US senator from Wyoming won't seek reelection in 2026 in Republican stronghold

Audio By Carbonatix

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — First-term U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming announced Friday that she won't seek reelection in 2026, but she said she's committed to retaining Republic control of the Senate.

Lummis said her stamina “doesn't match up” with the energy required for another term.

“In the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I’ve come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” she said in a statement. “I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon.”

Lummis is a former state legislator and two-term state treasurer who served as Wyoming’s lone congresswoman from 2009-2017. She joined the state Legislature at age 24 at the outset of a career in politics and government that spans nearly a half-century.

In 2020, she defeated nine Republican rivals to secure the party nomination for Senate in an open race.

Wyoming hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than 50 years.