I listened to stories about challenges accessing healthcare. I heard the pain in the voices of veterans struggling with benefits. We talked about guns — a topic that always draws passion — and the overarching theme that kept coming up was immigration and crime.

There was a lot of confusion and misinformation in that conversation. Many I spoke to seemed to disbelieve that the focus was on removing criminals from our country — not law-abiding families, not people seeking a better life, but those who break the law and endanger communities. And yet, the loudest accusations were against me.

I was called a racist — not because of anything I said, but because I was simply present. I didn’t bring up race. I didn’t make it about identity. In fact, I made a point to talk with people from all backgrounds — people of color, white folks, young and old. But that only made some protestors angrier. It seemed that my refusal to make the protest about race made them more determined to do so.

Let me be clear: I was not there to divide. I was there to listen. I don’t believe in identity politics. I believe in the human race. And I believe that when we talk past each other instead of with each other, we lose the ability to solve anything.

Some of the people I met carried deep personal pain. Life had not treated them kindly. For some, this protest wasn’t really about government at all — it was a way to yell at a system they felt had failed them. And instead of meeting that pain with rebuttals, I met it with compassion.

We didn’t agree on everything. In fact, we didn’t agree on much. But I showed up, I stood there, and I stayed. Not to argue, but to understand.

One moment that stood out: people held signs reading “No Kings,” but when I asked how the Constitution was under attack, there were no answers — only volume. Ironically, some didn’t realize that in many countries, a protest like that would be banned by an actual king. In America, and especially in Wyoming, we protect the right to speak — even if we disagree with what’s being said.

This campaign is about more than red or blue, left or right. It’s about Faith, Family, Freedom, and the Future — and part of that means showing up where it’s uncomfortable. Listening, not shouting. Leading, not posturing.