Rex Rammell

Next year, Rex Rammell will ask for your vote to be Wyoming’s next governor. Right now, however, he’s asking you to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I’ve watched the controversy over the vaccines, and I understand people’s hesitation to some degree,” Rammell said in a recent phone interview. “But as people have started to die on a more regular basis, and I hear more and more bad stories, I thought, you know, I got to do something about this, or try.”

The Republican candidate traveled to the Big Horn Basin earlier this month as part of what he’s calling a “get vaccinated” tour. He’s critical of Gov. Mark Gordon’s handling of the vaccine issue.

“I feel like Gov. Gordon has pandered to the anti-vaccination people ... when he should be out in front of this thing. I mean, instead of me running around the state of Wyoming, urging people, exhorting people to get vaccinated, the guy that’s the governor should be doing it,” Rammell said. “I mean, isn’t his responsibility to protect the lives of the people of the state of Wyoming? And instead, he’s making a big deal out of the mandate.” 

Rammell does not support President Joe Biden’s efforts to require American citizens to get the COVID-19 vaccines.

“I believe that, liberty first even if it costs you your life,” he said, but he also feels that politics should be set aside to “try to get people to get vaccinated and save their lives.”

Rammell is a veterinarian by trade, delivering many vaccines to animals and seeing how the inoculations help prevent illnesses and death. When he became eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in February, Rammell said he was quick to sign up — and he thinks the vaccines have saved the lives of millions of people, calling them “a modern miracle” with “some heavenly help in it.”

In a state where only about 40% of the population is vaccinated — and where COVID-19 remains a politically divisive topic — Rammell says some people may not like him and his stance. But he said he doesn’t care.

“I can’t sit by and watch good people die, because nobody has the courage to step forward,” he said. Vaccination, he said, is the first line of defense against a very serious disease, including by helping limit its spread to others.

Rammell also said he doesn’t fully understand the resistance to the vaccines among some Republicans, given that the immunizations were developed under Republican President Donald Trump.

“I mean, Trump’s the one to thank,” Rammell said, “and here they are, thinking that it was a conspiracy to harm them.”

This is not Rammell’s first campaign, with his Wikipedia page labeling him as a “perennial candidate.” Between 2002 and 2012, while living in eastern Idaho, he ran for the state Legislature three times, a U.S. Senate seat and for governor. After moving across the border to Wyoming, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 and for governor in 2018 (that time with the Constitution Party).

He’s also run into various controversies, including an ongoing legal battle over citations the Rock Springs/Pinedale veterinarian received for not having property brand inspections on five horses in 2019.

Rammell has generally focused his campaigns on states taking back lands from the federal government. Under state management, he contends that energy production on public lands would yield enough revenue to potentially eliminate Wyoming’s property taxes. (State studies of the issue, however, have raised questions about whether Wyoming would gain from a takeover.) Rather than negotiating with the federal government or passing legislation, Rammell says taking the lands back simply requires a governor with the guts to stand up and confiscate the keys to federal buildings.

It’s a big idea, Rammell says, and he contends it’s a reason why his past campaigns have been unsuccessful.

“The people have got to be ready for it,” he said — and he thinks today’s political climate has never been better for the issue.

Gordon, a Republican, has not announced whether he’ll run for reelection in 2022.