Democratic Rep.: We Need To Do A Better Job Of Inviting People In

A Laramie County state Representative who narrowly lost her house seat in Tuesday's General Election says Wyoming Democrats need to "do a better job of inviting people in" to their party.

Rep. Sara Burlingame was narrowly defeated by Republican John Romero-Martinez in Wyoming House District 44 on Tuesday. Romero-Martinez won by 45 votes or a margin of 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent.

Following Tuesday's election, Democrats will hold only 7 seats in the 60-member House of Representatives. Two Wyoming Senators of 30 members of that body will be Democrats.

Burlingame was not the only incumbent legislative Democrat to lose her seat on Tuesday. Others included Sen. Lisa Anselmi-Dalton of Rock Springs, who lost to Republican John Kolb. Fellow Sweetwater County Democrat Rep.Stan Blake also was defeated, losing to Libertarian Marshall Burt.

The defeat of the two Sweetwater County Democrats was notable for the fact that as recently as the 1990s, Sweetwater County was a Democratic stronghold, which rarely sent Republicans to Cheyenne. That political landscape in Sweetwater County has now been reversed. In fact, come January, the only Democratic member of the Sweetwater County Legislative delegation will be Chad Banks, representing House District 17. Banks was unopposed in Tuesday's election.

Burlingame on Wednesday morning said she thinks Wyoming Democrats need to do a better job of inviting people to join their party. She said she thinks many of the issues that state Democrats care about--such as health care and education--are common concerns of people in Wyoming.

Taking the everyday concerns people have about the economy and paying their bills, Burlingame said ''We're worried about that too. And we think we have an answer." She went on to say "And then I think we have to take it on the chins ourselves....like me, Sara Burlingame. Have I done the best job of inviting people in. of telling them, I'm here to serve you? I don't know that we have."

She went on to say that she thinks Democrats in Wyoming "act really superior, really arrogant" and then "say, hey" I don't know why people don't want to be part of our party."

In the Wednesday morning interview, Burlingame also said she plans to run again for the House District 44 seat in 2022.