Wyoming PAC spends $1.5 million attacking Kinney over hospital policy

A political action committee led by Sarah Ray, daughter of Republican House President Chuck Ray, spent over $1.5 million on television and digital ads attacking Lisa Kinney during the 2026 primary season. The ads, which ran against Kinney, the Democratic nominee for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat, claimed she opposed helping rural hospitals and left communities to fend for themselves.

The committee, legally separate from Chuck Ray’s campaign, released two versions of the spot: one 30 seconds long and one 15 seconds long. The ads featured an interview photo of Kinney without her permission. The Ray PAC reported more than $1.5 million in out-of-state contributions, compared to under $500,000 in in-party contributions.

Rebecca Fitzgerald, communications director for Republican Gov. Mark Gordon’s campaign, said she had worked on Wyoming campaigns since 1998. She described 2026 as the year of the ugly mailers, noting that nearly $2 million was aimed at Gordon through ads she described as at best, misleading. Fitzgerald said the state has seen ugly politics before, but not at this volume.

Fitzgerald identified two recent shifts in Wyoming politics. The first is social media, where information spreads quickly and bots and fake profiles have made the problem worse. The second is the nationalization of politics, where groups with national agendas insert themselves into Wyoming races, often bringing big dollars.

Sam Lead, a Jackson rancher and former mayor of Gilby who lost the Republican U.S. Senate primary in August, said the amount of money in campaigns is going vertical. He called for campaign finance reform, including a constitutional amendment to cap portions of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Lead said the war chest was eight times the size of his campaign, but he tried not to pay the ads too much attention.

Kate Jones, a retired nurse who spent 30 years in the profession, called the PAC ads’ claim that Kinney does not care about health care an outright lie. Jones is vice president of the Wyoming Nurses Association. She said she has known Kinney for more than 20 years, since Kinney worked with hospital employees as the financial advisor for Lovell Valley Healthcare’s retirement plan. Jones said Kinney totally knew what was happening with the hospital during her years working with its employees.

Kim Arney, a Republican who served with Kinney in the Legislature, wrote that the ads misrepresent her position on funding for rural hospitals and health care. Arney noted that protecting rural health care is a central theme of Kinney’s campaign. She said Kinney opposed President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act because of its effects on health care, particularly its provisions on health insurance coverage and federal subsidies. Jones said Wyoming families are not forced to travel 50 miles or more to see a doctor or deliver a baby if Kinney had signed onto the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.