NEWS
On August 23, 2025, the Wyoming Republican Party’s State Central Committee passed a resolution calling for legislation to restrict sexually explicit material available to minors in public libraries. Its final clause declared a consequence for elected officials who failed to support the legislation:
“Be it Further Resolved should any Wyoming elected official, in the future, fail to support said legislation, the Wyoming Republican Party will withdraw all support from that elected official.”
In 2026, during the budget session, a library bill passed the Wyoming House and advanced out of a Senate committee. The full Senate never debated it. When Sen. Troy McKeown made a final attempt to bring the bill up, 16 Republican senators voted no.
Wyoming GOP Chairman Bryan Miller was contacted for comment on this story. He has as of publication, not responded.
HB 10 was sponsored by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee. The House passed it 48–13 on February 20. On February 26, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3–2 to recommend passage with amendments and placed it on the Senate’s general file. The Senate floor majority leader did not pull the bill out of the “drawer.” The Legislature’s digest records that the Senate did not consider HB10 in Committee of the Whole on March 3rd. The following day, McKeown moved to suspend the rules, to bring the Senate into Committee of the Whole and place HB10 at the top of the general file. The motion failed 13–18. The bill received no Senate floor debate or passage vote.
The Republicans who voted no were Sens. Jim Anderson, Eric Barlow, Evie Brennan, Cale Case, Ed Cooper, Barry Crago, Gary Crum, Dan Dockstader, Ogden Driskill, Bill Landen, Taft Love, Tara Nethercott, Jared Olsen, Stephan Pappas, Wendy Davis Schuler and Charles Scott. Democratic Sens. Mike Gierau and Chris Rothfuss also voted no.
That roll call was on a motion to bring up HB10 after it missed the deadline, not on final passage. It nevertheless defeated the last effort to put a House-passed, Senate committee-approved library bill before the full chamber.
The Wyoming Republican Party’s August 2025 resolution says it will withdraw all support from elected officials who fail to support the legislation it seeks. Whether the party considers HB10 and this procedural vote to fall under that pledge is a question for party leadership. The resolution and the recorded votes give Republican voters a clear basis to ask for an answer. Those who voted no “failed to support the legislation,” and per the resolution the Wyoming Republican Party would therefore “withdraw all support from that elected official.”