I have lived in Riverton Wyoming for the last 20 years. I have been a Wyoming resident for 43 years. My first 21 and for the last 22. I was born in Douglas Wyoming.

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I grew up in northern Wyoming where my mother was an teacher and my father worked on ranches and in the oilfield. As a senior in high school, I joined the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps teaches key leadership principles that I have used throughout my life. When I completed my enlistment, and was honorably discharged, I worked for several large corporations in North Carolina over the next 10 years while also running a tree trimming and removal business for myself and training horses when I had time. Eventually, I returned to Wyoming to be close to family. Upon returning to Wyoming, I assisted my dad in starting a fence contracting business while simultaneously training horses as my sole business venture. This is when I met CoriAnn, my wife. I decided to run because I love WY and want a better place for the next generation, a place where there are business opportunities and where we can live in freedom. My experiences have prepared me to serve the people of Wyoming.

I feel that the biggest challenge facing Wyoming is the economy. As inflation continues to rise, the people of Wyoming are going to find themselves struggling to make ends meet. The legislature is going to need to also find ways to make ends meet while taking less of the people's hard earned money. The biggest opportunities facing Wyoming is utilizing our natural resources to create more and better paying jobs to help Wyoming families have better benefits.

We need to focus on creating jobs with benefits to help offset the cost of healthcare. We need to work with the corporations in Wyoming to make sure that they are adequately employing our Wyoming workers. When corporations don't provide full time jobs with full time benefits, they are utilizing an overworked public safety net to provide benefits that they should be providing.

I do not support the sale of public lands in Wyoming. I would like to see public land remain public for the people to use. Federal lands should be returned to the state for management. State agencies need to work alongside local communities so that there is local representation guiding the use of the lands. There needs to be ample time for public input, there should never be closed door voting and any local representatives must vote according to the voice of their constituents.

I support lowering property taxes. Government size needs to shrink and government officials need to learn to be better stewards of the public's money. There is too much government waste. People should not be taxed out of their homes.

The legislature should be involved in developing new business to benefit the state and bring in more revenue. New businesses, though, cannot be financed on the backs of the taxpayer either through inequitable tax breaks or through resource consumption. We should not be bringing in businesses that harm our farmlands and natural resources.

I will know after this election cycle more about this topic.