What happens when the Freedom Caucus takes control?

Politico

21-05-2025

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Up until five years ago, Wyoming House Speaker Chip Neiman was focused on cows and hay — not RINOs.
That changed when neighbors asked the rancher to consider getting involved in Republican precinct politics. He remembers a contentious early meeting with Republicans complaining about 'RINOS.'
'Why are we talking about African animals?' he whispered to someone next to him.
Neiman was a quick study on 'Republicans in name only,' growing irked by GOP legislators whose votes deviated on the party's core issues. That led him to run for the Wyoming House and join the hard right Freedom Caucus, which he sees as following true conservative Republican ideals.
There are plenty of voters in his state who agree: Wyoming now has the only state legislative chamber in the country controlled by the Freedom Caucus.
'This isn't a flash in the pan,' Neiman said during an interview in his office here in the state Capitol. Five years ago, the legislature had eight Freedom Caucus members. That grew over the past two election cycles to 42 out of 62 House members today. Meanwhile, Democrats are an endangered species in Cheyenne, holding just six seats in the chamber.
With a supermajority, the Freedom Caucus in its first legislative session was able to adopt bills that will reshape daily life in Wyoming, from launching a universal school voucher program that directs taxpayer dollars to pay for private, home, and religious education options to eliminating most gun-free zones and approving a substantial property tax reduction. The Freedom Caucus also passed legislation aimed at limiting illegal immigration and transgender rights.
It wasn't all smooth sailing, acknowledges Neiman, pointing to a Senate that doesn't have the same Freedom Caucus power behind it and a sometimes reticent Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, who allowed some bills to become law without his signature.
And Wyoming's conservative lawmakers know it's the next legislative session that will put them to the test. That's when they'll have to wrangle a state budget at the same time the Trump administration is slashing federal funds and roiling the economy with on-again-off-again tariffs.
Neiman says he's not concerned about the challenges, and expects other states will see more Freedom Caucus members joining the legislative ranks.
'I pray for their success, because obviously there are people in those districts that voted those people in and that want to have their voice heard,' said Neiman. 'They have a responsibility.'
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Has it been difficult operating within the system after the Freedom Caucus here and across the country has for so long worked on the sidelines?
There's just a bunch more people in here that have a much more conservative mindset — a more Republican platform mindset — than there have been for a lot of years. A big part of the success of the Freedom Caucus is that a lot more people are becoming involved in the process. There's a lot of folks who are very frustrated with the direction of their legislatures.
States are bracing for how the Trump tariffs and federal cuts will trickle down to them. How is it affecting Wyoming and are there areas in the state that might be disproportionately impacted?
Tariffs have identified a situation where we're relying on other countries to provide resources that we can produce here cheaper. Fuel is one. So the American consumer — me as a farmer, buying my diesel — if I'm going to continue to buy out of that plant in Montana that has a pipeline to Canada, I'm going to be paying for those tariffs. It creates additional costs to all of our operating expenses in that part of the country, which increases the cost of food.
The frustrating part to me is that we have now identified our dependence on outside countries for things that we should be and should have been taken care of here at home. … Why in the world are we allowing another country like China to say, 'I'll send you something?'
Until more products are produced in the U.S., how does Wyoming anticipate dealing with tariffs?
We really haven't seen the effects of the tariffs here so far. Yet we are seeing an exponential increase in mining and exploration. We are seeing a reinvigoration of companies coming in to invest in Wyoming, because we do have coal, we do have oil. We have natural gas, uranium mining up in my part of the country [near Devil's Tower National Monument], it's just exploding. You can't find a drilling rig to drill a water well because they're all out there drilling holes for uranium mining.
As cuts are made at the federal level, what do you say to a family struggling to make ends meet?
Just hang in there. And just know that as things get high, they're going to hit a point where prices will come back down. … I'll tell people that are on lower income abilities that right now there's a massive regrowth of the cow numbers in the United States, which means people are retaining heifers. … We are going to successfully over produce for the market, and we're going to see a drop. And that's just how it works. So patience is a virtue, and it's hard to do when things are tight. We're already seeing the price of oil decline. And what that translates into is the costs of goods and services, and the input costs are going down. So people are going to actually be able to have more money in their pocket.
What about Medicaid cuts?
I don't see there being cutbacks on children, the elderly and infirm. What they are cutting back on is basically able-bodied adults. But Wyoming didn't take federal money (for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act) so it won't be affected.
Has it been difficult to work with GOP lawmakers who aren't in the Freedom Caucus?
Not really. The big push is, how do you work with people that disagree with you — whether they're Republican or Democrat? As the speaker of the House, my job is to try to be able to listen, to try to work through differences that we can and to find common ground. Now, there's other things that I can't find common ground with.
There's this real pushback and almost a resentment for holding Republicans (not just the Freedom Caucus) accountable for their votes, holding people accountable for their Republican stance. … You say you're a Republican. But when you go down to the Legislature and you vote a completely different way, to me, that's a lack of integrity. You're just using the R as a vehicle to get where you want into a position of power.
You started your legislative session hoping to pass a handful of bills related to elections, immigration and education and you succeeded. Did you have to adjust to get them through?
All those passed. One of them, [to restrict] voter identification, just got challenged. Wyoming was the first state in the union to pass U.S. citizenship to vote, and got a shout out from President Trump. I think it was only logical that you should be a Wyoming resident, be a U.S. citizen before you can vote. It was not difficult to get them passed in the House. They were very, very solid on that. The Senate took a little longer, but they got it passed and got it through.
The big thing was waiting for our governor to sign it, which he ultimately did not — so it went into law without his signature. We overrode five vetoes, which was almost unheard of. … Our governor's, I mean, I work with people that are wrong all the time. I get along with him. We try to meet with him at least once a week, he or his people.
State Freedom Caucuses are often criticized for taking their marching orders from the national Freedom Caucus. Did you do that to get bills passed?
Absolutely not. But I don't go out of my way to try to reinvent the wheel. If I see a piece of legislation in another state that makes sense, we'll bring the bones of that here and try to shape it to fit Wyoming statutes.
What do you say to Freedom Caucus members in the 49 other states?
I pray for their success, because obviously there are people in those districts that voted those people in and that want to have their voice heard. They have a responsibility. I don't know if I would call them necessarily the conscience of the Republican Party, but if you're standing on the Republican Party platform of your state, voted on by the grassroots people, then I don't know what better place to stand other than the word of God. … I would encourage them to stay the course and make sure that integrity is the hallmark of your work, and that you listen to the people that elected you, and that you protect our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and know that that's what it's about.