WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.359 Welcome. Welcome, everyone. It is great to have 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:04.639 you with us today. Really great to be here. Whether 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:07.980 you are prepping for a big meeting, maybe catching 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.980 up on some history, or you're just insanely curious 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.339 about how the wheels of government actually turn, 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:17.640 you are exactly in the right place. Absolutely. 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:20.320 Today, we are taking a deep dive into a topic 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.980 that, well, it might seem a little niche at first 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:25.280 glance. It might, yeah. But I promise you, it 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.940 is packed with some incredible stories. Today's 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:30.199 single source is a Wikipedia article titled, 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:33.500 List of United States Senators from Wyoming. 00:00:34.009 --> 00:00:36.770 And that is exactly the kind of deep dive I love, 00:00:36.929 --> 00:00:39.250 because when we examine the historical ledger 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:42.189 of a state's congressional delegation, we aren't 00:00:42.189 --> 00:00:44.450 just looking at, you know, a list of names and 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:46.409 dates. Right. It's not just a spreadsheet. No, 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:48.649 not at all. We are essentially reading a living 00:00:48.649 --> 00:00:50.649 record about state's history. I mean, Wyoming 00:00:50.649 --> 00:00:54.090 has been a state for. well over 130 years. That's 00:00:54.090 --> 00:00:56.530 a long time. It is. And in all that time, across 00:00:56.530 --> 00:00:58.950 all those decades and shifting political eras, 00:00:59.049 --> 00:01:01.990 only 21 individuals have ever served as a United 00:01:01.990 --> 00:01:04.469 States senator from the state. Just 21. Yeah, 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:07.189 just 21. And by looking closely at the timelines 00:01:07.189 --> 00:01:09.629 of those 21 people, we can learn a tremendous 00:01:09.629 --> 00:01:12.489 amount about how political power is built, how 00:01:12.489 --> 00:01:15.129 it gets interrupted by unforeseen events, and 00:01:15.129 --> 00:01:18.430 how it's strategically transferred from one generation 00:01:18.430 --> 00:01:21.170 to the next. Okay, let's unpack this. Because 00:01:21.170 --> 00:01:23.299 if you... just glance at the raw data, you see 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:26.239 columns of dates and political affiliation. Right. 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:30.099 But our mission today is to look past those dry 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:33.799 tables. We want to uncover the fascinating human 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:36.400 drama hiding inside that timeline. There's a 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.459 lot of it. We're talking about raw ambition, 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:41.879 completely unpredictable tragedies, brilliant 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.519 political maneuvers, and even a few multi -generational 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:47.159 political dynasties. Quite the mix. 21 people 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:50.099 over more than a century. That is a highly exclusive 00:01:50.099 --> 00:01:52.659 club. It really is. And the drama of this particular 00:01:52.659 --> 00:01:55.420 club starts literally on the very first day of 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:58.400 statehood. Or, well. Or a bit after. Right. It 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.379 starts a few months after day one, to be precise. 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:02.620 Yes. I was looking at the timeline of the early 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:05.599 days, and there is this bizarre historical quirk 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:07.680 right at the top. Oh, the gap. Yeah, the gap. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:10.340 So Wyoming officially became a state on July 00:02:10.340 --> 00:02:13.360 10th, 1890. They are admitted to the Union. There 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:16.180 are celebrations. It is a huge milestone for 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:18.990 them. A massive deal. But they didn't. actually 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:21.909 elect their senators for whole months, four whole 00:02:21.909 --> 00:02:24.610 months. The seats were just marked vacant from 00:02:24.610 --> 00:02:28.710 July to November of 1890. It's like showing up 00:02:28.710 --> 00:02:31.050 to a party but refusing to come inside for hours. 