Cynthia Marie Lummis Wiederspahn ( LUMM-iss; born September 10, 1954) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Wyoming. Before her tenure in the Senate, she served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from Laramie County, Wyoming Senate from the 5th district, as treasurer of Wyoming, and in the United States House of Representatives from Wyoming's at-large congressional district.
Lummis was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and educated at Cheyenne East High School and the University of Wyoming. She was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1978 and reelected in 1980, becoming the youngest woman to serve in the state legislature. Despite choosing not to seek another term in 1982, Lummis returned to the state House and served there until being elected to the state Senate in 1992, defeating incumbent Senator Harriet Elizabeth Byrd. After serving one term in the state senate, she served on Governor Jim Geringer's transition team and as his general counsel.
In 1998, Lummis was elected treasurer of Wyoming, and she was reelected in 2002 without opposition. She served as the chair of Mary Mead's gubernatorial campaign in 1990 and Ray Hunkins's gubernatorial campaign in 2006. She also served on Bob Dole's presidential steering committee in Wyoming and chaired Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign in Wyoming.
Lummis was elected to succeed Barbara Cubin in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2008 election after defeating Democratic nominee Gary Trauner. During her tenure in the House she was the first Wyoming representative to serve on the Agriculture committee since 1941, chair of the Science Subcommittee on Energy, served as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, and was active in the Congressional Western Caucus and Freedom Caucus. She served until her retirement in 2017, and was succeeded by Liz Cheney. Following her tenure in the House she sought a position in President Donald Trump's cabinet as the United States Secretary of the Interior, but was not appointed. Lummis unsuccessfully sought to be appointed to replace Senator Craig L. Thomas in 2007. She was elected to the United States Senate in the 2020 election, becoming the first woman to represent Wyoming in the U.S. Senate. She voted to reject the certification of Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, which were narrowly won by Joe Biden, amid Trump's false claims of fraud.