Republican Harriet Hageman, currently Wyoming’s lone U.S. House representative, will face Democrat James Byrd in the November general election after each won their party’s nomination in Tuesday’s primary, according to preliminary results. The Associated Press called the Republican primary for Hageman at 8:52 p.m. with 26% of the votes counted and with Sam Mead as runner-up.   In the Democratic tilt, the AP called the race for James Byrd with 27% of votes counted. Hageman said in a statement that she is “grateful to the people of our great state for entrusting me with the responsibility of promoting and defending our ideals in Congress at this moment in history,” describing it as a “struggle for the existence of the United States of America as we know them, with patriots on one side and a rising tide of Marxists on the other.”  She emphasized keeping taxes low, ensuring that “property rights mean something,” producing domestic energy “by responsibly accessing our natural resources” and enforcing immigration laws.   “In short, we are a nation of laws and accountability, and we must make sure we continue to act like one,” Hageman concluded. “And we must aggressively defend freedom and capitalism, or we will descend into the dreary, soul-sapping, certain failure of communism.”  Hageman thanked President Donald Trump for his endorsement, as well as Wyoming’s current U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis.  A Western equestrian votes with his spurs on at a polling station in Jackson on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) Voters elected Hageman to Congress in 2022 and again in 2024. Endorsed by Trump, she ran a $2 million MAGA campaign eight times larger than Mead’s. Mead, the nephew and great-grandson of two former Wyoming governors, campaigned under the banner of protecting public lands. That struck a contrast with his opponent who signed onto a Utah lawsuit that claimed the U.S. government’s ownership of land in Wyoming amounted to a justification for war. “I knew this was going to be a pretty big challenge,” Mead said Tuesday evening. “I wanted to make huge improvements to the state and country.  To not have an opportunity to do that is disappointing.” Mead said he is still seeking ways to help the state and will offer his services when needed. Meantime, he said, he will “get some tractor time in.” Sam Mead gives a thumbs up to an election official after casting his ballot in the Primary Election in Teton County. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) In a July survey of likely GOP voters, taxes and government spending were listed by 14% of respondents as their top issue. Illegal immigration was the next most important subject, listed by 13%, jobs and the economy by 11% and public lands by 11%. Hageman and Mead faced three other Republican opponents.  Jimmy Skovgard, married, and the father of four, began his career as a data analyst and retired from his oil field business cleaning drilling sites and spills.  Jill Edwards, a Laramie resident, is a self-described “Wyoming mom who works multiple jobs … busy putting food on my children’s tables.”  John Allan Holtz, is a Laramie resident and former Douglas circuit court judge with a military, law and technical engineering background. In the Democratic primary, Byrd, a former state representative who served from 2009-2019, also rode the public lands bandwagon, criticizing Hageman, now his opponent in the November election, for what he characterized as an anti-conservation position. “I’d like to see better numbers but I will take the win,” Byrd said Tuesday evening. “We’ll take a look at what worked and what didn’t. What worked — we will apply that on steroids.” Byrd looks forward to running against Hageman on the issue of public lands, he said. “For everybody in Wyoming, that should be the issue we decide this seat on.” Billy Benavidez, a greenskeeper from Sheridan and the father of two, had to contend with the fact he is on probation. He was put on a year’s unsupervised probation on Aug. 20, 2025, for a breach-of-peace conviction, court records show. This is a breaking news story and may be updated. The post Republican Hageman will face Democrat Byrd after landslide victories in Wyoming’s US Senate primary appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less