Cynthia Lummis

Cynthia M. Lummis was born and reared in Laramie County, Wyoming. Her parents were descendants of pioneer Wyoming ranchers. Lummis attended Trinity Lutheran School and Cheyenne public schools before graduating from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science in 1976. She completed a second bachelor’s degree at the University of Wyoming in biology in 1978. Lummis entered the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1982, earning her J. D. degree in law in 1985.

She began her political career in 1979 when she was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives. At that time she was the youngest woman ever elected to the Wyoming Legislature. She served a total of fourteen years in the Wyoming House and Senate, retiring in 1994 to chair Governor Jim Geringer’s transition team. She continued to work for Geringer on policy issues for two years and was appointed interim Director of the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments.

In 1998, Lummis was elected to the first of two terms as Wyoming State Treasurer on the Republican ticket. She did not seek reelection in 2006. Following the death of U. S. Senator Craig Thomas in June 2007, Lummis was one of three candidates chosen by the State Republican Central Committee to fill out the first two years of Thomas’ term, but was not selected.

In 2008, Lummis was elected Wyoming’s lone US Representative to Congress, succeeding Barbara Cubin, and becoming only the second woman to serve in this office. She was reelected in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

In 2020, Lummis was elected to represent Wyoming the US Senate, filling the seat previously held by Sen. Mike Enzi who declined to run for re-election. She became the first female Senator from Wyoming. 

Lummis married Alvin Weiderspahn, Cheyenne attorney and businessman, in 1982. Weiderspahn passed away in 2014. They are parents of a daughter, Annaliese.