00:02:31.270 --> 00:02:34.409 What exactly was going on there? It is a striking 00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:37.110 detail of early American statehood. You have 00:02:37.110 --> 00:02:39.650 to remember that in 1890, the logistics of standing 00:02:39.650 --> 00:02:42.169 up a brand new state government were just immense. 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:44.409 I can imagine. They had to transition from a 00:02:44.409 --> 00:02:47.090 territorial legislature to a state legislature. 00:02:47.819 --> 00:02:50.139 organize the new political apparatus, and then 00:02:50.139 --> 00:02:52.080 actually hold the votes. And people didn't vote 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.439 for senators back then. Exactly. Until 1913, 00:02:54.659 --> 00:02:56.639 U .S. senators were not elected by the general 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:58.780 public. They were chosen by the state legislature. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:02.120 Wow. Okay. So that four -month gap was essentially 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:05.180 the time it took for the newly minted state of 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:07.860 Wyoming to get its administrative house in order, 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.539 convene its newly elected state lawmakers, and 00:03:11.539 --> 00:03:13.439 hash out who they were going to send to Washington. 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:16.080 That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So once they 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:17.860 finally got their act together in November of 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:21.560 1890, they sent two men to Washington. Joseph 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:23.780 M. Carey took what is called the Class II seat, 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:27.120 and a man named Francis E. Warren took the Class 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:29.560 I seat. Right. Actually, before we get into Warren, 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:32.439 because his story is wild, can you clarify what 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:34.960 these different classes mean? Why are they split 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.199 into Class I and Class II? It is a crucial piece 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:40.120 of the puzzle for understanding how the Senate 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:43.340 works. The framers of the Constitution didn't 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:45.639 want the entire Senate turned over in a single 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:48.000 election year. That would be chaotic. Total chaos. 00:03:48.099 --> 00:03:50.879 They wanted stability. So they divided all Senate 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.360 seats into three classes. Every two years, only 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.680 one class, which is roughly one third of the 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.180 Senate, is up for reelection. OK. When a brand 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:00.439 new state like Wyoming joins the union, their 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:02.900 first two senators are randomly assigned to two 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:05.060 different classes. So random. Yes, to ensure 00:04:05.060 --> 00:04:07.419 that their term. will always be staggered moving 00:04:07.419 --> 00:04:10.039 forward. That way, the state will never have 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:12.500 both of its Senate seats up for regular election 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:15.860 at the exact same time. Got it. So Kerry gets 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:18.180 the class two seat and Warren gets the class 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:21.019 one seat. And Francis E. Warren is a name that 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:23.259 just dominates this entire historical timeline. 00:04:23.769 --> 00:04:26.689 Without a doubt. What's fascinating here is if 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:29.290 you trace Warren's electoral history, it is a 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:31.730 total roller coaster right out of the gate. Yeah. 00:04:31.829 --> 00:04:35.269 He is elected in 1890. But because of that staggered 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:37.470 class system we just talked about, his initial 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:40.870 term is incredibly short. He serves until March 00:04:40.870 --> 00:04:44.110 of 1893, and then he actually loses his reelection 00:04:44.110 --> 00:04:46.589 bid in the state legislature. So he is just out. 00:04:46.990 --> 00:04:49.310 He's out. And from what the timeline shows, his 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:51.949 seat just sits empty after he loses. Yes, his 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:54.350 seat sits vacant for another two years. Two years. 