Churches of the West: Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't support liars and don't lie. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 4.

Churches of the West: Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't s...:    Χαῖρε Μαρία κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετά σοῦ, Ἐυλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶ, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σοῦ Ἰησούς. Ἁγία Μαρία, μῆτερ...

Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't support liars and don't lie. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 4.

 

 Χαῖρε Μαρία κεχαριτωμένη,

ὁ Κύριος μετά σοῦ,

Ἐυλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶ,

καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σοῦ Ἰησούς.

Ἁγία Μαρία, μῆτερ θεοῦ,

προσεύχου [πρέσβευε] ὑπέρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν,

νῦν καὶ ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θανάτου ἡμῶν.

Ἀμήν

So, a big one that we didn't include yesterday, as it deserves its own post.  This may be the most significant post of this thread.

Don't lie and don's support liars.

Everyone has heard the old joke, “How do you know a politician is lying?” The answer.  Because their mouth is moving."  That stretches the point, but there's some truth behind the joke, as there is with any good joke.

Indeed, we've become so used to politicians lying that we basically expect it. The current era, however has brought lying, as well as truth telling, into a new weird surreal era.

Lying is a sin.  It's been debated since early times if it's always a sin, or if there are circumstances in which it may be allowed, limited though those be.  If it's every allowable, it's in situations like war, where after all, killing is allowed.  Most of us lie, but it's almost always sinful.

In Catholic theological thought, lying can be a mortal sin.  It's generally accepted that most lies are not in that category. So, "yes, dear, I love gravy burgers" is not a mortal sin.  But lies can definitely be mortally sinful.  Lying over a grave matter is mortally sinful, if the other conditions for mortal sin are met.

Donald Trump, whom some deluded Christians refer to as a "Godly Man", lies routinely and brazenly, and this has brought lying into the forefront, even as he's shocked people, rightfully, by following through on some of his promises, but not all, that were assumed to be lies or at least exaggerations.  He's advanced lies about who won the 2020 election, and many of his followers have advanced those lies as well.  Some people, of course, believe the lies and advance what they assume to be the truth, but some of that is being wilfully ignorant that they are lies.

Of course here, as always, I'm coming at this from a Catholic prospective.  I do not accept the thesis that some do that lies can be utilized to advanced something we regard as a greater good. Some hold the opposite view and I'm fairly convinced that some Christian Nationalist politicians hold the opposite view.  I frankly wonder, for example, if Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, hold the opposite view.  Johnson claims to be a devout Christian and if he doesn't hold the opposite view, based on the lies he spouts, he must despair of his own salvation quite frequently, unless he hold the completely erroneous "once saved always saved" view some Evangelical Christians hold, or if he's a Calvinist that figures that double predestination has the fate of everyone all determined anyhow, which is also a theologically anemic position.

A very tiny minority of Christians hold such views, however.  For the rest of us, it's incumbent not to reward lying, and not to advance lies.  It's dangerous and destructive to everyone.  It should not be tolerated by anyone.  And in this era, and for the proceeding several, it's destroying everything.

Last and prior editions:

Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 3.

Questions hunters, fishermen, and public lands users need to ask political candidates. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 2.

Labels: 2026 Election, 2028 Election, Commentary, Democratic Party, Politics, Questions for politicians, Republican Party, Trailing threadLabels: 2026 Election, 2028 Election, Camping, Climate Change, fishing, hunting, Politics, Public Lands, Questions for politicians, Right Wing Politics and Politicians, The Land Ethic, This is why we can't have nice things

Addressing politicians in desperate times. A series.

Labels: 2026 Election, 2028 Election, Commentary, Democratic Party, Politics, Questions for politicians, Republican Party, Trailing thread

Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.

I've run items on elections here for a long time, and made my views on various candidates more or less known, but this year is really a critical year.

So, we aren't telling you who to vote for, but for the first time ever, we're publishing something on whom we think you should vote against, although it frankly takes a lot of hubris to even assume anyone at all cares what I think on this topic.

#very election season people say something about the election being the most critical one ever but 2026 really is.  2026 may be the last gasp of American democracy, or the beginning of the restoration of it.  Right now, the American electorate basically stabbed democracy accidentally in the back by electing a mentally declining spoiled rich boy caudillo, and the whole world is paying the price.

