By Sean Barry
WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Cynthia Lummis served as Wyoming’s lone U.S. House representative, Barack Obama was president for all eight years of her tenure.
Then the Wyoming Republican stepped away from politics during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
In 2020, she won one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats — only to see the first four years of her term run concurrently with Joe Biden’s administration.
Control of the House and Senate has swung back and forth during her time in Washington, but with a Democrat as president for all 12 of her years in the nation’s capital, Lummis often found herself trudging uphill.
Not anymore.
Thanks to the 2024 elections, Lummis and her conservative colleagues have gone on offense, emboldened by Trump’s victory and Republican majorities on both sides of Capitol Hill.
Nowhere does their empowerment figure to be more consequential than on energy policy, and Lummis plays an important role in this area.