Reid Rasner, Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Wednesday, July 1 to discuss his campaign.

(0:00) Joining me live over the phone this morning is Reid Reisner. (0:03) He is running for Congress in the state of Wyoming for the U.S. House of Representatives. (0:08) Reid, good morning.

(0:09) How are you doing today? (0:10) Doing good. (0:11) Good morning, and thank you for having me. (0:13) Absolutely.

(0:13) Appreciate you taking some time to chat with us about your campaign. (0:17) And I guess the first question we always ask, and that you probably get out of the gate (0:21) right at the very beginning, is why did you decide to run for Congress in Wyoming? (0:26) Well, Wyoming needs some help. (0:28) Our veterans need some help, and our business community certainly needs some help.

(0:33) And I hope I can bring my business expertise to Congress, get some term limits for the (0:41) American people and a balanced budget amendment—those are some of the most important things—and (0:45) help Wyoming and stop the high attrition rate of our youth leaving the state. (0:50) So it’s what we see as career politicians who’ve been in office for 10, 15 years, (0:55) like my opponent, China Chuck. (0:58) Been there since he was 25 years old, never had a real job in his life.

(1:03) And it’s time that we put some actual business people in there that know what the hell they’re (1:07) doing and can get this done for not only America, but the Wyoming people. (1:12) Reid, tell us more about your background. (1:13) You mentioned business, of course.

(1:15) What have you done up to this point? (1:18) Yeah, for sure. (1:19) So, you know, out of high school, I owned Wyoming Glass in Castro, Wyoming. (1:23) We’re a statewide glazing company for commercial, automotive, and residential glass.

(1:28) And I sold that in 2009 when I was 25, and then I went to college, and now I own Omnivest (1:33) Financial. (1:34) We’re an independent RIA, and we help investors and veterans with their financial planning (1:40) and investments. (1:41) I have a real estate holding company and some software development stuff going on.

(1:46) My entire life, I’ve signed both sides of the check, and I don’t think anyone else (1:50) in this race can say that. (1:53) We’re employing people, we’re creating jobs, we’re creating opportunities here in Wyoming. (1:58) And one of the really frustrating things that we see happening is our kids leaving this (2:04) state because we don’t have good, high-paying jobs, and we keep saying no to good businesses (2:08) coming into Wyoming.

(2:10) And as a frustration across the board, when we see skyrocketing electric bills, we’re (2:14) seeing a drought and less water because these data centers are coming into Wyoming. (2:19) And you know, Chuck Gray, I call him China Chuck, voted for tax elimination and tax breaks (2:26) for data centers on March 1st. (2:28) Now he’s coming out against data centers.

(2:31) You don’t get to have it both ways. (2:33) You’ve got to have some sort of moral compass in your life, and he has none. (2:37) We need some business people that can go in and get a deal done, get something done for (2:40) Wyoming and actually bring it home for our kids and our future here, right here in the (2:46) state.

(2:47) Reid Raisner, candidate for Congress from the state of Wyoming. (2:50) Reid, you mentioned, of course, industry and business. (2:53) The mineral industry continues to be a big talking, a big focus, and maybe seeing a resurgence (3:00) in the coal industry.

(3:02) What do you see that you bring to the table when it comes to energy production and natural (3:06) resources in the state of Wyoming? (3:09) Yeah, we want to expand those energy leases for coal, oil, and gas in the state, while (3:13) also exploring our nuclear options. (3:15) We have a ton of uranium, and right now we’re importing all of that from out of the country, (3:21) where Fremont County and even north of Metrona County here, we have an abundance of uranium (3:26) mining that we’ve done for decades and decades. (3:28) But getting those permits out of the BLM and the Department of Interior is paramount, and (3:33) making sure that those permits are accessible.

(3:35) So putting timelines on that, if I apply or anyone applies for a mining or an exploration (3:40) permit on those BLM lands, they have 90 days to approve it. (3:43) Otherwise, it’s automatically approved, and I want to see legislation get passed that (3:47) actually streamlines that, so our business owners have some confidence in those bottom (3:52) line numbers, and they’re not sitting on permits for five and ten years waiting for (3:55) them to be approved so they can start extracting those minerals. (4:00) On top of that, I’ve introduced the Raisner Better Land Management Policy, I call it, that (4:04) is going to renegotiate that mineral split with the federal government.

(4:08) Currently, Wyoming keeps 48% of all the royalties produced off of federal lands in the state (4:15) of Wyoming. (4:16) When we look at other states, some of them are getting 90% of those mineral royalties. (4:21) They’re very energy-rich states, just like Wyoming, and it just takes one member of Congress (4:26) to introduce legislation, I can’t believe this hasn’t been done before, to raise Wyoming’s (4:30) mineral royalty split with those BLM lands and those managed lands to 90%.

(4:36) We get to keep our lands, public lands stay in public hands, but we get to keep the lion’s (4:41) share of that money, and that is $1 billion annually today, that doesn’t include future (4:47) contracts as we expand our coal, oil, and gas industries and rare earths, $1 billion (4:52) today. (4:53) So if you want to talk about eliminating property taxes for seniors and veterans, this is how (4:57) you do it. (4:58) You bring home $1 billion annually, and I’ll be the only member of Congress in all of Wyoming’s (5:04) history to ever actually get that done and get $1 billion annually back to the state (5:08) of Wyoming.

