Bayuk running for Senate District 20

Republican Bob Bayuk is running for Wyoming State Senate for District 20.

Bayuk said the biggest issue facing Wyoming is the economy.

"The biggest part of the Wyoming economy is energy – coal, oil and gas," Bayuk said. "We have to do something about the economy to make it diverse so we are less dependent on a single sector that is so influenced by things outside of Wyoming. What I would like to see is diversifying the economy to take advantage of the resources that we have."

Another issue important to Bayuk is human services, he said

"I support services, meaning human services," he said. "Many of the resources we have here in Thermopolis are human-service oriented, such as the Big Horn Basin Children's Center, Big Horn Enterprises, the Pioneer Home and Hot Springs State Park. These are resources that are incomprehensible to many, many people. That's why we need to expand the recreation and tourism sector, because it is renewable and it's a service industry. The United States of America is becoming a service industry country."

Bayuk also said education is critical to the future of Wyoming.

"It's [education] critical as a foundation for everything we do," he said. "I think we need to fully support education. We need to fully support expansion and diversification of the economy. We need to fully support expansion of tourism and recreation and maintain what we have, especially in the human-services sector."

If elected, Bayuk said the first thing he would do is listen.

"I'm going to listen to what the people believe is important for them, what's important for their community and what's important for the state of Wyoming," he said. "My job as a psychologist has always been to listen to people and make their lives a little bit better."

Bayuk is a long-time resident of Wyoming and a private-practicing psychologist. He has served ten years on the Wyoming Board of Psychology, been a consultant to the Wyoming Department of Education, President-elect of the Wyoming Psychological Association and a past president of the Wyoming School Psychological Association.