Gary Brown

Gary Brown is an American Republican politician and retired electrician serving as a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives from the 41st district. He assumed office in January 2025 after winning election in 2024. Brown lost renomination in the August 18, 2026, Republican primary, receiving approximately 28 percent of the vote compared with 72 percent for his challenger. WyoFile described the result as a "landslide."

Before his election, Brown served as a Republican precinct committeeman, volunteered on political campaigns and regularly testified before the Wyoming Legislature. He supported an acquisition-value property-tax system, under which a property's taxable value would be based principally on its purchase price rather than regularly adjusted to its current market value. Brown later voted to advance a 2025 proposal that would have returned property valuations to a 2019 baseline, valued subsequently purchased homes according to their purchase prices and limited annual valuation increases to 2 percent. The proposal was projected to reduce annual property-tax revenue by at least $260 million without providing replacement funding. Because property taxes principally fund schools and local governments in Wyoming, opponents warned that the proposal could cost schools millions of dollars and severely reduce revenue available to local communities. Brown accused local officials of concealing excessive financial reserves. Explaining his political involvement, Brown said that examining government finances made him “angry.”

In the Legislature, Brown served on the House Revenue Committee and the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. His legislative activity included unsuccessful proposals requiring counties to reimburse defendants who defeated criminal charges on grounds of lawful self-defense and allowing ivermectin to be sold without a prescription or consultation with a healthcare professional. Brown described ivermectin as “a cure,” claimed that it worked against viruses and cited anecdotal reports of anticancer benefits. A Wyoming internist opposed the bill, warning that unsupervised use could expose patients to serious toxicity.

On election policy, Brown supported hand-marked paper ballots and legislation that would have excluded university, community-college, Medicare and Medicaid cards from identification accepted at polling places. Brown questioned student identification by suggesting that out-of-state students might vote both in Wyoming and elsewhere. Other legislators and election officials warned that the proposals could burden county clerks and impede voting by legally eligible students, elderly residents and people with disabilities.

On July 20, 2026, WyoFile reported that Brown had served a Colorado prison sentence following a 1992 felony conviction for intimidation of a witness and victim in a case involving a former girlfriend. Police investigating the case reported that someone had entered the former girlfriend's residence, cut the furnace gas line, placed a lit cigarette inside a book of matches and left plugged-in curling irons on clothing. Prosecutors charged Brown with attempted first-degree arson and second-degree burglary in connection with the break-in. Those charges and one of two intimidation charges were dropped when Brown pleaded guilty to the remaining felony intimidation count; he was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

WyoFile described Brown as a retired electrician. Before becoming a legislative candidate, he served as a Republican precinct committeeman in Laramie County, Wyoming, and Larimer County, Colorado, and volunteered on political campaigns in both states.

Political career

2024 campaign Brown announced his candidacy for House District 41 in March 2024. He said he entered the race after becoming dissatisfied with the district's representation and examining legislative voting records. Brown positioned himself to the right of incumbent representative Bill Henderson and criticized state and local government spending. Describing his reaction to examining government finances, Brown said, “When you get involved and start seeing these things, you start getting angry.”

On election policy, Brown supported prohibiting election officials from accepting private funding for election administration and imposing a minimum period of Wyoming residency before a person could vote in the state.

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus formally endorsed a slate of 43 House candidates and four Senate candidates shortly before the 2024 Republican primary. Brown was not included in that slate and was not listed as a caucus member. Jessie Rubino, the salaried Wyoming state director of the national State Freedom Caucus Network, nevertheless appeared in a campaign testimonial supporting Brown. Unlike the candidates receiving the caucus's organizational endorsement, Rubino identified herself in Brown's testimonial as an individual resident of House District 41. She said that Brown would represent the “true conservative values” of central Cheyenne.

Rubino's position was funded by the State Freedom Caucus Network as part of its partnership with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. Her responsibilities included researching legislation and providing voting recommendations to caucus members and allied legislators, sometimes while legislative votes were underway. Brown subsequently voted regularly with Freedom Caucus members and co-sponsored legislation with them despite receiving no official caucus endorsement and not being identified as a formal member.

