David Hill

David Hill is making another run for the Wyoming Legislature.

The Cody attorney announced late last month that he will again seek to represent House District 50 — an area that includes portions of Cody, Ralston, Heart Mountain and Clark.

“Over the past several weeks, I’ve heard from people across Park County who want to see steady, effective leadership that reflects our values and keeps the focus on getting things done,” Hill said in his April 24 announcement. “That’s what led me to step forward and run.”

Hill previously ran for the seat in 2024, facing off with Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams in that year’s Republican primary election. Williams won that contentious contest with 62% of the vote, but she’s now exiting the Legislature and running for secretary of state.

Hill said he focused on Williams’ voting record during his 2024 campaign, but this time around, his goal is “to focus on the issues and how we can work for the people in House District 50.” If and when another candidate joins the primary race, Hill said he intends to make it about “what do we offer, not, who is the other person.”

The winner of August’s Republican primary will face off with Libertarian candidate Carrie Satterwhite of Ralston in November’s general election.

Background and goals

Hill has past experience working with the U.S. Attorney’s offices in Wyoming and Washington, D.C., plus the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is now in private practice with the firm Burg Simpson and has spent five years as a drug court judge. Out in the community, Hill is the current president of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce and has served on the boards of the Park County Leadership Institute, Park County Sheriff’s Office Charitable Foundation, Bright Futures Mentoring, the Northwest College Foundation and Little Explorers Preschool.

Hill said he would not be heading to the Legislature to grind an ax, but because he cares about Wyoming’s future and wants his children to stay here.

“... I want to work and read every bill, and I want to work with the entire Legislature, and I want to work hard,” Hill said, “and then my goal is to make the people and House District 50 proud.”

More local control

He said he doesn’t think he would join the more moderate Wyoming Caucus or the more conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus within the House.

“I think that the Freedom Caucus has some good ideas and I think other groups have good ideas — and I think … both the moderate group and the Freedom Caucus group have bad ideas,” he said, “and my goal would be to work with … any of them to make sure that the good ideas are pushed forward and the bad ideas are buried in the backyard or improved, so that we can get them to where they need to be.”

Hill described the main focus of his campaign as being limited government and local control. He said too many decisions are being centralized in Cheyenne and “I think the Legislature needs to relinquish some of its control.”

Hill specifically said that, when it comes to issues of planning and zoning, budgets and spending, counties and cities should have more control of how they operate.

“I want to be able to have a personal relationship with the person who's making financial decisions for my community,” he said, “and I don’t want to have to worry about the people in Gillette or Casper or Evanston or Cheyenne telling Cody and telling Park County, ‘This is what you have to do, and this is how you have to do it.’”

He’s currently in the process of updating his campaign website, hill4wyo.com, with more information on his positions.

The filing period for Republican and Democratic candidates runs from May 14-29, with the primary election on Aug. 18 and general election on Nov. 3.