John Barrasso

He represented Wyoming's 27th Senate District.

During his State Senate tenure, he chaired the Transportation and Highways Committee.

John Anthony Barrasso III (born July 21, 1952) is an American physician and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wyoming, a seat he has held since 2007.

Barrasso was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on July 21, 1952, the son of Louise M. (née DeCisco) and John Anthony Barrasso Jr. Barrasso's father was a cement finisher who had a ninth-grade education.

Barrasso is a third-generation Italian-American with paternal grandparents from Carife and maternal grandparents from Vasto.

Barrasso is a graduate of the former Central Catholic High School, which later merged with Holy Name High School to form Berks Catholic High School.

Barrasso graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology.

He received his M.D. degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1978 and conducted his residency at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1983, after completing his residency at Yale, Barrasso moved to Wyoming with his then-wife, Linda Nix.

He joined a private orthopedic practice in Casper and for a time was the Wyoming Medical Center's chief of staff.

Barrasso was a board-certified orthopedic surgeon in private practice in Casper from 1983 to 2007.

He has served as president of the Wyoming Medical Society.

Barrasso was also a rodeo physician for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (and a member of the "Cowboy Joe Club") and volunteered as a team physician for Casper College and several local high schools.

Barrasso first ran for U.S. Senate in 1996, narrowly losing the Republican primary to Mike Enzi.

Barrasso ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1996 for the seat being vacated by Republican Alan K. Simpson, losing narrowly to State Senator Mike Enzi, 32% to 30%, in a nine-candidate election.

Enzi garnered support due to his pro-life stance, while Barrasso—who had been expected to win the primary—identified as pro-choice at the time.

When Barrasso ran for the 1996 Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, he presented himself as a supporter of abortion rights.

Following his loss in 1996, Barrasso's position on abortion (and on other issues) shifted in a conservative direction.

During his tenure in the Wyoming Legislature, Barrasso sponsored an unsuccessful bill to treat the killing of a pregnant woman as a double homicide.

In 2002, he was elected to the state Senate, where he stayed until his appointment to the U.S. Senate after the 2007 death of incumbent Craig L. Thomas.

Barrasso was elected to the Wyoming Senate unopposed in 2002 and reelected unopposed in 2006.

A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Wyoming State Senate from 2003 to 2007.

On June 22, 2007, Governor Dave Freudenthal appointed Barrasso to replace Senator Craig L. Thomas, who had died in office earlier that month.

Under state law, Freudenthal was able to consider only three individuals chosen by the Republican State Central Committee because the seat was vacated by a Republican.

The others were former State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne, and former Republican state chairman and Justice Department attorney Tom Sansonetti.

Barrasso won the general election in a landslide, defeating Democratic nominee Nick Carter with 73% of the vote.

At the time of his appointment to the U.S. Senate in 2007, Barrasso was quoted as saying on his application: "I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control and a strong national defense"; he also said that he had "voted for prayer in schools, against gay marriage and [had] sponsored legislation to protect the sanctity of life".

He was elected to finish Thomas's term in 2008 and reelected in 2012 and 2018.

Barrasso ran for reelection to a first full term in 2012.

He faced two opponents for the Republican nomination, which he won with 90% of the vote.

In the general election, he defeated Democratic nominee Tim Chestnut with 76% of the vote.

In 2018, Barrasso was selected as chair of the Senate Republican Conference.

He is the dean of Wyoming's congressional delegation.

Barrasso faced Dave Dodson and four other challengers in the 2018 Republican primary; he won the primary with 65% of the vote.

Barrasso defeated Democrat Gary Trauner and Libertarian Joseph Porambo in the general election, receiving 67% of the vote.

In 2018, Barrasso was selected as chair of the Senate Republican Conference.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Barrasso voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 but for the PPP Extension Act and the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

As Chair of the Senate Republican Conference since 2019, he is the third-ranking Senate Republican.

Born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Barrasso graduated from Georgetown University, where he received his B.S. and M.D. He conducted his medical residency at Yale University before moving to Wyoming and beginning a private orthopedics practice in Casper.

Barrasso was active in various medical societies and associations.