The US is being run on a near dictatorial basis by the madman.  The Republican Party, save for a few of its notable members, has become nothing but a collection of worshippers, many of whom are steeped in ignorance.  The childlike ignoramus who is running the country is going to try to steal the 2026 elections.  About this there can be no doubt.

Part of the duty of the voters is to be informed.  It's pretty clear a lot of American voters, no matter what their party affiliation, aren't.  Indeed, I dare say the most informed voters are Independents who have informed themselves on both parties and marched out of the parties absolutely disgusted.

In Wyoming you almost have to be a member of the Republican Party or you have no vote at all.  But in Wyoming a collection of Dixiecrats who think they are Republicans and think they are for "freedom" is now the most powerful voice in the legislature and due to Cynthia Lummis retiring the entire mix of candidates is in flux.

This trailing thread is a list of people to vote against.  That's a terrible way to vote, but given the times and the slate of candidates, its something people need to consider.

This list, we'll note, is limited to current candidates.  Not every Wyoming politician.  If experience is any guide we would note that not getting voted for tends to refocus a politicians attention like nothing else.  If there's a big shift in 2026 and some traction on that in Wyoming, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if Chuck Gray wrote daily proposals of marriage to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

There are plenty of candidates running for office in Wyoming who'd end the public's right to do this, or anything, on public land.

Enemies of Public Lands, Hunters and Fishermen

Wyoming public lands users were shocked in 2025 with Deseret Mike Lee lead a full blown charge at public lands and Wyoming's Lummis, Barrasso, and Hageman joined right in.   Given their histories respectively of 1) being a Cheshire Cat, 2) Being a sycophantic toady and 3) being a member of a family that very distinctly doesn't care much for anyone who isn't an agricultural landowner, we shouldn't have been surprised, and yet we were.

Our guards still need to be up in a major way.  This issue hasn't gone away and if 2025/26s Trump babbling about Greenland, Gaza and Venezuela has shown anything, its that Donald Trump's GOP doesn't give a rats ass about anything that can't be reduced to a sale and the future just doesn't matter.  He's a shallow golf course developer and see the entire world that way, to his everlasting discredit.

And the GOP is right behind him.

People public lands users, and that includes ranchers who will get completely screwed if Deseret Mike Lee and his ilk have his way, follow.¹

These people have no Land Ethic.

Bill Allemand:  Allemand is from a large ranching family in the state but has claimed not to be part of the ranching operations himself.  Nonetheless he showed his hand by sponsoring a really punitive hunting trespass bill that failed last session.

That should preclude him from being reelected.  He's an enemy of sportsmen.

He's also a Dixiecrat.

And he's extremely rude.  His first run for office was characterized by outrageous comments about his opponent and he's shown a real temper since being elected.  Most recently, he stated outrageous things against a Deputy Sheriff who arrested him for drunk driving in Johnson County.²   A cutting editorial by Susan Stubson on his drunk driving escapade is well worth reading.

On Allemand:

Rep. Bill Allemand asks judge to rescind court-ordered alcohol testing during upcoming legislative session: The Midwest lawmaker is contesting his DUI charge following his arrest last month in Johnson County.

The answer to that ought to be a hard no. 

Harriet Hageman:  Hageman is from a large ranching/farming family in southeast Wyoming.  Her father was the sponsor of an effort to privatize wildlife when he was in the legislature.  Hageman aggressively backed an effort to transfer Wyoming's Federal lands to the state and responded to criticism of those who opposed her by basically calling them dumb.

This past term her family homestead burned to the ground in a year that's been extremely warm and devoid of moisture. There were poignant comments about it, including from her, which tend to demonstrate the agricultural community's absolute refusal to read what is really in front of their face, climate wise.  It's ironic, in that even university educated agriculturalist like Hageman, who depend on animal science daily, refuse to believe that any other science is valid.

Jacob Wasserburger:  Wasserburger came up with this bad idea, but it sounds a lot like he's been sitting around with Mike Lee, the Senator from Deseret

Going Feral: Lawmaker Unveils Bill To Sell Between 30,000 And 2...: Another moronic idea by a Wyoming Republican, a party which seems to draw from the endless well of bad ideas. Wasserburger is going right on...

