Liz Cheney is running for one of Wyoming’s two Senate seats, prompting Nate Cohn to wonder why Wyoming has any Senators. It certainly doesn’t deserve them.
My colleague Alec MacGillis has documented the serious political and policy implications of a deeply anti-democratic Senate, but Wyoming deserves special mention as the worst culprit. To take concerns from his piece, Wyoming has the highest gun ownership rate and the highest level of carbon emissions per capita—the latter by a wide, wide margin. It is the least populous state: California has 66 times as many people, and an equal number of senators. And Wyoming, along with the other small states, is 90 percent white. The Senate reduces the representation of non-white voters, who are concentrated in the most populous states, by about one-third.
One-Way Street 