CASPER, Wyo. — Former President Donald Trump has had office and apartment buildings, casinos, golf courses, an airline, steaks and even water named after him.
Now a conservative lawmaker in Wyoming is proposing changing the name of a 10.6-mile stretch of highway that bypasses the city of Casper to President Donald J. Trump Highway.
Republican Rep. Chuck Gray of Casper is the lead sponsor of the bill to rename Wyoming Highway 258, which is also called Wyoming Boulevard.
Wyoming voters overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, with nearly 70% of the Wyoming votes cast for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Gray’s bill would appropriate $2,800 to install signs with the new name. Under the proposed legislation, the state Department of Transportation could accept and spend donations made to the agency to help pay for the signs, offsetting the state’s costs.
The Wyoming Legislature’s budget session begins on Monday. Because the highway renaming bill is not a budget bill, it must receive a two-thirds vote of all lawmakers to be considered.
Wyoming’s lone member of the U.S. House, Republican Rep. Liz Chaney, has faced backlash from Trump over her vote to impeach him and her service as vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Trump is supporting the campaign of her challenger, Cheyenne attorney Harriet Hageman.
Oklahoma named a 20-mile (32-kilometer) stretch of road in the state’s panhandle the President Donald J. Trump Highway. That bill was signed into law in May 2021.
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