He's signed on to the no prescription for Ivermectin act as well, these two things indicating that he's hanging out with, in not in, the Freedom Caucus.  A little digging reveals that Wasserburger is from a Niobrara County ranch and has been practicing law since 2008, at which he's bounced around a lot, including having once worked for a major Democratic politician and a really good Republican one.  He did a stint in government work as well.

Original post:  January 20, 2026.

Updates:  January 24, 2026, January 27, 2026.

Allies of Ignorance.  Trump Fellow Travelers and Dixiecrats.

I suspect that some of these people probably really love Trump, while others are just opportunistic and  pitching to ignorant Wyoming voters, telling them what they know they want to hear.  Either way, they shouldn't be voted for, either because they believe the nonsense they're spouting, or because they're willing to lie to obtain office.

Some of these folks are members of the largely carpetbagging Wyoming Freedom Caucus as well, which definitely should disqualify them.  They're not running for office in 2026 Wyoming but 1966 Alabama.  It's estimated that 42 members of the House, which has only 62 seats, in the Wyoming legislature are occupied by Freedom Caucus members, but it is an estimate as some of them will not openly declare their membership showing that they have some reservations about it.

Something Wyoming voters should know is that unlike other caucuses, once a legislator joins the WFC he or she can sit on his legislative rear and do nothing, as the WFC does all the work, including drafting bills it wants and telling the potted WFC plant what to say and think.  The money, and at least some of the bill drafting, comes from outside of the state.  The Freedom  Caucus is effectively an alien, that is carpetbagging, force in the state, in the true original sense of the meaning of the word carpetbagger.

Megen Degenfelder:  Degenfelder is the current Superintendent of Public Instruction who has announced for Governor.. She's clearly very far right wing, but she doesn't appear to be a full blown MAGA adherent.  Still, she received King Donny's endorsement and wrapped herself in it, and for that reason alone should be rejected.

I do have a question, however, based on her time in office, as to how much of the MAGA nonsense she really believes.  As one of the Board of State Land Commissioners she hasn't been a fellow traveler with Gray, and the evidence suggests that absolutely nobody on that Board can stand Gray. The Governor clearly does not, but it doesn't really look like anyone else does either.  And Degenfelder hasn't come out with any of the really extreme crap that Gray has, or even that Cindy Hill had.  Given that, she might be on the Trump Train in a boxcar ready to jump off when and if things begin to derail.  So I'll cut her a little slack, albeit very, very, little.

In this race, so far, it looks to me that Barlow is the best candidate.

Chuck Gray:  Gray's a carpetbagging opportunist who took advantage of lies to obtain the position of Secretary of State where he's been a general pain in the ass.  He's not from here, he's not of here, and he should be sent packing as a disagreeable asshole.  He literally obtained his office mounted on a steed of lies.

Gray, I'll note, was one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus and perhaps because of that hasn't been asked the questions or subject to sideways glances that some in his situation might have been, which is interesting.

Ken Pendergraft:  A member of the Freedom Caucus who voted to slash U.W.'s budget.

The Freedom Caucus is pretty much the Freakishly Dumb Caucus and basically opposes education.  Educated people, it turns out, tend to be moderate and don't believe that global warming is a fib, or that the Earth is 4,000 years old, or that Christianity somehow started in the US with an Evangelical Free Church.  So education is bad, in their view.

Jeremy Haroldson:  A member of the Freedom Caucus who voted to slash U.W. budget.

Jacob Wasserburger: As we suspected, Wasserburger is part of the WFC.  

And some more:

Ann Lucas (Cheyenne): 

Darin McCann (Rock Springs):

Joel Guggenmos (Riverton): 

Jayme Lien (Casper): 

Gary Brown (Cheyenne): 

Steve Johnson (Cheyenne): 

Joe Webb (Lyman): 

Paul Hoeft (Cody):

Robert Wharff (Evanston): 

The Freedom Caucus thinks that they are Republicans, but they are not. They're Jeffersonian Democrats, i.e., Dixiecrats.

Original post:  January 20, 2026.  Updates:  January 28, 2028. February 2, 2026.