00:04:54.550 --> 00:04:56.550 Which is another incredible quirk of this era. 00:04:56.689 --> 00:04:59.129 The state legislature literally could not agree 00:04:59.129 --> 00:05:01.329 on a candidate to replace him, so they just left 00:05:01.329 --> 00:05:04.509 the seat empty. That is wild. But Warren does 00:05:04.509 --> 00:05:06.350 not let that be the end of his political career. 00:05:06.610 --> 00:05:09.170 He waits out the deadlock. He comes back two 00:05:09.170 --> 00:05:12.430 years later in 1895, and this time he manages 00:05:12.430 --> 00:05:14.930 to win the other Senate seat, the Class II seat. 00:05:15.050 --> 00:05:17.790 He switches seats? And once he gets that second 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:20.389 chance in Washington, he absolutely refuses to 00:05:20.389 --> 00:05:22.709 let go. He really does not. From the moment he 00:05:22.709 --> 00:05:25.829 reenters the Senate on March 4th, 1895, he stays 00:05:25.829 --> 00:05:28.709 there until his death on November 24th, 1929. 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:32.449 Incredible. He wins reelection in 1899, 1905, 00:05:32.689 --> 00:05:35.649 1911, and then continues winning even after the 00:05:35.649 --> 00:05:38.269 rules change in 1913 and the public starts voting 00:05:38.269 --> 00:05:40.790 directly. Oh, right. The 17th Amendment. Exactly. 00:05:41.069 --> 00:05:44.529 He wins popular elections in 1918, 1924, and 00:05:44.529 --> 00:05:48.000 1928. He is the longest serving senator in Wyoming's 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.240 history, spanning nearly four decades of early 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.300 statehood. Just think about the sheer endurance 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:54.720 required for that kind of run. I mean, to you 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.240 listening right now, imagine holding on to a 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:00.139 singular high pressure leadership role for that 00:06:00.139 --> 00:06:02.600 long. It's exhausting just to think about. Right. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:05.920 Warren starts in the rugged early days of 1890s 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.100 statehood. He serves through the turn of the 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:10.660 20th century. He is there for the entirety of 00:06:10.660 --> 00:06:12.800 World War I. He navigates the booming economy 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.899 of the Roaring Twenties. And he stays in office 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:17.899 right up to the edge of the Great Depression 00:06:17.899 --> 00:06:21.439 in late 1929. The world completely changed around 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:24.019 him. The entire world. The horse and buggy gave 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:26.439 way to the automobile. The nation became a global 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:28.980 superpower. And yet his name remained a constant 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:31.519 on the ballot. It is a level of political survival 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:34.879 that is hard to fathom today. He outlasted shifting 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:37.339 demographics, changing political tides and an 00:06:37.339 --> 00:06:40.019 entirely new century. He became a fixture of 00:06:40.019 --> 00:06:42.620 the federal government. But while Warren's story 00:06:42.620 --> 00:06:45.019 is one of incredible longevity, the historical 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:47.399 record also shows us the complete opposite end 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:50.019 of the spectrum. It shows us the extreme fragility 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:52.100 of the office. That is a really great point, 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:54.579 because for every Iron Man who serves for 40 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:56.920 years. There are these stark reminders of how 00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:59.379 unpredictable these Senate seats actually were. 00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:02.779 If you track the dates in office, you see a surprisingly 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:05.160 high number of senators who simply died while 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.720 serving. It completely disrupts the timeline. 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:10.490 The historical narrative is punctuated by these 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:13.310 sudden, permanent interruptions. And every time 00:07:13.310 --> 00:07:16.689 it happens, it sends a massive shockwave through 00:07:16.689 --> 00:07:18.970 the state's political ecosystem. We just mentioned 00:07:18.970 --> 00:07:21.269 Francis E. Warren, who died in office in 1929. 00:07:21.670 --> 00:07:23.930 But you keep reading down the list and it happens 00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:26.449 again and again. It does. Just a few years later, 00:07:26.550 --> 00:07:30.470 in 1933, Senator John B. Kendrick dies in office. 