Despite threats, lawmaker will run

CASPER — Rep. Landon Brown had two press releases on his computer: one that announced he was bowing out of the Wyoming Legislature and one that said he was running for reelection. He sent the latter one Friday, but only after weeks of mulling over the pros and cons of what being a state lawmaker in Wyoming entails these days.

Increasing incivility in the statehouse gave Brown second thoughts about running again. 

In Brown’s view, that incivility steadily increased after former President Donald Trump took office, but really accelerated with the onset of COVID-19. 

Brown, a moderate Cheyenne Republican, has become a target of the far right inside and outside of the Legislature, in part for being outspoken and a Trump critic. 

Brown said he received a violent death threat, a Facebook message from an anonymous account suggesting he kill himself and between “10 and 20 vile, hateful” emails during the recently completed four-week budget session. That’s a nasty email roughly every two days. 

“It gets to the point where the whole family is affected by it,” Brown said. 

After Frank Eathorne, chairman of the Wyoming GOP, said in January 2021 that western states were “paying attention” to secession efforts in Texas, Brown vigorously condemned the comment. 

His condemnation spurred a man to repeatedly call the Cheyenne representative late into the night for two nights in a row. On the second night, the man seemed heavily intoxicated. Brown did not pick up that final call, but the man left a voicemail. 

“He said he was going to come over to my house and said he was going to rip my face off and feed it to my dogs,” Brown said. 

The Brown family called the Cheyenne Police Department. 

His wife Rachel Smith, a precinct committeewoman and nurse, said they didn’t sleep that night. 

After such an incident, many politicians might consider vacating their seat, a move Brown himself appeared wedded to on the final day of the 2022 budget session. As the last day came to a close, state lawmakers had still not agreed on a reapportioned map following the 2020 census, despite the fact that it was the body’s constitutional duty to approve one by midnight. 

“To be honest with you guys, this might be the last thing that I say on these microphones,” Brown said. “Had we been dealing with more of this, had we dealt with this bill first ... we would’ve had more time to work on this issue ... but instead we were busy debating guns, we were busy debating abortion, we were busy debating non-issues in this state instead of our constitutional obligations.” 

Brown is one of the most outspoken members of the Wyoming House partly because of Rep. Liz Cheney, who has become the top target of many conservatives due to her repeated condemnations of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. 

“She’s influenced me to stand on my morals and my values and take the shots as they come and let it almost fuel you even further,” Brown said. 

After what appeared to be a final speech on the House floor, Brown changed his mind. 

“I think the good outweighs the bad. There is work to still be done,” Brown said. “I feel like I have opportunities to make a difference in the state of Wyoming, and I do care about the state.” 

Brown is specifically dedicated to his work on the Joint Education Committee and feels like there’s unfinished business to take care of. 

But the online threats have taken a toll. The lawmaker presents himself as having a thick skin against all of it, Smith said, but it’s been tough — for him and for the couple’s marriage. 

“He comes (in) at 9 or 10 at night and he just has this heavy weight on his shoulders,” Smith said. “He doesn’t feel like participating in these family things. That is strenuous on a marriage.” 

Ultimately, Smith is backing her husband’s decision to run for reelection. 

The couple was sitting in a Florida airport on the way back from their spring break vacation Thursday. Brown had officially made up his mind moments before he leaned over and told Smith he was going to run. 

“You know, I kind of thought you were,” she said.