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CHEYENNE — Casper-based businessman Reid Rasner has officially announced his candidacy for Wyoming’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the second entrant into the race …
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CHEYENNE — Casper-based businessman Reid Rasner has officially announced his candidacy for Wyoming’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the second entrant into the race following Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s announcement at the end of 2025.
Rasner, a conservative Republican who previously unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Sen. John Barrasso in 2024 in the Senate primaries, is entering the race with a personal commitment of $1 million to his campaign to spread his self-described “America First” platform to voters across the state.
According to a news release, Rasner is a fourth-generation Wyomingite who hopes to dismantle the status quo in Washington, D.C. He stated he hopes to work alongside President Donald Trump to “codify every piece of his agenda into law.”
“I am a proud and unapologetic America First conservative who will work with President Trump to deport criminal illegals, get fentanyl out of our communities, stop Democrat extremists and protect what makes Wyoming great,” Rasner wrote.
A staunch conservative
According to his website, Rasner’s policy goals focus heavily on economic independence, border security and traditional conservative values.
A central pillar of Rasner’s platform is domestic energy dominance. He advocates for Wyoming’s fossil fuel energy industry, specifically supporting Trump’s “Drill, Baby, Drill” policies for oil and gas, revitalizing the coal industry and investing in uranium mining in Wyoming. His vision for the state also includes transforming Wyoming into a national hub for financial technology, using the state’s business- friendly laws and lower taxes to attract global companies.
Rasner’s website outlines several other political views. This includes advocating for term limits to ensure citizen legislators over lifelong politicians, cutting federal government spending he sees as wasteful and defending the right to bear arms, including firearm safety education in schools.
He also maintains that life begins at conception. His social media post criticized Tuesday’s Wyoming Supreme Court decision upholding the legality of abortion in Wyoming.
2026 election and implications
Rasner’s entry into the 2026 race comes at a time of significant transition for Wyoming’s federal delegation. The landscape shifted in December when U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., announced that she would not seek a second six-year term.
This prompted current U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., to announce her intent to launch a bid for the Senate, a move that quickly garnered an endorsement from Trump.
The vacancy in the House has already attracted other high-profile contenders. Secretary of State Gray announced his bid for the seat on Dec. 29, running as a “MAGA conservative.”
In his 2024 GOP bid for U.S. Senate, Rasner earned around 25,000 votes, or about 24%.
TikTok bid and defamation lawsuit
Rasner’s announcement follows a turbulent year in the headlines, defined by a high stakes business bid and an ongoing legal battle. In early 2025, Rasner garnered international attention for a reported $47.45 billion bid to purchase TikTok after the platform was ordered to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Rasner proposed moving the social media giant’s headquarters and data centers to Wyoming or South Dakota.
However, by July, Rasner announced a “pause” on the acquisition, citing Chinese foreign policy and TikTok parent company ByteDance’s refusal to include the app’s core algorithm in the sale. Later, Rasner also cited comments made online that he said harmed his business reputation, ultimately leading to the failure of the deal.
This has resulted in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against former Wyoming State Sen. Anthony Bouchard. The lawsuit, filed in July, stems from social media posts in which Bouchard alleged that Rasner had a record of sexual misconduct while teaching at Casper College.
Rasner has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them a “malicious lie.”
In late 2025, an affidavit from Casper College President Brandon Kosine revealed that an exhaustive search found no reports of sexual misconduct or investigations involving Rasner at the school.
