Cynthia Marie Lummis Wiederspahn is an American attorney and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Wyoming since 2021.
95 Facts About Cynthia Lummis
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Cynthia Lummis served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983 and from 1985 to 1993, in the Wyoming Senate from 1993 to 1995, and as the Wyoming State Treasurer from 1999 to 2007.
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Cynthia Lummis was elected treasurer of Wyoming in 1998 and reelected without opposition in 2002.
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Cynthia Lummis chaired Mary Mead's gubernatorial campaign in 1990 and Ray Hunkins's gubernatorial campaign in 2006.
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Cynthia Lummis served on Bob Dole's presidential steering committee in Wyoming and chaired Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign in Wyoming.
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Cynthia Lummis was elected to succeed Barbara Cubin in the US House of Representatives in the 2008 election, defeating Democratic nominee Gary Trauner.
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Cynthia Lummis served until her retirement in 2017, and was succeeded by Liz Cheney.
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Cynthia Lummis was elected to the US Senate in the 2020 election, becoming the first woman to represent Wyoming in the Senate.
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Cynthia Lummis voted to reject the certification of Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, which were narrowly won by Joe Biden.
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Cynthia Marie Lummis was born on September 10,1954, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Doran Lummis and Enid Bennett.
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Cynthia Lummis is descended from German immigrants and her family first came to Wyoming in 1868.
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Cynthia Lummis's father chaired the Laramie County Republican Party and served on the county board of commissioners.
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Cynthia Lummis attended Cheyenne East High School, and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science in 1976 and a Bachelor of Science in biology in 1978.
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Cynthia Lummis graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Juris Doctor in 1985, and was on the dean's list.
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Cynthia Lummis worked as a student teacher at Rock River School in 1977.
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In 1978, Cynthia Lummis was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives at age 24, the youngest woman to serve in the state legislature.
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Cynthia Lummis was reelected in 1980, but chose to not seek reelection in 1982.
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Cynthia Lummis returned to the state house after winning the 1984 election.
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Cynthia Lummis filed to run for reelection on June 19,1986, and was reelected after placing third out of 18 candidates.
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Cynthia Lummis was reelected in the 1988 and 1990 elections.
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Cynthia Lummis was reapportioned to the 8th district in 1992.
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In 1990, when Republican Senator Dan Sullivan resigned from the Wyoming Senate, Senate Majority Leader Diemer True stated that Cynthia Lummis was qualified to replace Sullivan in the state senate.
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In 1992, Lummis ran for a seat in the Wyoming Senate from the 5th district, defeating Norman P Feagler for the Republican nomination, and incumbent Democratic Senator Harriet Elizabeth Byrd in the general election.
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Geringer appointed Cynthia Lummis to serve as interim director of the Office of State Lands and Investments in 1997, after he fired Jim Magagna.
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On February 28,1982, Cynthia Lummis was injured in a car accident while Wiederspahn was driving.
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Cynthia Lummis attended the National Conference of State Legislatures national conference in 1982, alongside Senate President Donald Cundall and Representatives Wiederspahn, Peg Shreve, Scott Ratliff, William A Cross, and George Salisbury.
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Cynthia Lummis changed the vote to a nay after coming back in, and Representative Ken Burns cited this as an example of why electronic voting was needed.
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Cynthia Lummis served as Republican candidate Mary Mead's campaign manager during the 1990 gubernatorial election.
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Cynthia Lummis won the Republican nomination without opposition and defeated Democratic nominee Charyl Loveridge and Libertarian nominee James Blomquist.
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Cynthia Lummis was considered as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2002 gubernatorial election, but declined to run.
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Cynthia Lummis announced on April 30 that she would seek reelection as treasurer, and was reelected without opposition in 2002.
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Cynthia Lummis was the only statewide candidate to face no opposition in the 2002 election, as nobody had filed to run in the Democratic primary and no other candidate received the 25 write-in votes required to qualify for the nomination.
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Cynthia Lummis was limited to two terms as treasurer and did not challenge the constitutionality of the legislation, despite the Wyoming Supreme Court having invalidated term limits on state legislators.
