TORRINGTON – It’s a bold move in today’s political spectrum to go against the grain when it’s called for – but Robert Short, a Republican from Douglas, is pledging to do just that if the people of Wyoming elect to send him to Washington, D.C. as a member of the United States Senate.
Short, who currently serves as the chairman of the Converse County Board of Commissioners, said he won’t just be a rubber stamp for the GOP if he’s elected – something Wyoming’s representation has been for a long time.
“We have, for far too long, just been a stamp for anything that’s brought forward by Republicans in Congress,” he said. “Boom, yep you can count on Wyoming and boom, yep, you can count on Wyoming – whether or not it’s good for Wyoming.
“I find that unacceptable. Your job is to represent Wyoming. Yes, it’s on the national level and you’re supposed to work with those national partners in order to put together policy that promotes our country and promotes the opportunity for the economic well-being of the people of our country – but our first job is Wyoming.”
Short, a Wyoming native, is one of 10 Republicans vying for the Republican nomination to compete for Sen. Mike Enzi’s seat. Enzi is retiring after this term. Short visited Goshen County last week to meet residents, business owners, and to spread the word about his bid to represent Wyoming.
Short’s main competition in the primary is Cynthia Lummis, who represented Wyoming in the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2017. Lummis has also served in the Wyoming legislature and as the state treasurer.
The Casper Star Tribune reported last week the Lummis had a large fundraising advantage over her opponents with a 5-to-1 margin over the rest of the field. She’s raised $964,000 from fundraising, and with the aid of political action committees. Large portions of her funds have come from oil and gas companies, like Marathon, Exxon, Halliburton and Chevron.
Short, on the other hand, has raised $187,000 – $155,000 in the form of loans. Lummis has been a juggernaut in the Cowboy State for years, but Short said he believed this is the right time for him to step up.
“Politically, my, work has been specifically to the county commission and that was for a reason – because I wanted to keep my head down and just be a good man, a good neighbor, a good son, a good father – just a good person in the community who people could count on. Six years ago, I saw things happening and said ‘that’s it.’ I can no longer deny what my dad used to tell me as a kid was ‘you’re going to be a big man, boy, and big men have big responsibilities.’ So, I just said ‘that’s it.’ I have to stand up, I have to take on those things that my father said I was destined to take on. And here I am. I think that, to a degree, political novice is incredibly important because we’re not entrenched in our ways that see us creating greater and greater divides across the political spectrum.”
Short said he is a supporter of President Donald Trump – and he will continue to be, as long as it’s good for the people of Wyoming. He said that’s what sets him apart from Lummis
“The reason being is yeah, she’s pledged to be a Trump supporter. But if you go back and do a little bit of history on her to see in 2016, for example when she was backing Rand Paul she was 100% in on Rand Paul for President. And then she came out and said that ‘well, if Rand Paul is not the nominee, it’ll be easy for me to support Ted Cruz,’ and then she came back and said, ‘but if it’s Donald Trump, I guess I’ll hold my nose and vote for him.’
“That doesn’t sound like somebody who’s really all in on President Trump. And in my county, Converse County, we were the highest percentage of votes across the nation for Trump. I think that shows that we were kind of all in on Trump, from the very beginning – and nothing’s changed. We still believe that the President has put forward policies that have benefited our nation and our state. Should the President put forward policies that are detrimental to my state, much like Representative (Liz) Cheney, you can count on me to stand up and say ‘I can’t do that.’ If it’s a detriment to Wyoming, we have to push back.”
Short owns and operates several small businesses in Converse County. Several of his companies are involved in critical infrastructure, such as powerline construction, general construction and drone mapping for agriculture. Short said he believes that experience in working with infrastructure has given him a critical viewpoint into the region’s biggest issue – crumbling infrastructure, as Goshen County saw one year ago when a canal along the Goshen Irrigation District system collapsed.
“So much of our country doesn’t grasp the totality of the importance of the Goshen irrigation system, how it feeds our whole country,” he said. “People think all of our foods come from Whole Foods or from Safeway. Come on guys, it actually starts on the ground. Our ag producers have to be front and center because quite honestly our nation’s security is completely tied to food security, reliable, affordable electrical power, and energy independence. Those strings are three things are critical to us, and all that goes back to, reliable, up-to-date infrastructure.”
Short also said he would attempt to spearhead the diversification of Wyoming’s economy, if he is elected. According to Short, Wyoming has the makings of a “manufacturing Mecca” with its highways, rail systems and international airport in Casper.
“We’ve been an extraction based economy, basically since we’ve been a state, and that’s been really beneficial to us - but unfortunately in the good times, we just turn a blind eye to what we need to be doing looking forward to during the downtimes,” he said. “As a business owner, I’ve tried to really take those lessons and apply them to our business so that we didn’t suffer disproportionately during those down times, and we’ve been successful at that on the national stage. We need to bring the message that Wyoming is a manufacturing Mecca.”
If he is elected, Short said he will be in Wyoming every week. It’s important to keep Wyoming first, even as he will be working on the national stage.
“I’m just a guy who loves my state and wants to do right and help mend our country,” Short said.
