Cynthia Lummis wins GOP Senate primary in Wyoming

Former Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) won her state’s Senate GOP primary Tuesday, setting her up as the heavy favorite to win the general election in November.

Lummis, who served four terms in the House before deciding not to run for reelection in 2016, pulled ahead of a crowded field of Republicans, including Converse County Commissioner Robert Short, in the race to replace retiring Sen. Mike Enzi (R).

She will now face Merav Ben-David, a professor and climate activist, in November. Ben-David won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, defeating five other candidates.

Lummis emerged as the frontrunner in the GOP primary race after Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the House and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, announced she would not run for the open seat. Had Cheney run, she would have been the heavy favorite to win the primary.

But now it is Lummis who is all but guaranteed to fill the seat in a deeply conservative state that reelected Enzi by about 54 points in 2014. The Cook Political Report rates the Senate race as “Solid” Republican.