Letter from our WDP Executive Director

Dear Friend,

I want to address an issue that has surfaced repeatedly in conversations across our state, sometimes quietly and sometimes openly. It is the idea that, because Democrats face long odds in many Wyoming races, it makes sense for Democrats to switch party registration, participate in Republican primaries, or even support Republican candidates in order to influence outcomes from the inside.

I understand why people reach this conclusion. Wyoming is a Republican-leaning state. In many districts, the Republican primary is treated as the decisive contest. It can feel pragmatic, even savvy, to believe that influencing that process is the only meaningful way to have a voice.

But I believe, strongly and sincerely, that this approach is deeply damaging to the Democratic Party in Wyoming, both today and in the years ahead.

This is not a question of loyalty tests or ideological purity. It is about whether we believe in building a Democratic Party that can endure, compete, and grow, or whether we are willing to slowly hollow it out in exchange for the illusion of short-term influence.

Political parties are not abstractions. They are living institutions built from people, participation, and shared commitment. When Democrats leave our own primaries, even temporarily, we weaken the very foundation that makes future competitiveness possible. Party registration numbers matter. They shape how candidates decide whether to run, how donors decide whether to invest, how volunteers decide whether their time matters, and how seriously our party is taken by the public, the media, and national partners.

Every time a Democrat opts out of our own primary, the signal sent is not strategic strength. It is institutional doubt. It says, even unintentionally, that we do not believe our own party, or even our own values, deserve to compete.

There is also a practical reality that deserves honesty. The theory that Democratic crossover voting reliably produces better Republican nominees is not borne out by experience. Republicans who win Republican primaries govern as Republicans. They are accountable to Republican voters, Republican donors, and Republican party structures. Democrats who abandon their own party to influence those contests rarely gain lasting leverage. What we lose, however, is measurable and lasting: credibility, registration strength, and confidence in our own bench of candidates.

Perhaps most damaging of all is the message this behavior sends to the next generation of Democrats. When party leaders, activists, or elected officials suggest that Democratic candidacies are optional or symbolic, we teach new voters that Democratic identity is disposable. We replace collective effort with individual calculation. A party cannot survive, let alone grow, under those conditions.

Wyoming Democrats face real challenges. No one is pretending otherwise. But history is clear on one point: parties do not become stronger by retreating from their own process. They become stronger by showing up consistently, fielding candidates even when winning is hard, and demonstrating faith in their own future.

The question before us is not whether Democrats will win every race today. The question is whether we are willing to act like a party that intends to exist tomorrow.

As Executive Director of the Wyoming Democratic Party, and as a fellow Democrat who believes deeply in this work, I am asking us to choose the harder, more honest path. To invest in our own primaries. To support Democratic candidates who step forward. To resist the temptation to outsource our voice to another party’s internal fights.

Real influence is built, not borrowed. And the future of our party in Wyoming depends on whether we are willing to build it together.

Thank you for taking this seriously and for caring enough about this party to wrestle with difficult questions in good faith.

Cheers,

Scott Merrifield, Executive Director
Wyoming Democratic Party