00:07:31.050 --> 00:07:34.629 Move forward to 1954 and Senator Lester C. Hunt. 00:07:34.970 --> 00:07:37.350 dies in office. Jump all the way to the modern 00:07:37.350 --> 00:07:40.769 era in 2007, and Senator Craig Thomas dies in 00:07:40.769 --> 00:07:43.220 office. Whenever a sitting senator passes away, 00:07:43.379 --> 00:07:45.500 the political landscape is thrown into immediate 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:48.180 chaos. The balance of power in Washington can 00:07:48.180 --> 00:07:50.579 shift overnight. Suddenly, the governor of the 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:53.000 state has the immense power to appoint someone 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.220 to fill the void until a special election can 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:57.899 be held. It is a massive responsibility and it 00:07:57.899 --> 00:07:59.920 can alter the trajectory of federal legislation. 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:03.220 And perhaps the most dramatic or maybe the most 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:06.779 tragic example of this fragility involves a man 00:08:06.779 --> 00:08:09.660 named Keith Thompson. This part of the timeline 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:11.860 really stopped me in my tracks. It is a very 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:13.879 somber footnote in the congressional records. 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:17.100 Keith Thompson was a Republican who ran a successful 00:08:17.100 --> 00:08:20.720 campaign for the Senate in 1960. He went through 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.240 the grueling primary process. He won the general 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:25.839 election in November and he was officially slated 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:29.000 to take office. But he never did. No. He suffered 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.480 a heart attack and died in December before the 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:34.440 new Congress even began. He never actually got 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:36.539 to take his seat and serve the term he had just 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:39.139 won. That is just heartbreaking. You campaign, 00:08:39.379 --> 00:08:41.139 you win the trust of the state, and then you 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:43.500 are gone before you can cast a single vote on 00:08:43.500 --> 00:08:45.700 the Senate floor. And the political ripple effect 00:08:45.700 --> 00:08:49.000 of that specific tragedy is wild. Because Thompson 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.919 was a Republican, the voters had clearly chosen 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:52.779 a Republican to represent them for the next six 00:08:52.779 --> 00:08:55.820 years. Right. But his sudden death created a 00:08:55.820 --> 00:08:58.440 vacancy. The governor at the time was a Democrat, 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:01.820 and so he appointed a Democrat, Joe Hickey. To 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:04.899 begin the term in 1961. It is a massive swing 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:07.519 in representation, completely decided by a twist 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.019 of fate. And I want to be very clear here for 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:12.600 our listeners. We are just tracking the historical 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:15.820 pendulum swings of voter preference as recorded 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:18.600 in the source. Exactly. We are totally impartial 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:20.519 here. Right. Without taking any side, we are 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:22.860 just looking at the facts. And it's fascinating 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:25.980 to watch that pendulum swing throughout the middle 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:29.120 of the 20th century. You see the state seamlessly 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:32.500 hand power between Democratic control with figures 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:35.940 like Joe Hickey, Lester C. Hunt and Gail W. McGee 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.519 and Republican control. The voters are clearly 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:40.820 evaluating the individuals and the historical 00:09:40.820 --> 00:09:43.740 moment rather than just voting along strict party 00:09:43.740 --> 00:09:46.019 lines. And speaking of individuals, here's where 00:09:46.019 --> 00:09:48.000 it gets really interesting. We have to talk about 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.820 Joseph C. O'Mahony. Oh, O'Mahony. Yes. Because 00:09:50.820 --> 00:09:53.259 when these sudden vacancies happen, it triggers 00:09:53.259 --> 00:09:55.460 a high stakes game of political musical chairs. 00:09:56.029 --> 00:09:58.690 And no one navigated that chaos quite like Oma 00:09:58.690 --> 00:10:01.009 Honey. His timeline reads like a movie script. 