Republican Cynthia Lummis, who served as Wyoming's lone representative to the U.S. House for eight years, has amended her status with the Federal Election Commission, but it is not a formal announcement that she is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mike Enzi.

She's interested, but it's more procedure that political aspiration at this point, said Bill Cubin, treasurer of Lummis' campaign committee.

The FEC has what's known as the $5,000 rule, that if someone spends or raises more than that amount they must update their filing, Cubin said. "We've had operational expenses that have put us over $5,000."

"That is not an announcement that she is running for U.S. Senate," he said. "This is regulatory compliance only."

So why not file under her existing U.S. House status?

Since U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi announced his retirement, Lummis is looking at that race, Cubin said. "So we changed the designation for 'office sought,' because she's considering running for the U.S. Senate."

The filing Tuesday was an amendment to the "statement of organization," which was filed years ago when she ran for U.S. House.

The amendment did three things:

  • It changed the name of the committee from "Lummis for Congress" to "Lummis for Wyoming."
  • It changed the address.
  • It redesignated from U.S. House to U.S. Senate.

"So it's the same committee that she's always had, it's the same campaign committee she's always had is what it is, and we've just changed, updated our information," Cubin said.

However, Lummis did file a statement of candidacy with the FEC on Thursday, he said.

That's more solid than the speculation about other candidates include U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, former GOP Gov. Matt Mead, and GOP donor Foster Friess. Ybana Ludwig from Laramie has announced she will run as a Democratic candidate.

For Lummis, any announcement would be made in the coming weeks, Cubin said. "I anticipate sooner than later."

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