Thirty-six hours before Wyoming Republicans go to the polls, signs are strong that former Rep. and stalwart conservative Cynthia Lummis will be nominated for the seat held by outgoing Republican Sen. Mike Enzi.
In a state that President Donald Trump swept with 68.2% of the vote in 2016 and which last sent a Democrat to the Senate in 1970, signs are strong that Lummis will become its first female U.S. senator this fall.
Last month, the nine-candidate GOP race did not seem such a foregone conclusion. Sheridan County businessman Bryan Miller, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a GOP county chairman, won the straw poll at the state party convention.
"But don't use the state convention as a barometer of anything," Lummis told Newsmax recently between campaign stops. "It doesn't affect anything to do with the primary. You win the primary by working hard, and we've been doing that."
Given the enthusiasm among her eager cadre of volunteers and her strong performance in a recent Public Broadcasting TV debate, Lummis is expected to win handily in Tuesday's primary.
Like any Republican hopeful, the former congresswoman is inevitably asked her opinion of President Trump.
"I'm really proud to be on the same ticket with him — delighted, in fact," she replied without hesitation. "I judge him on his actions, not on what I read in social media."
Lummis, a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is a vigorous backer of the Trump agenda on tax cuts, judicial appointments, massive deregulation, tax cuts, energy independence, opposition to illegal immigration, getting out of foreign wars, and standing up to China — although, in her words, "we are not being tough enough on the Chinese. They are causing major problems with our economy, especially goods related to technology and with intellectual property."
Freely volunteering that "his style is not my style," Lummis said she doesn't judge the president on his style because "like a lot of people, I am used to how he engages ideas and tends to think aloud."
As to what she considers "the disrespect put forth at him by the Democrats," the Wyoming candidate simply says "I would tell them 'Get over it!'"
Along with being a strong supporter of Trump, Lummis is also a friend of her state's Republican Rep. Liz Cheney. What did she think, we asked, of the recent clash between Trump and the House GOP Conference Chairman Cheney over whether she completely supports his agenda?
"If there are disputes between Republicans, the first and most important thing is that they be kept behind closed doors," she said. "Republican members of Congress or other officials who attack each other in public do so only to the benefit of Democrats."
We asked Lummis why she left a safe perch as the Cowboy State's at-large U.S. Representative in 2016 and is now, at 65, making a comeback.
"My husband died [in 2014] and I had to deal with personal and business matters," she told us. "Now that has all been settled and I'm anxious to get back into the arena."
Diemer True, a former Wyoming GOP national committeeman and Lummis's finance chairman, told Newsmax that "along with being the Cowboy State, Wyoming is the Equality State. We gave women the right to vote in the 19th century, before anyone else. We elected the first woman governor in 1924 [Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross] and we've had a string of congresswomen-at-large for 25 years. Cynthia's time has come."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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