(5:09) It’ll be a phenomenal thing that will last for generations, it’s in perpetuity, and our (5:15) kids and our grandkids will have that forever and ever coming back to the state as long (5:19) as we continue to release those mineral permits and those land permits. (5:24) Our ranchers get to continue grazing on those lands, I get to continue hunting, you get (5:28) to continue hunting and fishing and hiking on those lands, and it’s a win-win-win for (5:33) everybody keeping those lands in public hands while returning $1 billion annually back to (5:39) the state. (5:40) Reid, this question kind of goes hand-in-hand with that, but you mentioned a few times how (5:45) it’s, we’re seeing the younger generations leave Wyoming, not able to come back to the (5:50) Cowboy State.

(5:51) Do you see that as a way to reverse that trend? (5:55) Yeah, we’re going to reverse it. (5:56) So listen, we don’t have to lower housing prices, we have to offer better job opportunities, (6:03) and when you look at the median incomes of families in Wyoming, we’re trailing 10 and (6:09) 15 percent behind the national average. (6:12) So making sure that we’re a business-friendly state again, you know, Wyoming is known for (6:16) being the most business-friendly state, and I’ll tell you what, these past four years, (6:21) we’ve elected a Secretary of State to be head of business and industry, and this state has (6:26) gutted the business industry and completely restricted us.

(6:29) So it’s hard to grow in this state right now. (6:31) We’re going to get this back on track. (6:33) We’re going to have some champions on the outside looking for great business opportunities, (6:37) more refineries coming into Wyoming, building right here in Wyoming, coal-fired power plants, (6:42) refineries, building high-paying jobs for Wyomingites right here in the state.

(6:48) And when that happens, our kiddos are not only going to be able to return back to Wyoming, (6:52) they’re going to be able to afford a house, have a family, and continue our legacy and (6:57) our heritage in the state. (6:58) But their kids are also going to have the same opportunity to have high-paying, great (7:03) jobs right here in the state of Wyoming. (7:05) Then they’ll be able to afford homes, they’ll be able to raise their families and continue (7:11) on our heritage and legacy the same way.

(7:13) But we’ve got to make some changes, and I’ll tell you what, there’s only one guy in this (7:18) race who’s signed both sides of the check as business-friendly and wants to see Wyoming (7:23) not only grow in the business industry, but also provide high-paying jobs to the current (7:30) job market and our future job markets. (7:32) Reid Raisner, candidate for U.S. Congress from the state of Wyoming. (7:35) Reid, this is a crowded, crowded field, 10 candidates running for this one seat.

(7:40) What do you feel separates you from everyone else? (7:44) I’m, again, listen, I’m focused on my race. (7:47) I’m the only candidate that is 100% pro-business in this state. (7:51) I’ve signed both sides of the check.

(7:53) I’m not a politician. (7:54) I want to see term limits. (7:56) I want to see a balanced budget amendment.

(7:58) No balanced budget, no pay for any member of Congress. (8:02) And we’ve got to stop electing career politicians. (8:06) We’ve got to get someone who will let business and energy thrive.

(8:09) And as our regulations grow, our freedoms die, and you have to understand that. (8:13) If we’re going to elect the same people again, time and time again, Wyoming is going to be (8:20) in trouble time and time again. (8:22) So let’s get over the hump here.

(8:24) It might be a 10-person race, but really there’s only one or two of us that are even polling (8:33) above 20% right now. (8:35) So it’s a two-man race, and China Chuck can’t make it to Congress. (8:41) He gave 56 business licenses to Communist China in 2025 alone.

(8:45) He sold Wyoming out to China, and he’s given data centers tax breaks in his vote on March (8:53) 1st, 2021. (8:54) And that is why your electric bills are raising, because we’re shouldering the weight of those (9:00) tax breaks as the taxpayers. (9:02) They’re not producing energy, and they’re not producing anything for Wyoming because (9:05) of his voting record.

(9:07) And while he talks about his voting record, I just fire back and I tell everyone exactly (9:14) what his voting record is. (9:15) The wind turbine expansion, 6,000 acres, 60-year leases on those. (9:22) I’ll be dead before those wind turbine leases expire, and a lot of Wyoming will.

(9:26) Our kids and our grandkids will have to deal with the problems that China Chuck Gray has (9:31) handed us. (9:32) He can’t be allowed in Congress, I’ll tell you that. (9:35) Reid Raisner, candidate for U.S. Congress this morning on the Weekday Wakeup.

(9:38) Reid, thank you so much for your time. (9:40) If someone wants to learn more about you, how do they do that? (9:42) Go to ReidRaisner.com, R-E-I-D-R-A-S-N-E-R.com. (9:48) Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, all the social medias, even TikTok. (9:54) I almost brought it to Wyoming.

(9:56) And get ahold of me, I’m in Casper one or two days a week, but I travel the state thoroughly. (10:03) We’ve gone over 30,000 miles so far just this year getting around the state of Wyoming. (10:09) Come see me if you see me in town, don’t be a stranger.

(10:13) We’re almost there, we’re 45 days away from the election. (10:16) Get out and vote for Reid Raisner for U.S. Congress. (10:19) It’s all part of the Weekday Wakeup this morning on SBI Radio.

(10:22) Reid, thanks so much for your time, we appreciate it. (10:24) Thank you.