R.J. Kost

The Republican primary for Senate District 19 featured a pair of Powell candidates, but it wound up being the voters in Big Horn County who decided the race.

Although Powell area Republicans preferred state Rep. Paul Hoeft for the seat, voters across Byron, Deaver, Frannie, Lovell, Greybull and Shell overwhelmingly backed former Sen. R. J. Kost and carried him to victory on Tuesday.

According to unofficial results, Kost received 2,752 votes (53.3%) while Hoeft received 2,395 (46.4%).

In a Wednesday text message, Kost said he’s “deeply honored” by voters’ support and he expressed gratitude.

“Holding your confidence is a responsibility I take to heart, and I promise to work tirelessly for the people of Big Horn and Park counties,” Kost wrote. “I am anxious to get straight to work.”

He currently faces no opponent in November’s general election.

A split decision

Kost served the district from 2019 to 2022, before being bested by current state Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell. Laursen decided to exit the Legislature at the end of this term and recruited Hoeft to replace him.

The Park County Republican Party also backed Hoeft and he picked up 1,513 votes (56.1%) in the county to Kost’s 1,180 (43.7%).

However, Kost had a dominant showing in his native Big Horn County — collecting 1,572 votes (63.9%) to Hoeft’s 882 (35.8%).

“I think my biggest challenge was [not] being able to spend enough time over in Big Horn County, just get in there and get folks together,” Hoeft said in a Wednesday interview, adding that in a multi-county district, “If you have a full-time job, it makes it tough.”

The freshman representative is a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which suffered steep losses in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

On the campaign trail, Kost said voters brought up public lands, economic development and keeping young people in the state. 

“There was no one thing that came out more than anything else but there was a lot of talk about the Freedom Caucus’ last session’s work,” Kost said.

When he announced his run in late February, Kost mentioned that he disagreed with a $40 million budget cut that the caucus proposed for the University of Wyoming and its proposal to eliminate the Wyoming Business Council, among other things. Kost said then that he generally wanted to “bring back some normalcy to the Legislature and our governance.”

Hoeft said Wednesday that he believes a lot of the criticisms of the caucus have been unfair.

“I don’t think really people fully understand that it was just part of a conservative movement,” he said, “and there wasn’t enough time spent really [saying], ‘Let’s see what these guys are about.’”

Mailers and texts

Hoeft also noted “the volume of political stuff that came in the mail — much of it neither my opponent or myself had anything to do with” and said some of the material was “just flat untrue.”

Hoeft was attacked by outside political action committees like the PAC for a Better Wyoming and Protect Wyoming, while committees like the Freedom Caucus’ WY Freedom PAC, the Virginia-based Make Liberty Win and the Wisconsin-based Defeating Communism PAC supported Hoeft and/or attacked Kost. Make Liberty Win reported spending $11,860 on anti-Kost mailers — including one featuring a digitally altered image that depicted him as a robber — and another $2,900 on door-to-door canvassers for Hoeft.

“As more flyers, texts and phone calls started coming in, there were a lot of people upset and frustrated about those,” Kost said.

Speaking for himself and his wife, Kost said that, “It is our hope that people know we had nothing to do with those and there was no way to stop any of that.”

By law, outside PACs are barred from coordinating with candidates. In an ideal world, however, Hoeft said he believes materials from outside groups should “get run by us [candidates] first rather than just putting something out.”

As for the candidates themselves, Kost reported spending roughly $33,000 and Hoeft around $12,100.

Kost said he’s enjoyed listening to and learning from residents over the past months.

“In our busy daily lives, having the chance to meet so many neighbors and have meaningful conversations is rare,” he wrote. “These moments opened the door to new perspectives, and I am honored and humbled by all the interactions I had throughout this campaign.”

Kost said he doesn’t take voters’ trust lightly.