00:10:01.190 --> 00:10:04.330 It really is a remarkable career arc. Let's break 00:10:04.330 --> 00:10:07.610 down how he navigated the system. Oma Honey enters 00:10:07.610 --> 00:10:11.490 the picture in late 1933. Remember Senator John 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:13.649 B. Kendrick, who died in office? Right, in 1933. 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:16.590 O'Mahony, a Democrat, is appointed by the governor 00:10:16.590 --> 00:10:19.129 to continue Kendrick's term. Then the following 00:10:19.129 --> 00:10:22.029 year, in 1934, the voters officially elect him 00:10:22.029 --> 00:10:24.549 to finish that term and simultaneously elect 00:10:24.549 --> 00:10:27.129 him to a full six -year term of his own. So he 00:10:27.129 --> 00:10:29.590 uses that initial appointment to launch a massive 00:10:29.590 --> 00:10:32.389 career. Exactly. He serves as a Democratic senator 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:35.269 for merely 20 years. He wins reelection in 1940 00:10:35.269 --> 00:10:38.629 and again in 1946. He becomes an absolute fixture 00:10:38.629 --> 00:10:41.049 in the class one seat. Deeply entrenched. Very 00:10:41.049 --> 00:10:43.559 deeply entrenched in Washington politics. shaping 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:45.340 legislation through the end of the Great Depression 00:10:45.340 --> 00:10:47.799 and the entirety of World War II. But then, after 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:50.220 20 years of stability, the political winds shift. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:54.620 In the 1952 election, O'Mahony loses his re -election 00:10:54.620 --> 00:10:57.059 bid to a Republican challenger, Frank A. Barrett. 00:10:57.370 --> 00:11:01.070 So his term ends in early 1953. After two decades 00:11:01.070 --> 00:11:03.809 of power, he is out. He is out. Normally, when 00:11:03.809 --> 00:11:06.529 a politician loses after 20 years, you assume 00:11:06.529 --> 00:11:08.850 their career in Washington is over. They pack 00:11:08.850 --> 00:11:11.309 up their desk, head back home, and enjoy retirement. 00:11:11.549 --> 00:11:14.409 That is the standard expectation, yeah. But the 00:11:14.409 --> 00:11:16.409 historical timeline shows us something entirely 00:11:16.409 --> 00:11:19.929 different. In June of 1954, just a year and a 00:11:19.929 --> 00:11:22.509 half after O'Mahony leaves office, the state's 00:11:22.509 --> 00:11:25.190 other senator, Lester C. Hunt, who holds the 00:11:25.190 --> 00:11:28.840 class two seat, tragically dies in office. There's 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:31.220 that fragility again. Right. An interim senator 00:11:31.220 --> 00:11:33.200 is appointed for a few months, but a special 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.399 election is quickly scheduled for November of 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:39.240 1954 to officially finish out Hunt's term. And 00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.480 who decides to step out of retirement and run 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:44.340 in that special election? Joseph C. O'Mahony. 00:11:44.590 --> 00:11:47.330 He is the ultimate political survivor. He loses 00:11:47.330 --> 00:11:50.450 his class one seat in 1952, waits in the wings 00:11:50.450 --> 00:11:52.549 for less than two years, and then jumps right 00:11:52.549 --> 00:11:54.450 back into the Senate by winning the class two 00:11:54.450 --> 00:11:57.149 seat in 1954. He just hops over to the other 00:11:57.149 --> 00:11:59.470 side of the delegation. He does. And to convince 00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:01.250 the voters to send you right back to Washington 00:12:01.250 --> 00:12:03.649 after they just voted you out requires an incredible 00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:06.250 amount of political capital and resilience. It 00:12:06.250 --> 00:12:08.629 really shows how deeply ingrained some of these 00:12:08.629 --> 00:12:10.809 figures were in the state's political identity. 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:13.330 And that brings up another fascinating pattern. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:16.460 In a state with a smaller population, certain 00:12:16.460 --> 00:12:18.899 familiar names tend to resurface over the decades. 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.159 You start to see the formation of actual political 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:24.879 dynasties. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:27.879 clear familial dynasties emerge from the historical 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:31.080 record. Early on in the state's history, we see 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:34.500 the Kerry family. Right. Joseph M. Carey was 00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:37.279 the very first person to hold the class two seat, 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:41.700 serving from 1890 to 1895. Decades later, his 00:12:41.700 --> 00:12:44.440 son, Robert D. Carey, is elected to that exact 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:48.179 same class two seat, serving from 1930 to 1937. 