The art of listening spotlighted on Democratic lawmakers’ Wyoming tour
FROM WYOFILE:
For the last several months, Laramie Rep. Karlee Provenza and Jackson Rep. Mike Yin have been traversing the state to encourage conversation across party lines.
BANNER—On a recent evening at the Kearney Community Hall, Sheridan and Johnson county residents gathered for a community discussion organized by two of the state’s democratic lawmakers.
For the last several months, Laramie Rep. Karlee Provenza and Jackson Rep. Mike Yin have been on a listening tour of Wyoming, visiting cities and towns outside their progressive communities and encouraging Wyomingites of all political stripes to show up and participate.
“We’re traveling around the state so that we can get a better understanding of what the problems are that impact your day-to-day lives, and what are the solutions that you want to see moving forward,” Provenza told the crowd assembled Wednesday evening.
The two lawmakers first hatched their plan long before the country was reeling from Charlie Kirk’s assassination. In a moment pulled taut by controversy, their listening sessions took on a new significance.
“At a time of such political violence and hate and rhetoric in our country, it’s maybe more important than ever that we can sit at a table with our community and disagree and still love each other,” Provenza said.
In Banner, about 90 people showed up. Most leaned to the left, a handful were Republicans and at least one couple said they were independent voters. The evening sun shone through the community hall’s northwest windows. String lights cast a warm glow above about a dozen tables where attendees sat and faced one another. Quilts hung throughout the room. Participants broke bread with veggie trays and homemade cookies.
The two lawmakers are hardly alone in their touring endeavor. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, for example, has held more than a dozen town halls since this spring and aims to visit each county. At her town hall in Laramie in March, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman said it was her 74th in the state.
What sets Provenza and Yin’s gatherings apart is how they facilitate conversation between the attendees. Instead of listening to a stump speech or participating in a Q&A, attendees break into smaller groups to discuss what’s worrying them about Wyoming and what they’d like to see done about it.
“You might be happy about what’s happened federally. You might be not happy,” Provenza said. “But we’re going to stick to Wyoming problems and Wyoming solutions today.”
To set the tone for the night, Provenza and Yin presented community agreements, or guidelines, to keep the evening productive. Treat each other with respect. Assume good intentions. Pipe down if you’re hogging the conversation. Speak up if you usually don’t. Communicate constructively.
“Do we all agree to these?” Provenza asked. The room applauded.
The first prompt was simple — “What keeps you up at night? What are the biggest concerns that impact your daily life?”
Not everyone saw things exactly the same. Some actively disagreed. But a few patterns emerged when a speaker from each group stood and shared highlights.
People were worried about public lands, public education, guns in schools, affordable housing, access to health care, the state’s election system, low wages, high grocery prices and property tax cuts hurting local services.
Kris Korfanta, a resident of Ranchester, said her group — which had mixed political affiliations — worried about the assumption that “those who disagree with us have bad intentions.”
“Thank you for also speaking to voices that you may not necessarily agree with,” Yin told Korfanta. “It sounds like you have folks from all over.”
The groups were then asked to get more creative.
“We want you to brainstorm some news headlines that you would [like to] see in the next one to five years,” Provenza said, encouraging folks to focus on policy and solutions, and not individuals.
“What would you read in a newspaper headline if you read it and you went, ‘Thank God, Wyoming’s on the right track?’”
After another round of discussion, the groups weighed in with their headlines. A couple hoped to see Wyoming’s historically high suicide rate drop to the lowest in the country. While some called for the elimination of the state’s gender wage gap, one table hoped Wyoming would repeal its open-carry law and ban assault weapons. Another wanted to see Wyoming lead the country in job creation and construction of new homes. Others still wanted to see voter turnout surpass the 50% mark and open primary elections.
Provenza and Yin plan to take what they’ve learned from the sessions and bring it to the rest of their statehouse colleagues.
“I want to go to the Legislature and say, ‘Look, we went to every corner of Wyoming. These are the things that every corner of Wyoming told us that they wanted to work on. Let’s work on them together,’” Yin said, adding that he appreciated other lawmakers who participated in the sessions.
In Banner, that included Republican Reps. Tom Kelly of Sheridan and Marilyn Connolly of Buffalo. After the event, Kelly told WyoFile he’d attended because “the rhetoric has gotten so toxic.”
“We’re seeing less about trying to accomplish goals and more about trying to win arguments,” Kelly said. “And I think I wanted to set an example for other conservatives that there are other people to listen to.”
Kelly shared a table with Korfanta, the Democrat from Ranchester. She told WyoFile after the event she’d intentionally chosen to sit down at a table with Republicans. Why?
“Practice,” Korfanta said. “It’s important to practice and not get riled up by what somebody said.”
The next night, Yin and Provenza would head to Cody, and soon after, Washakie, Hot Springs and Big Horn counties. There were more gatherings, more conversations ahead.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
This story was posted on Sept. 30, 2025.