(Casper, WY) – Fourth-generation Wyomingite and business owner Reid Rasner is running for one of Wyoming’s two U.S. Senate seats against incumbent John Barrasso.
Rasner, a Republican, says he is “unapologetically American first.” To him, that means, “We unapologetically put America and Americans first, finally. We are no longer going to be last and shoulder the weight of the world at every turn. This is about America, Americans, and most especially Wyoming and Wyomingites, and making sure we’re taken care of right here at home, finally.”
The Casper resident is a financial advisor serving almost all military members and energy workers. Focusing on his own business, he had no intention of getting involved in politics until a group of military members approached him.
“Last March, a group of them came to me again and said, ‘Reid, we need help. We don’t know what to do.’ They were dishonorably discharged from the military. John Barrasso gave him a form letter back, and he will not help these guys and gals in our military. And they said, ‘Will you please run?’ I talked to my family about it. I filed in July of 2023, and I’ve been campaigning since August 15 of 2023.”
Traveling about 2,000 miles a week and nearing his 180th meet and greet around the state as of Aug. 2.
“This is why I’m doing it,” Rasner said. “I’m doing it for our military members. I’m doing it for our energy workers, and we’re truly doing something great for everybody right here.”
He has several key issues that he plans to take on and stand-up for if elected.
Term limits are something he believes should happen and that there shouldn’t be career politicians.
“We are going to return this to a citizen legislator. So there’s three terms in the House, two terms in the Senate. You go to Washington, D.C., you represent your people, you represent America, and you represent your state, and then you’re going to come back home and run your business or be a farmer or rancher or work with everybody else.”
Rasner believes that the best government is a small government.
“When I say limited government, we have to balance a budget. And in business, when you spend more than you make, there’s only two ways out of that, and that is through layoffs or through increased income. And the government only increases income if they raise taxes. And I’m completely 1,000 percent against raising taxes. So we go through bureaucrat after bureaucrat, and we begin elimination. So we just start with the Department of Education. We can look at the ATF. We look at the IRS. No alphabet agency will be free of the chopping block, and we’re going to begin massive eliminations of these departments and get our spending under control.”
This will lead to a balanced budget, which is another issue he strongly believes in.
“So you can balance the budget, and you can have a surplus in the first year. And like I said, no department, no bureaucracy is off the table. We’re going to look at the IRS and we just send our tax checks straight to the Treasury. But no longer will we have an IRS. That would be 100,000 federal jobs that will enter the free market. And that’s just such a beautiful thing for the free market, when these jobs, when these people come into the private sector and begin filling these positions that our local businesses need so badly filled right now. We can look at a flat tax system, and you get a surplus in year one. When you look at something like that, and you eliminate the IRS and that, in conjunction with eliminating the Department of Education, IRS, or ATF, you reduce spending with a surplus, and you begin becoming an energy exporter, again in this country, clean coal, gas and oil. So drill, baby, drill, and mine, baby, mine, I say. It’s so important that these things all work in conjunction with each other, and we have a United States, and they’re willing to do the work and actually get this job done for Wyoming, but more especially for America.”
Rasner also says he is pro-life and that life begins at conception.
He is also pro-Second Amendment.
“The Second Amendment is very, very clear as written: the Second Amendment shall not be infringed, and it means exactly what it says shall not be infringed. And I’ve been so lucky to tour gun manufacturers across Wyoming. I was just in Cody, and we went to Gun Works. Our Second Amendment shall not be infringed, and we need to truly look at the regulations and the departments who are trying to regulate, not through law, but through bureaucratic regulations that are infringing on our Second Amendment rights. So we really have to look at this and reign this in, and it shall not be infringed. And they didn’t make a mistake when they wrote it out in the Constitution.”
Rasner also shared that he stands up for energy.
“Our energy in America, and especially in Wyoming, must be American-owned. No longer can we allow foreign nations to own our energy or agricultural resources, and this is bipartisan legislation that already is being looked at and needs to be championed. No longer can we allow foreign entities or foreign countries to own our agricultural or energy resources. So, I’m not against nuclear power, but I am against TerraPower because they have foreign ownership in that country. So if they want to keep TerraPower in America, then they have to divest all interests with foreign countries and foreign nationals. Our energy and agricultural resources have to be American-owned in this country, and that’s truly how I feel about it. And it’s very simple legislation that should have already happened decades ago, but we are suffering the consequences of our elections today, and we’re stepping up to get it fixed and get this taken care of.”
Cutting through the red tape of bureaucracy and government can be difficult. He says he is ready to focus on America and Wyoming first legislation.
“I am a businessman and an entrepreneur above all, and I deal with people I don’t like on a daily basis. I negotiate contracts, I negotiate trades, and I do negotiations. And it doesn’t matter which side of the aisle it comes from. The number one thing is it has to be American first, and it has to meet the needs of the Wyoming people above all else, those are the two things that a bill must have and that we must champion. So I’m willing to work with anybody. As long as it’s American-first and Wyoming-first legislation, we’re good to go.”
Rasner said he has been watching the bills closely in Washington.
“I all do my own research and read a lot, and we’re entering a lame duck session. So everyone in Washington right now is trying to submit their bills and get their name on something right now, before we enter this lame duck session ahead of primaries, and I know everything that my opponent is doing, and I know everything that he’s done, and I’m watching very, very carefully, and we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us to undo a lot of the terrible, terrible things he’s done these past 20 years. But I’m fighting hard, and I have an amazing team, and we are ready to go on day one to begin correcting the wrongs that John Barrasso has so willingly given Wyoming and handed Wyoming. He’s always put himself first, and we’re gonna undo this, and we’re gonna get our country back.”
There have also been three debates scheduled in Wyoming that Barrasso has declined, according to Rasner. Two of which he paid for and a third organized and paid for by Wyoming PBS.
“He’s stonewalling and trying to manipulate this election,” he said of Barrasso. “So we need a debate, and John needs to answer the questions that the voters have, and we need to get this out in the open and clear this up quickly.”
More information about Reid Rasner can be found online here. To learn more about his opponent John Barrasso, click here.
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