John Anthony Barrasso III (/bəˈrɑːsoʊ/ bə-RAH-soh; born July 21, 1952) is an American physician and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wyoming, a seat he has held since 2007.
He conducted his medical residency at Yale University before moving to Wyoming and beginning a private orthopedics practice in Casper.
[3] He joined a private orthopedic practice in Casper and for a time was the Wyoming Medical Center's chief of staff.
[18] On June 22, 2007, Governor Dave Freudenthal appointed Barrasso to replace Senator Craig L. Thomas, who had died in office earlier that month.
[19] Barrasso won the general election in a landslide, defeating Democratic nominee Nick Carter with 73% of the vote.
[23] Barrasso defeated Democrat Gary Trauner and Libertarian Joseph Porambo in the general election, receiving 67% of the vote.
[26] At the time of his appointment to the U.S. Senate in 2007, Barrasso was quoted as saying on his application: "I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control and a strong national defense"; he also said that he had "voted for prayer in schools, against gay marriage and [had] sponsored legislation to protect the sanctity of life".
[3] During his tenure in the Wyoming Legislature, Barrasso sponsored an unsuccessful bill to treat the killing of a pregnant woman as a double homicide.
[35] In April 2013, Barrasso was one of 46 senators to vote against a bill that would have expanded background checks for all gun buyers.
[48] Barrasso and Senators Mike Enzi and Pat Roberts introduced a bill to remove tax credits for electric cars.
[50] In 2019, Barrasso inaccurately claimed that "livestock will be banned" as a result of the Green New Deal, and said we needed to "say goodbye to dairy, to beef, to family farms, to ranches.
"[51] In September 2020, Barrasso supported a measure to dramatically limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons used in refrigerants and other applications that have contributed to global warming.
[58] Barrasso opposed the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2—a pipeline to deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.
Bloomberg News reported, "Congress brought forward bills authorizing the administration to levy sanctions against a consortium of five European energy companies that have partnered with [Russia's main gas company] Gazprom; at least one bill, sponsored by Republican Senator John Barrasso, would make them mandatory.
"[59] In May 2022, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Barrasso visited Kyiv and met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a part of a U.S. Senate delegation to show support to Ukraine.
"[62][63] Trump joined Barrasso on Thanksgiving 2019 in a surprise visit to American troops stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
[64] In December 2019, Barrasso appeared to promote Senator John Kennedy's views supporting the discredited conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
[68] In November 2021, Barrasso refused to condemn Trump for defending January 6 rioters who called for Pence's death.