Incumbent Barbara Cubin won the Republican U.S. House nomination for a sixth term Tuesday, easily defeating four challengers.

Cubin received 54 percent, or 40,894 votes, according to unofficial results with 91 percent of the state's precincts reporting.

"I have worked over the past 10 years to support the people of Wyoming and their values and their needs in a huge way, and I know that people in Wyoming recognize that," Cubin said.

Cheyenne attorney Bruce Asay and state Sen. Cale Case of Lander - Cubin's toughest challengers - ran far behind the incumbent. Even with four challengers, Cubin collected a majority of Republican votes.

"Obviously, I thought we would be able to get over the hump, but we came up just a little short," Asay said of his loss.

Case or Asay initially had speculated that one of them might drop out of the race, in hopes that the remaining candidate might give the incumbent a tougher fight instead of splitting the vote.

That never came to pass, and Case suggested on Tuesday that it never was a practical strategy, because he and Asay were so different from each other.

"I'm a social moderate and I really worry about the Republican Party trying to run everybody's lives," he said from Lander. "Bruce and Barbara … are really of the same cloth. So there's no way I could have" dropped out.

Asay received 18,713 votes, or 25 percent, and Case gained 12,436 or 16 percent.

Cubin faced a slightly closer challenge in her home Natrona County, gaining 46 percent of the vote, according to final unofficial results. Asay acquired just over 26 percent of the county's votes, and Case followed him with 2,292 votes, or 23 percent.

Cubin was not disheartened by the Natrona County results.

"My opponents ran vigorous races, and I'm not disappointed about anything," she said. "Certainly, it means I have work to do and I will do that work and we will win in November."

Other GOP candidates were Marvin "Trip" Applequist and Jim Altebaumer.

Applequist received 2,214, or 3 percent of the statewide vote, and Altebaumer 1,260 votes, in late returns.

"We're disappointed we didn't win but we knew it was a longshot going in," Applequist conceded. "I wish Mrs. Cubin the best of luck in the general election."

The race for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat was a hot one this year, with eight candidates, four of them Republican, taking on the five-term incumbent.

Cubin hadn't faced so many opponents within her own party since her first run in 1994, when she beat out three Republicans.

Throughout their campaigns and at a televised debate early this month, Cubin's Republican challengers mostly criticized her voting record.

They collectively alleged that Cubin was taking her position for granted and that she was "out of touch" with Wyoming values.

Cubin offered no apologies for those missed congressional votes, saying all were due to her husband Fritz's illness.

"Some of the votes I missed were naming post offices, were issues that passed 420 to one - every vote that I missed was one that passed by a hundred votes or more, generally," Cubin said at a Governmental Affairs Committee meeting in Casper in April.

Wyoming was never unrepresented, she assured.

Asay begged to differ. He pointed out throughout his campaign that she didn't vote on the No Child Left Behind Act and that affects Wyoming. He also said that the illness of Cubin's husband is no excuse for her missing votes.

"I'm going to be accused of being insensitive but … if there's no vote cast, there's no representation on our behalf," said Asay, who also said the congresswoman had broke too many appointments with constituents.

Countering her opponents' allegations that she wasn't working hard for Wyoming, Cubin reminded voters what she's done for them in Congress. She was instrumental in pushing through the House a sales tax deduction bill, she said. Cubin also touted her proposal to cut the federal royalty rate for trona, which also made it through the House. Neither has been approved by the U.S. Senate.

A seasoned state legislator, Case - known for his fiscal conservatism - specifically attacked Cubin for being "fiscally irresponsible."

He blamed Cubin, who was elected as part of the class that ushered in Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, for failing to stand by her pledge back then to be fiscally responsible and reform the way Congress works.

"That is the real driver behind why I should be in Washington," he said in an interview early in his campaign.

Reporter Tara Westreicher can be reached at (307) 266-0593 or

tara.westreicher@casperstartribune.net.