Jessica Sell Chambers

My Story

Who I am, and why I'm back

I served on the Jackson Town Council from 2021 to 2024. In 2024, I ran for mayor and lost, and I spent the two years since out of office, watching — which taught me as much as being in the room did. I'm running again by choice, not habit, because the problems that pulled me into this work haven't been fixed. If anything, they've hardened.

I'm the person who reads the whole Comp Plan and keeps it on her desk. I'm the one who asked, years ago, why we were siting a school before the wastewater infrastructure to protect the water around it. I ask uncomfortable questions about how our money is spent and how our rules play out on the ground. That work doesn't always make you popular — I know.

Outside of public service, I'm a trauma-informed coach here in Jackson Hole, with training recognized by the International Coaching Federation and the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaches. My work helps people frame their story, own it, and expand into what's next. That's not so different from what I want for this town.

"I showed up for this community while surviving one of the hardest things a woman can endure — and I am not ashamed of a single day of it."

The part they used against me

In the coming months, you may hear that I missed meetings during my last term. Every one of those absences was formally excused. What wasn't widely known at the time is why: I was a witness in a federal criminal trial against the OB/GYN who sexually assaulted more than 700 women — and I was one of only a handful who came forward under our own names, when nearly everyone else remained an anonymous Jane Doe.

Reliving all of that publicly took a physical toll I underestimated — I tore ligaments, broke out in a full-body rash for over a year, and was hospitalized for an infection my doctors linked to the stress. I carried all of it privately, and I kept doing my job. In the last election, that private ordeal was turned into a campaign issue.

I didn't put my name on a federal case for sympathy — I did it so the next woman would find it a little harder to be silenced. I'm telling you now, in my own words, because I'd rather you hear it from me than see it twisted again.

Where I Stand

Four things I'll fight for

Nearly everything we care about in Jackson runs through two levers: land use and the budget. Those are the ones I know best.

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Water & our ecosystem

Water quality is a top-tier priority — because it's downstream of every land-use decision we make. Fix pollution at its source, protect the Snake River Sole Source Aquifer, and tie every water dollar to measurable results.

🏔️

Land use & housing

Roughly 97% of our county is protected land. The real fight is over a thin sliver of private ground. I'll reform the Comp Plan and LDRs that are deepening the wealth divide — protecting our ecosystem and the middle-class families who make this a community, not just a resort.

📊

Budgets & accountability

No professional is reviewing our budgets for efficiency, and residents are being taxed out of town. I'll bring real municipal-finance expertise into Town operations before we ever ask taxpayers for more.

🔦

Transparency & ethics

I've spent my time in office asking how procurement and spending actually happen — and pushing for decisions to be made in the open, by majority vote, not through side channels. Being a watchdog isn't a flaw. It's the job.

Straight Talk

Why I come straight to you

A local newspaper holds real power in a town like ours — it decides who gets heard, whose questions get asked, and often who gets taken seriously enough to be elected. Power like that carries an obligation: to be transparent about its own rules and to apply them fairly to everyone. When a paper won't do that, it stops being a watchdog and becomes a gatekeeper.

This cycle, I'm not participating in the News & Guide's election coverage — a choice I make from strength, not grievance. I asked, more than once, for their coverage policies and the rules for how candidate answers would be handled. I never got them. The terms kept shifting, in real time, in a single conversation.

"A press that punishes people for telling the truth isn't holding power to account; it's shielding it."

When a paper runs a full page of attacks on a survivor, every other survivor in this community learns exactly what happens if they ever come forward. I won't dignify that with my engagement.

So I'll come straight to you, and straight to the voters, in my own words — unedited, principled, and on the record. This site, and the questions below, are part of how.

Ask Me Anything

No account. No name required.

Ask me anything about the campaign, my record, or where I stand — anonymously. I'll answer as many as I can, in my own words.

💬 The live board goes here

Once the anonymous board is wired up, questions and answers appear right here.
Until then, send yours directly:

Email me your question

Because the problems that first pulled me into this work — a broken affordable-housing program, budgets nobody is professionally reviewing, and water we keep putting at risk — still aren't fixed. I spent two years out of office watching, and I'm coming back by choice to help put Jackson back on track.

Protecting our water and ecosystem, reforming the Comp Plan and Land Development Regulations that are worsening our housing crisis, and bringing real financial expertise to a budget process that badly needs it — so we stop taxing people out of the town they built.

Because they wouldn't tell me the rules of their own coverage, and those rules kept changing mid-conversation. A paper that won't be transparent about how it treats candidates — and that once ran a full page attacking me as a survivor — hasn't earned my participation. I'd rather talk straight to you. (More under "Straight Talk" above.)

Fair question, and I'll answer it straight. Every one of those absences was formally excused. I was testifying in a federal criminal trial against the man who assaulted me and hundreds of other women, and the toll of that landed me in the hospital. I kept doing the job through it. I think that shows commitment, not the lack of it.

I served on the Jackson Town Council from 2021 to 2024 and ran for mayor in 2024. I'm also a trauma-informed coach with training recognized by the ICF and NBHWC. I know how the Town's machinery actually works — and where it doesn't.

The primary is Tuesday, August 18, 2026, and the general is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. You can register or check your status through the Teton County Clerk or the Wyoming Secretary of State — details just below.

Make Your Voice Count

Voting in 2026

Aug 18, 2026

Primary Election — Tuesday. Polls typically 7am–7pm.

Nov 3, 2026

General Election — Tuesday. This is the one that seats the council.

Check or update your registration (Wyoming allows same-day at the polls) via the WY Secretary of State or the Teton County Clerk.

Get in touch

Questions, ideas, or want to help?

I read every message myself.

jessica.s.chambers@gmail.com