Centrist Independent Voter has endorsed Lisa Kinney in Wyoming’s August 18 Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Kinney served ten years in the Wyoming Senate, including two years as minority leader. What most distinguishes her for us is her record of working across party lines and her explicit interest in finding a small group of moderate members of Congress who can cooperate and exercise meaningful influence.
We do not agree with Kinney on everything. We have reservations about some of her tax proposals, and we have not found a clear statement from her on continued American assistance to Ukraine. Her explicit support for NATO is reassuring, but voters should watch for further clarification on Ukraine and related foreign-policy questions before the primary.
Those reservations do not outweigh her experience, independence and demonstrated willingness to work with Republicans. In a Congress increasingly organized around partisan loyalty, those qualities deserve support.
Wyoming voters now have CIVPAC-endorsed candidates in both House primaries: Lisa Kinney in the Democratic primary and Kevin Christensen in the Republican primary.
Centrist Independent Voter has endorsed Sam Mead in Wyoming’s August 18 Republican primary for the United States Senate.
Mead is challenging Representative Harriet Hageman, who entered Congress after defeating Liz Cheney in 2022. There is a certain symmetry to the race: Cheney delivered her concession speech that year from the Mead family ranch.
But our endorsement is not about relitigating that election.
It is about whether Republican senators should exercise independent judgment or regard loyalty to Donald Trump as part of their job description.
Mead has said senators should judge presidential nominees on competence, character and ethics rather than partisan loyalty. He has defended Congress’s constitutional authority over war, criticized deficit spending, supported secure borders combined with legal immigration reform, and opposed wholesale disposal of Wyoming’s public lands.
We have reservations. Mead needs to provide much more detail on Ukraine, NATO, China and federal fiscal policy.
But he offers something increasingly scarce in Republican politics: a willingness to tell a president of his own party no.
Four years after Hageman defeated Cheney, Wyoming Republicans have an opportunity to send a different kind of conservative to Washington.
CIVPAC has added four endorsements in the August 18 primaries in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming. We have also updated and reaffirmed our endorsement in today’s Democratic Senate primary in Michigan.
Alex Vindman for the U.S. Senate in Florida
CIVPAC endorses retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary.
Vindman brings national-security expertise, personal courage and a demonstrated commitment to constitutional government. His willingness to report Donald Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine—despite the predictable risk to his military career—provides unusually strong evidence that he would place his constitutional obligations ahead of partisan loyalty.
CIVPAC endorses former Representative David Jolly in Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Jolly offers governing experience, political pragmatism and the ability to appeal to Democrats, independents and former Republicans. Although we disagree with several parts of his platform, he presents a credible alternative to both Florida’s right-wing political establishment and a mirror-image politics of the left.
CIVPAC endorses retired Army Colonel Kevin Christensen in Wyoming’s Republican primary for the state’s open at-large House seat.
Christensen combines military and public-land-management experience with fiscal seriousness, respect for congressional authority and an explicit rejection of MAGA politics. He offers Wyoming voters a traditional conservative alternative to candidates who define Republican loyalty primarily as loyalty to Donald Trump.
CIVPAC endorses former Representative Mary Peltola in Alaska’s nonpartisan Senate primary.
Peltola has demonstrated political independence, bipartisan credibility and a willingness to place Alaska’s economic and regional interests ahead of national Democratic orthodoxy. Her support for Ukraine, responsible energy development and democratic institutions makes her an unusually strong Democratic Senate candidate.
CIVPAC has also updated and reaffirmed its endorsement of Representative Haley Stevens in today’s Michigan Democratic Senate primary.
Mallory McMorrow’s withdrawal leaves voters with a direct choice between Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed. Stevens offers greater federal experience, stronger support for Ukraine, a more responsible position on Israel and better prospects of holding this closely contested seat in November.
These candidates are not identical, and CIVPAC does not agree with any of them on every issue. Each nevertheless offers the strongest available combination of competence, political independence, institutional responsibility and ability to govern beyond a partisan base.
August 16th Wyoming Republican Primary for the U.S. House
It might surprise you that the Centrist Independent Voter is endorsing Liz Cheney. You could not find a more reliably conservative voter in the U.S. House of Representatives than Liz Cheney. She is no centrist. Nevertheless, she deserves to be re-elected to the House because of her devotion to the U.S. Constitution and her willingness to take on Donald Trump and the Trumpists within her party. As a result of her courageous opposition to Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 Election, she lost her leadership position within the Republican Party. She has been vilified for her participation in the January 6th hearings in the House.
Trump has, of course, endorsed Cheney’s opposition. Trump would endorse anyone who ran against Liz Cheney.
Centrists are not going to get an ideologically centrist representative in Wyoming. What Wyoming centrists can get is an honest, courageous representative who respects the truth and the Constitution. If you are eligible to vote in the August 16 Republican primary, please vote for Rep. Liz Cheney.
For all of the Centrist Independent Voter’s endorsements during the 2022 primary season, to date, click here.