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:50.860 The name recognition alone carries a tremendous 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:52.980 amount of weight with the voters. And the Simpson 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:55.279 family is arguably an even more prominent example 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:57.799 of this. Millward Simpson serves a term in the 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:01.419 Senate in the 1960s, from 1962 to 1967. And then 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:03.330 a little over a decade later... his son, Alan 00:13:03.330 --> 00:13:05.350 Simpson, arrives on the scene. He does. Alan 00:13:05.350 --> 00:13:07.950 Simpson serves from 1979 all the way to 1997. 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:10.710 It is wild to see how political influence can 00:13:10.710 --> 00:13:12.769 be passed down like a family heirloom. Which 00:13:12.769 --> 00:13:14.870 brings us to one of the most brilliant pieces 00:13:14.870 --> 00:13:17.110 of political strategy in this entire history. 00:13:17.350 --> 00:13:20.029 It involves Alan Simpson's initial entry into 00:13:20.029 --> 00:13:22.830 the Senate in the late 1970s, and it reveals 00:13:22.830 --> 00:13:25.909 how deeply these politicians understood the unwritten 00:13:25.909 --> 00:13:28.629 rules and mechanics of Washington power. Yes. 00:13:29.710 --> 00:13:32.269 I was so excited to get to this part. I was looking 00:13:32.269 --> 00:13:34.169 at the dates for Alan Simpson and I noticed something 00:13:34.169 --> 00:13:36.190 strange about when his term actually started. 00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:39.509 Usually a new senator takes office in early January, 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:42.230 right? But the timeline for his predecessor is 00:13:42.230 --> 00:13:44.409 completely misaligned. Walk me through what happened 00:13:44.409 --> 00:13:47.009 there. It is a masterful maneuver. Here is the 00:13:47.009 --> 00:13:50.169 setup. It is the late 1970s. The incumbent Republican 00:13:50.169 --> 00:13:52.690 senator, Clifford Hansen, has decided he is going 00:13:52.690 --> 00:13:56.090 to retire. He was elected in 1966, reelected 00:13:56.090 --> 00:13:59.350 in 1970, and by 1978, he is ready to step down. 00:13:59.470 --> 00:14:01.750 Okay. Alan Simpson runs for the open seat in 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:04.330 the 1978 election, and he wins comfortably. Now, 00:14:04.409 --> 00:14:06.529 under normal circumstances, Simpson would wait 00:14:06.529 --> 00:14:09.429 until January 3rd, 1979, to be sworn in alongside 00:14:09.429 --> 00:14:11.649 all the other newly elected freshman senators 00:14:11.649 --> 00:14:14.049 from across the country. Right. January 3rd is 00:14:14.049 --> 00:14:15.789 when the new Congress officially begins. That 00:14:15.789 --> 00:14:18.100 is the standard procedure. But they don't wait 00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.460 for the standard procedure. Instead, Clifford 00:14:21.460 --> 00:14:23.899 Hansen retires and officially resigns from his 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:26.840 seat a few days early. He steps down on December 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:30.340 31st, 1978. Wait, so Hansen just quits a few 00:14:30.340 --> 00:14:32.399 days before his term is naturally over. Is that 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:35.019 even allowed? It is entirely legal, and it was 00:14:35.019 --> 00:14:37.700 a highly calculated move. By resigning on December 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:41.059 31st, Hansen created a brief technical vacancy 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:43.899 in the Senate seat. Because Alan Simpson had 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:45.980 already been elected by the voters to serve the 00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:48.440 next full term, the governor simply appointed 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.120 Simpson to fill that tiny three -day vacancy 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.320 starting on January 1st, 1979. Okay, so Simpson 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:56.620 gets sworn in on January 1st instead of January 00:14:56.620 --> 00:14:59.120 3rd. That is only a two -day difference. I mean, 00:14:59.139 --> 00:15:01.259 listener, imagine finding a loophole to get in 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:04.080 line a day before everyone else. Why go through 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.179 all that administrative hassle just to start 00:15:06.179 --> 00:15:08.460 48 hours early? Because in the United States 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:11.549 Senate, Seniority dictates absolutely everything. 