What Does Ted Support?

Ted Supports Workers

Wyoming has long been a leader in the energy industry, and we need to keep that proud heritage. The way to do that is to become the world leader in all kinds of energy. Ted believes in a just transition for coal workers and that we can provide world-class training for jobs in wind, solar, and storage technologies.

Ted knows that you don’t throw good money after bad—forcing outdated and unsuccessful coal-fired power plants to stay open is bad policy. Green energy can return all the jobs we’ve lost and then some, to the tunes of thousands of new jobs for Wyoming workers.

A ”right to work” law is a nice way to say “rights of the wealthy” law. Corporations and CEOs are rigging the system so that workers don’t get what they deserve in pay and workplace protections. Repealing the right to work law will give workers a level playing field with their employers.

Public workers were promised one thing when they started their jobs, and the state has tried to give them another. That isn’t fair play. We should maintain and strengthen the benefits and pensions for public workers, so that workers can retire in dignity.

Wyoming is losing workers to other states because we aren’t keeping up with trends in pay. A worker with a family to feed isn’t going to stay here if they can’t make enough to put food on the table. We need to increase the minimum wage so that we are competitive with our neighbors and are paying people enough to provide for their families.

Equal work deserves equal pay, end of story. We need to legislate wage transparency so that we know when pay is being taken from us.

We need to make it possible to work without making it harder to have a family. If our child is sick or our mother needs care after a fall, we need enough family and medical leave to take care of the people we love most. When we go to work each day, we want to be sure that it doesn’t take our whole paycheck to have someone trustworthy look after our children.

Ted Supports Wellness

It is past time to expand Medicaid. Legislators denying Medicaid expansion are hurting Wyomingites, and leaving money on the table that Wyoming desperately needs. The best way to create a flexible, adaptive, and engaged community is by ensuring that everyone’s healthcare needs are met regardless of their job.

We have a desperate need for additional mental health support in Wyoming. We should make it as easy to understand our problems and get help as possible. That’s why we need reciprocity of licensing for mental health professionals, expanded telehealth, and increased suicide education.

Trusting Wyomingites to make decisions about their own health and bodies is so important, it made it into our Constitution. Article I, Section 38. (a) of the Wyoming Constitution says, “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.” The government should never come between you and your doctor.

Wyoming’s women and men deserve the full range of reproductive healthcare services. Having a family is one of the most important decisions in your life, and you deserve all of the tools you need to make that decision.

Ted Supports Wisdom

Students are Wyoming’s future, and our most important task is supporting our children.

We demand equitable funding and resources for all schools, ensuring that rural schools continue to thrive and neglected schools get the attention they deserve.

The dollar spent closest to the student is a dollar well spent. We should focus on attracting, retaining, and training top quality teachers with competitive pay, access to necessary resources, and a culture of respect for their knowledge and experience.

Learning takes place outside of the classroom too, and that time is equally important. We must protect the programs that feed and enrich our students, such as school lunch, after school activities, and athletics.

Our teachers need the freedom to make their curriculum work for each student. What is taught in the classroom should be developed by professional educators, not state legislators and not strident voices. When parents try to ban books, they are infringing on the freedom of other parents’ children. The best way to help students navigate difficult content is to work directly with teachers and librarians, to work with children to develop their interests, and to talk to your kids.  

Ted Supports Wilderness

Ted Hanlon spent his youth on his family's ranch, and he understands the importance of taking care of our land, water, and people. We have a duty to protect our biodiversity from the threats of illness and climate change, and we have to be better prepared to fight Chronic Wasting Disease and drought.

All public lands should be accessible to Wyomingites and that outdoor recreation is one of Wyoming’s best features. We must defend our access to public land so that we can enjoy everything Wyoming has to offer—hunting, fishing, hiking, and simply enjoying the beauty of Wyoming’s incomparable landscape.

Ted Supports Western Values

The Wyoming legislature has spent years setting Wyoming up to fail, and that stops now.

The first rule of rural living is, “Look out for your neighbor and fix your own fences.” We’ve lost sight of what it means to be a community, but we’ve also lost sight of personal responsibility and minding our own business. When we hurt our neighbors or try to tell them what to do, we aren’t living up to our values.

Every time a new family arrives in Wyoming, we lose money. If we’d had a system like that in the Old West, Cheyenne would still just be a speck on the map. We need fair taxes that mean that we get more money when our population grows, not less. We’ve seen our western neighbors do it, and now it’s our turn.

We are the Equality State, and we’re proud of that. To live up to that legacy, we need to pass anti-discrimination laws that make it clear that Wyoming is open to everyone that wants to make this beautiful state their home.

Wyoming has always been about having a wild idea and taking a chance to see it succeed. We need to get out of the way of entrepreneurs who are ready to make something new. That means a fundamental change in things like the way liquor licenses are distributed. We should structure those changes so that the hardworking people with the existing licenses are not suddenly left with a big financial loss.

Wyoming’s communication strategies haven’t changed much since the days of the telegram. We’re decades behind in broadband expansion, leaving many people isolated and making everything from education to employment a lot harder. With faster, better internet we’ll be able to enjoy all of the comforts of country living without giving up our connections.