During the general-election campaign, Brown did not respond to multiple interview requests from Cowboy State Daily. After the publication first requested an interview, Brown posted a negative remark on Facebook about the outlet's political coverage.

Wyoming House of Representatives Brown took office in January 2025. During his first term, he served on the House Revenue Committee and the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee.

Governor Mark Gordon allowed the bill to become law without his signature while questioning both the legality and the “arbitrary” character of its 30-day requirement. Gordon noted that federal law prohibits applying a durational residency requirement to presidential voting and warned that the legislation could result in litigation. He also expressed concern that its documentation standards could cause election clerks to reject eligible voters whose identification was damaged, listed a post-office box or otherwise created uncertainty. Gordon wrote that a qualified citizen must be able to vote “without undue difficulty” and that the right “should not be abridged or diminished as a result of measures taken to conduct an election.”

Abortion legislation In 2025, Brown co-sponsored House Bill 64, which required a patient seeking a medication abortion to undergo an ultrasound at least 48 hours before receiving abortion medication. The examination would likely have required a transvaginal ultrasound during early pregnancy. The legislation contained no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest and authorized penalties of as much as six months in jail, a $9,000 fine or both for healthcare professionals who violated its requirements.

Gordon, who described himself as opposed to abortion, vetoed the bill because of its invasive character and potential effect on sexual-assault survivors. Gordon wrote that mandating an “intimate, personally invasive, and often medically unnecessary procedure goes too far.” He said that requiring victims of rape to undergo such an examination could be “cruel” and warned that the requirement could discourage victims from reporting sexual assaults. Brown voted with the House majority to override Gordon's veto, and the Legislature enacted the requirement over the governor's objections.

Firearms legislation In 2025, Brown co-sponsored House Bill 172, enacting the gun-free-zone policy he had supported during his campaign. The legislation eliminated gun-free-zone restrictions in state-owned buildings, public schools, public colleges and universities, and public meeting spaces. It permitted concealed firearms in K–12 schools, University of Wyoming and community-college facilities, and government meetings, although firearms remained prohibited in locations including courts, jails, police stations and hospitals.

Gordon allowed the bill to become law without his signature but denounced its transfer of regulatory authority from local institutions to the Legislature. He wrote that gun-free zones had not actually been repealed but were instead “determined exclusively by the legislature.” Gordon described the legislation as a “legislative power grab” and said, “I am left to imagine this legislative session was never about ‘self-defense’ or a common sense effort to extend carry rights. More to the point, it was always about the legislature grabbing power.”

Self-defense reimbursement legislation In 2025, Brown sponsored legislation that would have required local governments to reimburse certain expenses incurred by defendants who successfully established that criminal charges arose from lawful self-defense. The proposal was not introduced for debate during the 2025 session despite attracting 30 co-sponsors.

Supporters argued that people who lawfully defended themselves should not be financially ruined by criminal proceedings. Former Natrona County district attorney Michael Blonigen warned that the proposal could impose substantial costs on local governments and discourage prosecutors from bringing legally viable cases when the applicability of self-defense was uncertain. The bill did not become law.

Supporters argued that electing the attorney general would make the office directly accountable to voters and provide an institutional check on the governor. Opponents warned that it could divide executive authority and politicize the state's chief legal office. During consideration of a substantially similar proposal in 2025, University of Wyoming law professor and state representative Ken Chestek said that an independently elected attorney general could create a "Hydra-headed monster" in which the governor and attorney general pursued conflicting policies. A representative of Mark Gordon's administration warned that an elected attorney general could become reluctant to investigate campaign donors, while Civics307 lobbyist Gail Symons said the change would erode the attorney general's role as "an impartial legal officer focused on the rule of law."

House Bill 60 received 35 votes in favor and 26 against but failed introduction because bills required a two-thirds vote to be considered during the budget session.

The proposal also would have prohibited reimbursement for travel, lodging and meals connected with participation in covered associations. Supporters argued that taxpayers should not finance organizations that lobby legislators or influence public policy outside Wyoming's public-records system. Supporter Jonathan Lange wrote that the public should be able to determine how much government entities spent sending officials to association conferences and how the organizations influenced elected officials.