00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:14.450 It is the currency of their own. Really? Just 00:15:14.450 --> 00:15:17.590 those two days? Yes. Seniority determines which 00:15:17.590 --> 00:15:19.889 committees you are assigned to, whether you get 00:15:19.889 --> 00:15:22.129 to chair those committees, the physical office 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:24.610 space you are given in Washington, and your overall 00:15:24.610 --> 00:15:28.389 ability to move legislation forward. By stepping 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:30.970 down early, Hansen essentially allowed Simpson 00:15:30.970 --> 00:15:34.090 to jump the seniority queue. When the rest of 00:15:34.090 --> 00:15:36.889 the freshman class of 1979 arrived on January 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:39.789 3rd to be sworn in, Alan Simpson was already 00:15:39.789 --> 00:15:42.730 a sitting U .S. senator. Oh, wow. So he technically 00:15:42.730 --> 00:15:45.309 had more seniority than every single other new 00:15:45.309 --> 00:15:47.529 senator who was elected that year. Exactly. He 00:15:47.529 --> 00:15:49.669 was legally placed ahead of all of them in the 00:15:49.669 --> 00:15:52.980 Senate hierarchy. And that tiny head start pays 00:15:52.980 --> 00:15:55.799 massive dividends over the course of an 18 -year 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:59.019 career. It gave Wyoming a disproportionate advantage 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:01.419 in committee assignments and legislative leverage. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.860 That is just brilliant gamesmanship. You secure 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:07.179 the seat at the ballot box, but you secure the 00:16:07.179 --> 00:16:09.399 power by knowing how to manipulate the calendar. 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:11.860 It shows that political success isn't just about 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:13.700 winning the election. It's about understanding 00:16:13.700 --> 00:16:16.809 the rulebook. Absolutely and that kind of strategic 00:16:16.809 --> 00:16:19.929 thinking really sets the stage for the modern 00:16:19.929 --> 00:16:23.120 era of Wyoming's representation. If we pull the 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.639 timeline all the way up to the present day, as 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:28.639 we look at the political landscape in 2026, the 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:31.100 delegation looks very stable, but it is actually 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:34.100 on the verge of a major historical shift. The 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:36.559 current representation consists entirely of Republicans. 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:39.539 You have Representative Harriet Hageman holding 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:42.059 the state's single seat in the House of Representatives. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:44.399 And over in the Senate, the two seats are held 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.220 by John Barrasso and Cynthia Loomis. John Barrasso 00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:49.129 has been there quite a while now. He is the senior 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:52.509 senator serving since 2007. And it is interesting. 00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:55.049 His origin story in the Senate directly echoes 00:16:55.049 --> 00:16:56.649 the history of sudden vacancies we were just 00:16:56.649 --> 00:16:58.950 talking about. It does. He wasn't initially elected 00:16:58.950 --> 00:17:00.909 to the seat. He was appointed by the governor 00:17:00.909 --> 00:17:03.309 to continue the term of Senator Craig Thomas, 00:17:03.509 --> 00:17:06.509 who passed away in office. Barrasso then won 00:17:06.509 --> 00:17:08.809 a special election in 2008 to finish that term. 00:17:08.890 --> 00:17:10.990 And he has successfully defended the seat ever 00:17:10.990 --> 00:17:13.930 since winning in 2012, 2018, and most recently 00:17:13.930 --> 00:17:17.150 in 2024. He is firmly locked into that class 00:17:17.150 --> 00:17:19.430 one seat. But the shifting horizon is happening 00:17:19.430 --> 00:17:22.329 over in the class two seat. Cynthia Lemus was 00:17:22.329 --> 00:17:25.029 elected in 2020 and took office in early 2021. 00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:28.650 However, as noted in the source, she is retiring 00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:31.150 at the end of her current term. Which means that 00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:33.390 class two seat is going to be wide open for the 00:17:33.390 --> 00:17:36.809 first time in years. Precisely. Her term concludes 00:17:36.809 --> 00:17:38.910 at the end of the current cycle, meaning the 00:17:38.910 --> 00:17:41.670 seat will be heavily contested in the 2026 election. 00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:44.970 And what is remarkable from a historical perspective 00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:48.160 is that whoever wins that race. will become only 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:51.039 the 22nd person in history to hold a Senate seat 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.740 for Wyoming. That is incredible to think about. 