“I think it’s gotten to a place where I’m feeling a lot of urgency around those issues, and I felt it was important to actually step up to the plate in my own life and show up in a bigger way,” she said. “We don’t have time to wait with the climate stuff, and those are the two things that really compelled me to get involved.”

Ludwig is not the only registered candidate in the running for Enzi’s senate seat. Casper Republican Joshua Wheeler filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission in March. Last week, California resident Chuck Jagoda filed with the FEC as a Democrat. However, a spokesperson for the Wyoming Democratic Party said he had not yet contacted officials within the state party. (Jagoda did not answer a Facebook message requesting comment before press time.)

A newcomer to politics, Ludwig, 49, has been a vocal presence in the community, and has been at the center of several prominent coalitions to emerge in Laramie over the past few years. Last year, Ludwig was a founding member of Albany County for Proper Policing, a community group formed in response to the shooting of Robbie Ramirez by Albany County sheriff’s deputy Derek Colling. She has also worked as a regional organizer for Showing Up for Racial Justice – a national racial justice organization. (She has since stepped back from both organizations, in order to focus on her Senate campaign.)