Politics

Harriet Hageman Enters Open Wyoming Senate Race

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Republican Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman declared her candidacy for Wyoming’s 2026 Senate race Tuesday morning.

Hageman, who previously worked as an attorney before ousting former Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney in a 2022 GOP primary, is seen as the frontrunner for the open seat vacated by retiring Republican Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis. The Senate hopeful is a close ally of President Donald Trump and expected to fully support his policy agenda if elected to the upper chamber during next year’s midterm elections.

Hageman, 63, wasted little time launching her Senate campaign following Lummis’ retirement announcement Friday evening. Fox News Digital first reported Hageman’s entry into the open Senate race.

“I dedicate every day to defending and maintaining our way of life,” Hageman says in a campaign announcement video, referring to Wyoming’s role in domestic energy production. “We must keep up this fight and that’s why today I’m announcing my campaign for United States Senate.”

Trump and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Tim Scott, who leads Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, endorsed Hageman’s campaign later on Tuesday, hours after her entry into the race.

“I know Harriet well, and she is a TOTAL WINNER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Harriet Hageman has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be your next Senator — SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

Trump carried Wyoming by more than 45 points in 2024, making the state’s primary contest tantamount to election. Hageman is the only well-known Republican to enter the race so far.

Lummis, 71,  announced her decision to not seek a second term after the upper chamber concluded its work for the year. The single-term senator, who was heavily involved in cryptocurrency and energy policy, cited the Senate’s recent heavy workload as her “change of heart” for stepping down.

“I’ve come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” Lummis said in a statement. “I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon. The energy required doesn’t match up.”

Hageman, with an endorsement from Trump, defeated Cheney by 37 percentage points in a high-profile GOP primary in 2022 for the state’s at-large congressional seat. Cheney was seeking a fourth term after notably voting to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and serving on the Democratic-led United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

Hageman serves on the influential House Judiciary and Natural Resources Committees. She also serves in leadership roles in the conservative Republican Study Committee, the Coal Caucus and the Western Caucus. Hageman is also notably the fourth consecutive woman to represent Wyoming’s sole House seat since 1995, following former Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin, Lummis and Cheney.

The Wyoming congresswoman becomes the 25th House Republican not seeking another term in 2026 — the highest departure rate in more than a decade.

Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Mark Green of Tennessee chose to resign from the House rather than run for reelection.