{"id":143320,"date":"2026-08-18T23:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/democrats-pick-their-fighter-for-uphill-bid-to-flip-deep-red-senate-seat-143320"},"modified":"2026-08-18T23:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:07:50","slug":"democrats-pick-their-fighter-for-uphill-bid-to-flip-deep-red-senate-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/democrats-pick-their-fighter-for-uphill-bid-to-flip-deep-red-senate-seat-143320","title":{"rendered":"Democrats pick their fighter for uphill bid to flip deep-red Senate seat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Former state representative James Byrd advanced Tuesday against former golf club greenskeeper Billy Benavidez in Wyoming\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/us\/democratic-party\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Democratic primary race<\/a> for the newly opened Senate seat.<\/p>\n<p>Incumbent Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced in December that she would not seek re-election, saying she did not have the energy for another six-year term and creating an open Senate seat in deep-red Wyoming.<\/p>\n<p>Byrd was an exploration geophysicist in the energy industry then later became an IT project manager and software consultant.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/wyoming-official-faces-backlash-posting-hang-bad-judges-comment-abortion-ruling\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>WYOMING OFFICIAL FACES BACKLASH AFTER POSTING &#8216;HANG BAD JUDGES&#8217; COMMENT ON ABORTION RULING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for a decade, beginning in 2009, and has touted his bipartisan approach to lawmaking in a majority Republican legislature.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate seat has been held by Republicans since 1962. Joseph O\u2019Mahoney was the last Democrat elected to the seat, winning in 1954, while Democrat John J. Hickey was appointed to the seat in 1961 and served until November 1962.<\/p>\n<p>The moderate Democratic candidate ran a Wyoming-first campaign <span class=\"suggestion-underline suggestion-copy-editor\">running on<\/span> protecting public lands, supporting energy jobs and lowering rural healthcare costs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/son-republican-megadonor-throws-hat-ring-open-at-large-house-seat-wyoming\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>SON OF REPUBLICAN MEGADONOR THROWS HAT IN THE RING FOR OPEN AT-LARGE HOUSE SEAT IN WYOMING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>His opponent, Benavidez, ran as a more libertarian-leaning Democrat, <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/elections\/campaigning\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">campaigning<\/a> on individual liberty, opposition to government surveillance, free-market policies, congressional term limits, and reducing the power of the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>Byrd has criticized President <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/person\/donald-trump\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump<\/a> over tariffs, arguing they have hurt Wyoming beef and agricultural products by reducing access to foreign markets.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-bet-tariffs-would-bring-back-american-factory-jobs-new-report-says-didnt-work\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TRUMP BET TARIFFS WOULD BRING BACK AMERICAN FACTORY JOBS. NEW REPORT SAYS IT DIDN&#8217;T WORK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On immigration, Byrd has taken a more moderate stance than many Democrats, supporting stronger <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/topic\/border-wall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">border security<\/a> and enforcement while opposing family separation and backing broader immigration reform and expanded legal pathways for workers.<\/p>\n<p>Byrd has also backed <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/opinion\/four-ways-harden-americas-power-grid-global-enemies-strike\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">expanding data centers in Wyoming<\/a>, arguing they could diversify the state\u2019s economy, create jobs and take advantage of Wyoming\u2019s abundant energy resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/democrats-pick-fighter-uphill-bid-flip-deep-red-senate-seat\">Source &#8211; https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/democrats-pick-fighter-uphill-bid-flip-deep-red-senate-seat <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former state representative James Byrd advanced Tuesday against former golf club greenskeeper Billy Benavidez in Wyoming\u2019s Democratic primary race for the newly opened Senate seat. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-143320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democrats pick their fighter for uphill bid to flip deep-red Senate seat - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/democrats-pick-their-fighter-for-uphill-bid-to-flip-deep-red-senate-seat-143320\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats pick their fighter for uphill bid to flip deep-red Senate seat - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former state representative James Byrd advanced Tuesday against former golf club greenskeeper Billy Benavidez in Wyoming\u2019s Democratic primary race for the newly opened Senate seat. 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