Anthony Bouchard | |
|---|---|
| Member of theWyoming Senate from the6th district | |
| In office January 10, 2017 – January 6, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Wayne Johnson |
| Succeeded by | Darin Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Billie Jean |
| Children | 4 |
| Website | http://senbouchard.com/ |
Anthony Bouchard is an American politician who served as a member of theWyoming Senate from the6th district from 2017 to 2025, as a member of theRepublican Party.[1] Bouchard was previously a candidate in the2022 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming.[2]
Bouchard attended theFlorida State College at Jacksonville.[3]
Prior to entering politics, Bouchard was a businessman, automotive technician, and welder. He later worked as an automotive business management consultant. Since 2017, Bouchard has also worked as a real estate agent. He and his wife own and operate a septic-draining business.[4]
Bouchard spent several years as alobbyist for Wyoming Gun Owners, a group he founded.[5]
In 2010, Bouchard led an effort to oppose receiving $1 million of federal money to protect against large increases to health insurance premiums. Bouchard said that accepting the money would have undermined Wyoming's ability to fight thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act in court.[6]
Bouchard unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for a seat in theWyoming Senate in 2012 and a seat in theWyoming House of Representatives in 2014.[7][8]
When incumbent State SenatorWayne Johnson announced his retirement in 2016, Bouchard announced his candidacy for the seat. Bouchard ran against State RepresentativeDavid Zwonitzer andLaramie County Conversation District Supervisor Lindi Kirkbride in the Republican primary. Bouchard defeated Zwonitzer by five votes to become the Republican nominee, with Kirkbride running a close third. He defeated independent candidate Kym Zwonitzer, the wife ofDavid Zwonitzer, in the general election with 52% of the vote.[9]
In the state Senate, Bouchard voted against proposals toexpand Medicaid to cover more uninsured Wyomingites.[10] Bouchard is a proponent of capital punishment, opposing a proposal in 2019 to abolish thedeath penalty in Wyoming.[11][12]
In 2017, Bouchard supported a bill to allow people to carry guns into government meetings; the bill was vetoed by GovernorMatt Mead.[13]
In March 2018, Bouchard introduced a bill to the Wyoming Senate toallow a person to use deadly force in order to protect themselves without requiring the person to retreat from the perpetrator and, in the case of a person who shoots an intruder to their home, assumes that the person acted in self-defense.[14] The bill passed into law. Later that year, a man shot a man nine times with anAR-15 at the entrance of his home. A district court judge dismissed the first-degree murder case against the man, and theWyoming Supreme Court upheld the dismissal.[15]
In 2021, Bouchard shared ameme onFacebook calling for the execution of USNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases directorAnthony Fauci.[16]
In 2024, Bouchard chose not seek re-election, he was succeeded byDarin Smith.
In January 2021, Bouchard announced that he would challenge incumbent U.S. RepresentativeLiz Cheney in the 2022 Republican primary.[17] Cheney, who had been serving in Congress since 2017, was criticized by fellow Republicans, including Bouchard, for her vote in favor ofimpeaching President Trump because of his actions leading up to theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack.[18] Bouchard accused Cheney of being "out of touch," and added that Wyoming needed a Representative who would "stand up toNancy Pelosi and the Democrats."[19] In March 2021, Bouchard voted in favor of a bill, endorsed byDonald Trump Jr., that would have required candidates to win a majority of votes in primary elections to avoid arunoff election; the bill, which would have undermined Cheney's reelection campaign, failed on a 15–14 vote.[20] Bouchard has stated that he has raised over $500,000 in his campaign against Cheney.[21] He finished third in the primary.[22]
In May 2021, Bouchard claimed he was pre-empting a media exposé by telling his supporters on aFacebook Live video that, when he was a teenager, he impregnated a girl who was "a little younger than me" in Florida "more than 40 years ago."[23] He later told theCasper Star-Tribune that he was 18 years old and the girl was 14 when she became pregnant.[23] Bouchard said they married when he was 19 and the girl was 15, and the girl eventually gave birth to their son. He said the couple divorced after three years of marriage; she died by suicide in 1990 at age 20.[24]