Filing ends: Jolley unopposed for Commission

When seats on the Big Horn County Commission come up, they are typically among the top targets of office seekers.  But that certainly wasn’t the case this year.
No other candidates joined the race to challenge Republican incumbent Bruce Jolley of Lovell prior to Friday afternoon’s filing deadline.
Jolley will run unopposed in the August primary election and perhaps again in November, since no Democrat filed for the expiring seat.   Unless a write-in emerges, he’ll have clear a path to re-election.
Deb Craft and Dave Neves currently hold the other two seats on the commission.
State Legislature
Four seats in the state legislature that include parts of Big Horn County are expiring this year and Republicans currently hold all four.
In the north, Dalton Banks represents House District 26.  No challengers, either from inside his own party or from the Democrat side, stepped up to challenge him. Barring a write-in candidacy, he’ll run unopposed for second term.
In the south, all three Republican incumbents — Sen. Ed Cooper of Ten Sleep, and Reps. John Winter of Thermopolis and Martha Lawley of Worland— face the prospect of a primary challenge.
Tami Young of Worland is challenging Lawley in House District 27.
Kevin Skates of Thermopolis is challenging Winter in House District 28.
Tom Olmstead of Basin is challenging Cooper in Senate District 20.
Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Harriet Hageman do not have a clear path to re-election, as both face tests in the August primary from candidates within their own party and then again in the November general from the top Democrats.
John Holtz of Laramie and Reid Rasner of Mills are challenging Barrasso, of Casper, for the Republican nomination.   Scott Morrow of Laramie was the only Democrat who filed for the seat.
Meanwhile, Hageman, of Cheyenne, will square off against Steven Helling of Casper for the Republican nomionation.  Kyle Cameron of Cheyenne was the only Democrat who filed for the seat.