00:17:53.819 --> 00:17:57.000 After over 130 years of statehood, through world 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:59.559 wars, economic collapses, and massive societal 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.000 shifts, we're only just now looking for person 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.819 number 22 to join the club. This raises an important 00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:07.039 question, one that goes to the heart of why we 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.119 examine these historical timelines in the first 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.900 place. It is so easy to look at a list of dates 00:18:11.900 --> 00:18:14.380 and view them as abstract facts. Yeah, just dry 00:18:14.380 --> 00:18:18.369 data. But this unbroken chain of 21 people represents 00:18:18.369 --> 00:18:21.549 the entire federal legislative history of a sovereign 00:18:21.549 --> 00:18:24.910 state. Every single time one of those early vacancies 00:18:24.910 --> 00:18:27.730 happened in the 1890s, every time a governor 00:18:27.730 --> 00:18:30.130 had to make a sudden appointment after a tragic 00:18:30.130 --> 00:18:33.349 midterm death, every time a senator like Clifford 00:18:33.349 --> 00:18:35.950 Hansen resigned three days early to manipulate 00:18:35.950 --> 00:18:39.180 the seniority system, All of those moments profoundly 00:18:39.180 --> 00:18:42.599 shaped the laws of the United States. They determined 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:45.720 who sat on powerful committees, who cast the 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:47.920 deciding vote on critical pieces of legislation, 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:50.799 and how federal resources were allocated across 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:52.900 the entire country. So what does this all mean? 00:18:53.099 --> 00:18:55.099 If we look back at the journey we have taken 00:18:55.099 --> 00:18:57.359 in this deep dive, we started with a bizarre 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:00.299 four -month delay where a brand new state did 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:03.220 not even send anyone to Washington. We saw Francis 00:19:03.220 --> 00:19:05.880 E. Warren establish a nearly four -decade reign 00:19:05.880 --> 00:19:08.390 of political endurance. bridging the gap between 00:19:08.390 --> 00:19:11.089 the Gilded Age and the Great Depression. A true 00:19:11.089 --> 00:19:14.309 Iron Man. We navigated a maze of tragic, sudden 00:19:14.309 --> 00:19:17.170 vacancies that repeatedly threw the balance of 00:19:17.170 --> 00:19:20.589 power into chaos. We watched Joseph C .L. Mahoney 00:19:20.589 --> 00:19:23.630 lose his job after 20 years, only to orchestrate 00:19:23.630 --> 00:19:26.289 an unbelievable comeback by winning the state's 00:19:26.289 --> 00:19:28.789 other Senate seat just two years later. The comeback 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:31.109 kid. We saw the Kerry and Simpson families build 00:19:31.109 --> 00:19:33.250 generational influence that spanned decades. 00:19:33.630 --> 00:19:36.410 We uncovered the cunning strategy of a three 00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:39.250 -day early resignation to cheat the seniority 00:19:39.250 --> 00:19:42.500 system. And now we're looking right at the impending 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.059 retirement of Cynthia Loomis, knowing that the 00:19:45.059 --> 00:19:47.539 next chapter of this history is about to be written. 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:49.839 It is a remarkable narrative of human ambition 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.960 and strategic survival. It really is. And to 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:54.880 you, our listener, I hope this deep dive reminds 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:57.160 you that historical data is never just numbers 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:00.140 on a page. Behind every rigid table and perfectly 00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:02.400 aligned column, there is a vibrant highlight 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:05.319 reel of human drama. There are people strategizing. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:09.000 failing, making incredible comebacks, and leaving 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:10.839 their permanent mark on the direction of the 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:13.180 country. And I will leave you with a final thought 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:16.160 to mull over as you go about your day. Think 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:18.420 about the representatives for your own state 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:20.880 or region. We usually just see the names on the 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.759 ballot, but how many of those seats hold secret 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.859 histories of strategic early resignations, incredible 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:29.799 comebacks, or dynastic families just waiting 00:20:29.799 --> 00:20:32.519 to be uncovered? That is a fantastic question 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:35.490 to end on. How much human drama is hiding in 00:20:35.490 --> 00:20:37.849 your own state's history? Thank you so much for 00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:40.250 joining us on this deep dive. We love unpacking 00:20:40.250 --> 00:20:42.430 these complex histories with you, and we cannot 00:20:42.430 --> 00:20:44.349 wait to do it again next time. Take care, everyone.