Matt Legler

Matt Legler has a long record of public service — serving in and with the Navy for decades and working with Congress and the White House. But it was only recently that he decided to run for the Wyoming Legislature. 

“... three months ago, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy,’” Legler laughed, but he opted to jump into the race for House District 25 after being approached by outgoing Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell.

Legler is set to face Powell Mayor John Wetzel in August’s primary election, along with any other Powell area Republicans who join the race between now and late May.

Legler said he has a passion for the issues facing the Legislature and the broader debate over whether more control should be given to the government or kept with the people.

“Obviously, I’m more on the ‘keep absolute control with the people,’” he said. “You got to fight the moves towards more communism-, socialism-type constructs.”

As a conservative, Legler said his aim would be to keep budgets as small as possible to decrease the burden on taxpayers. He said the Legislature “tried to do a pretty good job” of curbing the property taxes that rose alongside home values in recent years.

“I wish they would have done even more,” Legler said, “but, you know, whenever you’re in a body where it takes consensus, you do what you can do.”

Background

Legler, who is 47, was born in Cody and grew up in Powell. 

He obtained his associate’s degree in science and engineering from Northwest College before getting a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Wyoming. From there, he entered the U.S. Navy and obtained a master’s in engineering science from the Naval Postgraduate School. 

During his time in the Washington Navy Yard, he was a part of the team that got the nuclear reactor plant design for the Gerald R. Ford Class of aircraft carriers through a review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Legler retired from his military post after 20 years and then joined the Navy’s civil service. He and his family moved back to Powell in 2020 after his military retirement, where he continued
working for the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), mostly remotely. He rose to become NAVSEA’s chief information security officer, overseeing the IT infrastructure cybersecurity for some 85,000 personnel spread across shipyards and warfare centers plus NAVSEA-owned shipboard systems.

Legler exited that role in early 2024 and has since worked as a Navy contractor.

“I’ve always been a public servant,” he said, “and I’ve taken the job very seriously.”

Relevant experience

During his time in D.C., Legler said he wrote a lot of Department of War policy and had many interactions with Congressional and White House officials, “so I’m not a newbie to politics or legislation.”

Legler is also quite familiar with nuclear power — a subject that’s become more significant in Wyoming as TerraPower begins building an advanced nuclear power plant outside of Kemmerer.

“I’m a big proponent of nuclear, but it’s got to be done right,” Legler said.

Some of his concerns about TerraPower’s pioneering sodium- and water-based design can be alleviated with proactive maintenance, he said, “but I do think the state needs to intervene earlier with some of these projects.”

Legler said that includes monitoring the power- and potentially water-hungry data centers popping up in Wyoming. The centers create relatively few jobs once they’re completed “but yet someone’s still making a lot of profit off of it,” he said.

“I think sometimes we get too wrapped around the axle to incentivize, to attract the activity, and sometimes not enough … in making sure that we’re actually in a good posture as a state to make money on the back end,” Legler said.

As someone who worked a remote, high-tech job from Powell, Legler said he worked with Northwest College to try helping locals land those kinds of positions. He said those kinds of efforts are “critically important” — particularly for keeping young Wyomingites in the state who are interested in tech.

Legler said he believes there are valid concerns about the Wyoming Business Council, but “I think at the state level, you do need to look at ways of attracting jobs that are higher paying.” He added that there are many ways to incentivize companies.

Not in the Freedom Caucus

Legler is vying to replace freshman Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, who is, in turn, seeking to replace Laursen in the Senate. 

Hoeft is a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, and Legler said he supports the caucus’s general aims. However, Legler said he isn’t planning to join the group. For one thing, “I absolutely want the freedom to decide issues myself,” he said.

Additionally, the Freedom Caucus has recently seemed “to want to use the ‘stick’ approach a lot” whereas, “I’m very much so a ‘carrot’ person — like, let’s incentivize people to do the right thing, and we probably won’t be disappointed,” he said.

As an example, Legler said he didn’t support a budget amendment brought by Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, that sought to remove funding for courtroom security upgrades. Rodriguez-Williams’ amendment came after the Supreme Court struck down a pair of laws that prohibited abortions; she said if the state government exists to protect life, “then that principle must apply consistently, not selectively.”

Legler said he thought the proposal was “entertaining,” but asked, “are we really going to take away the security from the courts? Come on.”

“[I’m] absolutely conservative, support conservative values,” he said, “but I’m there to actually make meaningful change happen, not make a point that’s going nowhere.”

That said, Legler does believe there’s a need for more checks and balances on the judicial system.

While the Wyoming Supreme Court should be able to strike down legislation, he doesn’t believe a lower district court judge should hold that power. He specifically mentioned Teton County, where District Court Judge Melissa Owens struck down multiple abortion restrictions.

Legler would also like to see Supreme Court justices subject to confirmation by the state Senate.

The Republican primary election is Aug. 18.