The measure would have classified records created by government entities concerning their association activities as public records and required annual reports identifying participating officials, the organizations involved, the subjects discussed and the public money spent. These requirements could have exposed policy coordination and lobbying conducted through national organizations, but they also would have imposed additional reporting obligations on state agencies and local governments.

The bill therefore would have reduced public spending on association memberships and made government participation more visible, while potentially limiting access to professional expertise, training, national standards and cooperation with other states. Brown voted to introduce the bill, but it failed by a vote of 27 to 34.

An agreement made in violation of the proposal would have been void. A public official who violated the prohibition could have been charged with a misdemeanor, fined as much as $1,000 and removed from employment or public office. Any Wyoming resident would have been permitted to file a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a prohibited agreement. The bill preserved confidentiality where it was already authorized under the Wyoming Public Records Act, including protections for trade secrets and specified private records.

Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said that work performed in his public position "has got to be transparent." Laramie County Commission Chair Gunnar Malm said neither he nor, to his knowledge, any county commissioner or employee had signed or been asked to sign such an agreement. Converse County Commission Chair Jim Willox said companies working with the county understood Wyoming's open-meetings and public-records requirements.

Tyler Lindholm, a former Wyoming state representative serving as the organization's Wyoming state director, said that Americans for Prosperity did not select candidates according to their formal affiliation with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. Lindholm said its candidate selections considered legislators' votes and positions on economic policy, energy projects, healthcare regulation and school choice.

Felony intimidation conviction In 1991, Colorado prosecutors charged Brown with two felony counts of intimidation of a witness or victim following complaints from a former girlfriend and a friend of hers. According to police reports, the friend said that Brown told her, "You are going to get it too." His former girlfriend alleged that Brown confronted her repeatedly and made statements including, "You're in for it now, you had to show up," "Now you are going to lose your children," "You had better watch your feet" and "What are you looking for? Trouble? Turning me in?" Brown denied calling or harassing the friend. Prosecutors alleged that Brown was responsible and charged him with criminal attempt to commit first-degree arson and second-degree burglary of a dwelling. Brown did not plead guilty to those charges, and they were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Wyoming issued Brown a certificate restoring his voting and office-holding rights on November 8, 2023, more than 31 years after his conviction. The Wyoming restoration process does not restore firearm rights following an out-of-state conviction. Laramie County election records showed that Brown first voted in Wyoming in 2024, the year he became a legislative candidate.

When WyoFile investigated the conviction in 2026, Brown did not respond to the publication's voicemails, text messages or emailed questions.

2013 harassment conviction In February 2013, Brown was accused of repeatedly calling and messaging a former girlfriend after she ended their two-year relationship. The woman told Fort Collins police that she had blocked Brown's calls and messages on her personal telephone but could not block him from calling her workplace. She showed police a message instructing Brown not to contact her, her family or her friends.

Police records stated that Brown called the woman 22 times on February 25 and another 18 times on February 28. Sixteen of the calls on February 28 occurred between 4:55 a.m. and 6:29 a.m. Police collected six voicemails as evidence, and WyoFile later obtained and reviewed the recordings. In one message, a man identified by police as Brown said, "Now I'm praying that you die soon in the way you really deserve to." In another, he said, "I promise you I'm going after your daughter." Other messages described his intention to occupy her telephone line and fill her voicemail so that her employer and other callers could not reach her. The woman told police that she feared for her safety and her daughter's safety.

When contacted by an officer, Brown reportedly said that he did not remember threatening to pursue the woman's daughter or calling her that morning. He agreed to surrender to police but did not do so, and a judge issued an arrest warrant on March 7, 2013.

Brown pleaded guilty to harassment on June 3, 2013. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail, 18 months of supervised probation, 36 hours of community service and payment of fines, fees and court costs. A domestic-violence sentence enhancer was applied because the offense involved a person with whom Brown had been in an intimate relationship.

The court ordered Brown to undergo a domestic-violence evaluation and complete any recommended treatment. The publicly reported court records did not disclose the evaluation's findings or separately establish when it was completed. In a later request to convert Brown's supervision from supervised to unsupervised probation, his probation officer reported that Brown had completed an anger-management and domestic-violence class on November 5, 2013.

Brown did not respond to questions, voicemails or text messages from WyoFile concerning the conviction.