the Wyoming capitol in February.

“A lot of my statistics are provided by the CO2 coalition, these guys are real scientists,” said Houtchens. “I just wish our government would do some reading.”

The CO2 Coalition’s stance is contrary to that of organizations like NASA and the United Nations, who accept the negative effects of climate change as fact.

Wheatland’s state representative, Jeremy Haroldson, 37, gave the crowd a breakdown of Wyoming’s recent budget session and touted the success of his bill repealing gun-free zones, as well as the passage of school choice legislation and bills restricting abortion access and youth access to gender-affirming care.

Haroldson, pacing across the stage in a black t-shirt, occasionally interrupted by applause, felt optimistic about the changing winds of Wyoming politics, and the state’s shift further right, which, to Haroldson, indicated a weakening of Wyoming’s political establishment.

“They [the establishment] cracked more than I’ve ever seen them crack. They let a lot of things through that I never thought they’d let through,” Haroldson said. “We battled some things out that I’d never thought we’d actually get an opportunity to battle out.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Where pound cake meets politics: Inside a hyper-local Wyoming caucus