Cheyenne Mayoral Primary Will Include Orr, Coppinger, Collins

Incumbent Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr will face off against former city councilman Patrick Collins and political outsider Rick Coppinger in the August 18 Primary Election.

The top two vote-getters will advance to the November General Election, with the winner assuming office early next year for a four-year term.

Collins, who served on the city council for several years, announced his campaign earlier this year and has recently put up a Facebook page. Collins, who is also a long-time businessman, says he would best be able to deal with the financial challenges the city faces. He says one of his goals would be to make the city more business-friendly.

Marian Orr, the city's first-ever female mayor, was elected in 2016 on the campaign themes of "needs, not wants" and "fight the blight" efforts to improve the city's appearance. She is a former lobbyist at the Wyoming Legislature. Orr noted in her January "State of the City' address that she "loves being mayor.''

Coppinger, a longtime Cheyenne resident who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2016, has said that he has the kind of varied background and the people-skills that are needed in the mayor's office. In a recent interview on the KGAB ''Weekend in Wyoming' program, Coppinger said he would be able to work effectively with the city council to improve Cheyenne.

Municipal elections in Wyoming are non-partisan, meaning candidates do not affiliate with a political party. In addition to the mayoral election, six seats on the nine-seat Cheyenne city council are up for election this year.

Under Cheyenne's form of city government, the mayor functions as the city's executive branch and also votes in city council meetings along with the nine council members as the city's governing body. Unlike some other Wyoming cities such as Casper, Cheyenne does not have a city manager or city administrator with those duties being handled bu the mayor.