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Cynthia Lummis endorsed former Speaker Fred Parady to succeed her as treasurer in the 2006 election, but Joseph Meyer won the Republican primary and the general election.
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Cynthia Lummis conducted an accounting change by raising the interest rate on the $100 million in Wyoming banks, which reduced Wyoming's expected budget deficit in 1999 by over $5 million.
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Cynthia Lummis served on the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners alongside Governor Geringer, Secretary of State Meyer, Auditor Max Maxfield, and superintendent of public instruction Judy Catchpole.
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Cynthia Lummis claimed that she was the person responsible for the increase in Wyoming's investments during her tenure as treasurer, but Freudenthal said that no one person could take credit for the increase.
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Cynthia Lummis initially supported a recount, but changed her mind after Mary Ann Collins, the Natrona County Clerk, told her that all of the ballots had been counted.
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Cynthia Lummis was the only statewide official from Wyoming to attended Bush's second inauguration.
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Cynthia Lummis served as the chair of Ray Hunkins's campaign during the 2006 gubernatorial election.
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Representative Barbara Cubin, whom Cynthia Lummis had supported during the 1994 election, announced that she would not run for reelection in the 2008 election.
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On January 2,2008, Cynthia Lummis announced that she would run for Cubin's seat, winning the Republican nomination against Mark Gordon, Bill Winney, and Michael Holland, having challenged them to debates held in all 23 Wyoming counties during the primaries.
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Cynthia Lummis defeated Democratic nominee Gary Trauner in the general election.
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Lummis was reelected in 2010 against Democratic nominee David Wendt and Libertarian nominee John V Love, after having raised $780,426 and spending $754,270 compared to Wendt, who had raised $65,709 and spent $68,523 Lummis announced that she would run for reelection on May 21,2012, and was reelected in the 2012 election over Democratic nominee Chris Henrichsen after having raised $715,314 and spent $631,026.
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Cynthia Lummis was reelected in the 2014 election against Democratic nominee Richard Grayson after having raised $432,666 and spent $300,949.
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On November 12,2015, Cynthia Lummis announced that she would not seek reelection in the 2016 election, and Liz Cheney was elected to succeed her.
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Cynthia Lummis considered running for the Republican nomination in the 2018 gubernatorial election, but declined to run and endorsed Sam Galeotos.
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Cynthia Lummis sought a position in President Donald Trump's cabinet by attempting to replace Ryan Zinke as United States Secretary of the Interior, but David Bernhardt was appointed instead.
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Cynthia Lummis was the first representative from Wyoming to serve on the Agriculture Committee since Frank O Horton, who served on the committee from 1939 to 1941.
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Cynthia Lummis left the Appropriations Committee in 2013, saying she had requested her removal from the committee and that it was not part of a purge of radical Republicans from committee positions.
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Cynthia Lummis was appointed chair of the Science Subcommittee on Energy in 2013.
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Cynthia Lummis served as the communications chair and spokesperson of the Congressional Western Caucus and succeeded Dean Heller as vice chair in 2011 following Heller's appointment to the United States Senate.
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Cynthia Lummis was elected to serve on the House Republican Steering Committee in 2010.
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Cynthia Lummis was at one point the only female member of the Freedom Caucus and the last until the election of Debbie Lesko.
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Cynthia Lummis co-chaired the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues alongside Representative Gwen Moore from 2011 to 2013.
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Cynthia Lummis was a member of the Tea Party Caucus.
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Cynthia Lummis supported Speaker John Boehner while the Freedom Caucus successfully pushed to remove Boehner.
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Cynthia Lummis praised the election of Paul Ryan as Speaker, saying, "we have ushered in thoughtful, conservative leadership, restored member-driven policy-making to the legislative process and returned regular order that will bring sunshine to back rooms making government work better".
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Cynthia Lummis served on the Republican whip team until she was removed from the position in 2015, for voting against giving President Barack Obama the authority to propose a trade agreement with Pacific countries.
