A Johnson County rancher and businessman Wednesday joined the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo.

Mark Gordon, 50, announced his candidacy for the Republican U.S. House nomination at his Buffalo home before making stops in Casper and Cheyenne.

"My biggest concern is that the Republican Party is off track, and we need to get it back to where it was before," Gordon said. "I'm talking about smaller government, individual responsibility, limited taxes."

Gordon joins a field of four announced candidates for the GOP House nomination: former state treasurer Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne, Bill Winney of Sublette County, Swede Nelson of Cheyenne, and state Rep. Dan Zwonitzer of Cheyenne.

Democrats running are Gary Trauner of Wilson, who ran a close race with Cubin in the 2006 general election, and perennial candidate Al Hamburg of Torrington.

Gordon, who grew up in Kaycee, is an owner of the Merlin Ranch near Buffalo and ran cattle operations for the Ucross Ranch in Sheridan County. He said he also has established Main Street businesses in Sheridan and Buffalo.

Gordon also worked as a surface manager for Apache Oil in the Powder River Basin, but he said he has stepped away from that position to run for Congress.

This is Gordon's first bid for partisan political office. However, he was a member of and chaired the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council before leaving that board last year. In that position, he voted in favor of a controversial rule to give the state Department of Environmental Quality the ability to regulate the volume of groundwater discharged in coal-bed methane production. Gov. Dave Freudenthal rejected it, and the governor's action was upheld in court.

Gordon said one of his priorities is "sensible development of Wyoming."

"We have an opportunity to think about development in terms that make sense," he said. "It needs to proceed at a pace at which development can be measured and thought through. Perhaps by doing so, we can stave off listing of endangered species and that sort of thing."

Gordon said he favors government efforts to develop clean-coal technology, but the state's energy economy is "so tied up in world markets" that there's little the state can do to control the future of that industry. He said he'd like to encourage economic diversification in the state through lower and simplified taxes and tax breaks for businesses.

He also said providing access to affordable health care for small businesses is a key to diversifying the state's economy.

Asked about the performance of seven-term incumbent Cubin in Congress, Gordon said she has done "a pretty good job" and should be thanked for her service. But he said with the Bush administration "coming to a close, people seem to be calling for new ideas, a new start."

"Government has gotten out of control," he said.

Gordon is married. He and his wife, Jennie, have four children. His campaign director is Bill Novotny, former aide to U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.