Two incumbent Republican state senators in Natrona County have announced they are running for re-election, according to news releases.

Sens. Bill Landen, SD 27, and Drew Perkins, SD29, will seek their party's nominations in the Aug. 21 primary.

The other two senate districts in Natrona County -- 28 and 30 -- will have their next elections in 2020.

Landen was appointed to the Senate in 2007 by the Natrona County Commission and has since been elected three times in the district that includes east Casper and Evansville.

He serves on the Joint Appropriations Committee, the School Facilities Committee and the Wildlife Trust Committee. He also will co-chair the task force overseeing construction of a new state office building in Casper.

Landen retired from Casper College after a 30-year career.

He has focused his work on education including serving on the Education Accountability and Recalibration committees. In the 2018 session, he cosponsored legislation that provides for common transcripts in higher education to offer a seamless transfer of credits from the community colleges to the University of Wyoming.

He has tightened stalking and domestic violence laws. His bill establishing presumptive disability for Wyoming’s firefighters is now considered a model for other states, according to the news release.

Landen intends to establish a long-term, sustainable K-12 funding model; do more for the community colleges; address issues with corrections because prisons are full and staffing is low; and work on mental health issues.

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Perkins, Senate Majority Floor Leader, was elected in 2006 to represent District 29 that includes west Casper and rural Natrona County west of Casper. He will be the next President of the Senate.

He opposes a state income tax, and wants to make government more transparent and accountable, he said in his news release.

“My priorities, if re-elected, are to continue the work to streamline state government, increase government transparency, provide diverse opportunities for Wyoming’s next generation, reduce the revenue rollercoaster of Wyoming’s commodity-based economy, and to support and defend the Wyoming and U.S. Constitutions," Perkins said.

His goals include supporting the state efficiency commission to reduce costs, and finding and reducing "wasteful and overreaching" regulations; increasing recording of legislative committees and improving transparency in the budgeting process; diversifying and expanding the economy; reducing "harmful and bureaucratic regulation," keeping tax burdens low for businesses.

Perkins wants to reduce fluctuating impacts of the state's commodity-based economy by comparing tax reforms from the past and now; developing revenue-neutral tax reforms that broaden the tax base while reducing tax rates, and working with the State Treasurer to increase the rate of return on trust funds and investment income.

Perkins has served on the Joint Appropriations Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Select Committee on Capital Investments and Finance.

He is an attorney in private practice, and the only senator who is certified public accountant.

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