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Cynthia Lummis said she knew she would be removed from her position on the whip team for her vote but did not regret it.
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Cynthia Lummis placed third in the final vote, making her one of the nominees submitted to the governor as a candidate for appointment, alongside John Barrasso and Tom Sansonetti.
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Cynthia Lummis was speculated as a possible candidate in the 2014 United States Senate election.
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On June 20,2019, Cynthia Lummis filed to run for a seat in the United States Senate to succeed retiring Senator Mike Enzi.
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Cynthia Lummis won the Republican nomination and defeated Democratic nominee Merav Ben-David in the general election.
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Cynthia Lummis's victory made her the first woman to represent Wyoming in the United States Senate.
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Cynthia Lummis raised more during the campaign than all of her Republican and Democratic opponents combined.
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Cynthia Lummis voted to acquit Trump during his second impeachment trial.
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Cynthia Lummis supported the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but said the government should avoid bailing out private companies.
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Cynthia Lummis supported the privization of Social Security, raising the age at which people received Social Security money, and making the Bush tax cuts permanent.
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Cynthia Lummis voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
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Cynthia Lummis said that House Democrats had a "cocaine-like addiction" to spending.
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Cynthia Lummis voted against the Hurricane Sandy relief bill, saying that although victims of Hurricane Sandy deserved the money the federal government should cut its budget to offset the cost of the legislation.
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Cynthia Lummis has campaigned for a regulatory framework for digital assets, a stance she reiterated after the FTX exchange collapsed.
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In 1979, Cynthia Lummis said that it was "important to me to see Equal Rights Amendment not rescinded".
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Cynthia Lummis voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.
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Cynthia Lummis voted against the repeal of don't ask, don't tell and co-sponsored the State Marriage Defense Act.
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Cynthia Lummis opposes same-sex marriage and believes that it "should be left to the states".
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Cynthia Lummis was given a zero percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign during her entire tenure in the House of Representatives.
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Cynthia Lummis was one of 12 Republicans to vote to advance the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that codifies same-sex marriage rights into federal law.
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On November 29,2022, Cynthia Lummis voted for the final passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.
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Cynthia Lummis supported continuing the United States' occupation of Iraq, holding that soldiers should not be withdrawn until General David Petraeus said it was time to leave.
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Cynthia Lummis was one of four Republicans on the Agriculture Committee to vote in favor of legislation that would have lifted the travel ban on Americans and agricultural products to and from Cuba.
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Cynthia Lummis opposed American involvement in the Syrian civil war, stating that the civil war "should be dealt with by the Arab world" and that she did not see how "getting involved in another open-ended and costly conflict is in the best interest of America".
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Cynthia Lummis received an A rating from the National Rifle Association during the 2008 campaign.
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Cynthia Lummis supported the creation of federal legislation to allow private insurance companies to form interstate insurance pools.
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Cynthia Lummis voted against passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2009, and has supported subsequent efforts to defund the ACA.
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Cynthia Lummis co-sponsored legislation in the state house to allow state Medicaid funding to be used for abortions when the mother's life was at risk.
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The Wyoming "Right to Choose" political action committee reported that Cynthia Lummis was pro-choice after she completed a questionnaire during the 1990 election and the organization endorsed her during the 1992 election.
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Cynthia Lummis said in the 1990s that abortion was a sin, but that it should not be illegal, because people can better evaluate their circumstances than the state.
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In 2015, Cynthia Lummis cosponsored and voted for legislation in the House to defund Planned Parenthood.
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Cynthia Lummis met Alvin Wiederspahn while both were campaigning during the 1978 election; they married on May 28,1983.
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Cynthia Lummis remained married to Wiederspahn, with whom she had one child, until his death on October 24,2014.
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Cynthia Lummis has a net worth of $12.26 million as of 2015, but reported a net worth between $20 million and $75 million from 2007 to 2008.
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Cynthia Lummis purchased Bitcoin in 2013 on her son-in-law's advice and became the first US senator to own cryptocurrency.
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Cynthia Lummis owned at least $230,000 worth of Bitcoin in 2021.