TORRINGTON – Gary Trauner is hoping to ride the same wave of dissatisfaction with the status quo which brought the current administration into office all the way to the United States Senate.

Trauner, the Democratic challenger for the seat currently held by Republican Sen. John Barrasso, was in Torrington on Thursday, visiting with residents and sharing his message.

“I think there are a lot of issues we’re on the right side of,” Trauner told the group of a dozen or so Goshen County residents at Java Jar on Main Street. “This race is about good people,

Trauner, 58, hails from Wilson in Teton County in western Wyoming. He’s a past chairman of the Teton County School District No. 1 and former vice-chairman of the Teton County Pathways Task Force. He’s also served as chief operating officer for St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Jackson, co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of OneWest.net, a regional Internet Service Provider and Vice President – Finance of Teton Trust Company, one of the first private trust investment firms in the State of Wyoming, according to his official biography on his website, www.traunerforwy.com.

Trauner told the group he decided to run for office because he doesn’t like partisan politics and the political maneuvering he sees as the current status quo in Washington, D.C. He said he was contacted by a reporter recently, who asked him to comment on his opponent, Sen. Barrasso.

“He looks really good standing behind Mitch McConnell,” Trauner said was his response. “And that’s significant. It means (Sen. Barrasso) is good at doing this for his party, but not so good for the state.

“Putting the party ahead of the country corrupts the system,” Trauner said. Elected officials shouldn’t “do things only for the party, they should do things for the people. They should be a representative for the people who put (them) there.”

One of the jobs of congress is to provide checks and balances on the executive branch, Trauner said, another area where he believes the current crop of elected officials both from the state and nationally have been found wanting. Trauner said, if elected, he won’t be afraid to buck the system he believes is more beholden to Wall Street and wealthy supporters than it is to the people it was put in place to serve.

“I ask people a simple question – What if the person who ran your company didn’t want the company to succeed, what happens?” he said. “It would go out of business. Why elect people who don’t believe in the mission of their organization.

“Most of the people in this community, this state, this country, whatever their (political affiliation label), would probably say we’re on the right side of most of these arguments,” Trauner said. “They’re just not strong enough (individually) to stand up and say it. That’s what I’m going to do.”