Carpetbaggers

This may seem like an odd thing to post in this category, but this film, which I hate, really frames the Wyoming mindset in some ways, even though the novel from which its taken was set in Appalachia.  Clayboy's father and eight uncles may have fallen in love here, but Clayboy is going to abandon one of the most beautiful spots on earth and the two hot chicks pursuing him so he can go to university, learn to write, and sit in an office smoking cigarettes behind a typewriter because he's convinced that must be superior to what he already has.

Wyoming has always had a transient population and, additionally, a pretty pronounced history of self doubt and even self loathing. For that reason, we're pretty willing as a rule to elect imports who claim to be like us, even though we know that they aren't.  We really think they're better than us.

Right now, for example, we have Dr. John Barrasso who isn't a Wyomingite but sort of pretends to be one, or at least was up until becoming the Senate Majority Whip.  He's a Pennsylvanian.  He's a Boomer so chances are that this is his last hurrah before he retires and gets the heck out of here.  

We've added a note above about the funding of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which pretty much qualifies the caucus itself, if not every single members, as the Wyoming Foreign Carpetbaggers.

Chuck Gray:  Gray is a Californian who shares nothing in common with anyone whatsoever in the state.   He should be sent back to California.

Indeed, one of the most pathetic things about Gray campaigns is when they dress the diminutive little guy up and try to film him in Wyoming.  There he is, looking at an oil rig, and looking mighty uncomfortable, and so on.

Joseph Kibler:  Kibler is a recent import from California, and should just go home.  He's running for Governor.

Original post:  January 20, 2026.

Updates:  January 24, 2026, 

Bottle Babies and Stahlhelm

In recent years Wyoming has seen people run for office touting their experience as a veteran. They basically fall into two groups.

One group were career servicemen who sucked on the government tit their entire working lives and now have moved into Wyoming or have come back to Wyoming after decades of being gone and, uniformly, declare they hate the government and know how to fix it. Their hatred didn't keep them from competing in the free job economy with the rest of us, however.

They didn't run their military careers like they claim they'll run the state.  I.e, they didn't come in and say "I hate the military with the red hot passion of a thousand burning suns and I'm going to destroy it!".

The other group are men who run simply on having been a veteran.  Eh?  Lee Harvey Oswald was a veteran.   This group has nothing much more to say other than "I'm a veteran".  So what?  Lots of people are veterans.  This is the Stahlhelm group.

Brent Bien is a bottle baby.  He was a career Marin Corps officer and had a really distinguished career.  Now he's back in the state and seeks to apply that experience, which is wholly irrelevant to running the state, to wrecking government.

Original post:  January 20, 2026.

Democrats in delusion

On this category, let me be clear.  I want more Democrats to run, but I want solid Democrats to run.  While its a long shot, I think a centrist Democratic Party in the state, which we used to have, and which gave us multiple Governors, could gain seats, including some important seats.  Indeed, I'm surprised that some names that used to appear haven't re-appeared so far.

The first thing I'm going to note is that the Democrats need to avoid wrapping themselves in bloody surgical towels and rainbow flags, but they just can't seem to avoid doing it.  They should take a lesson from one of their own recent events:

Affordability, healthcare and public lands echo as top concerns at Dem listening sessions

But instead of that, they'll end up talking about "reproductive rights" and "gender determination" and completely ax themselves.

What the Democratic Party should do in Wyoming is flat out instruct its candidates not to take hardcore positions on these issues.  Ideally, they ought to run a moderate prolife Democrat, which would be something the GOP wouldn't know how to handle. If a Democratic candidate went to a house seat debate and took a position to the right of the Republican on the typical social issues, they'd be caught flat footed and resort to name calling.  Better yet, if asked about abortion, and a Democratic candidate said "I'm flat out against it, and why has Donald Trump come out being sort of for it?" the Republicans wouldn't know what to do.

But, nope, that won't happen.

Anyhow, while we want Democrats to run, and want third party candidates to run, some will end up on this list as they're actually sucking air out of the room which shouldn't be.

Stewart McAdoo fits this category.  McAdoo is a Democrat who is running against Art Washut in House District 36.  Washut is a real conservative (and very conservative at that), and not a populist Freedom Caucus member.  Losing him would be a disaster for Wyoming.  I've never heard of him, but he appears to be an import to the state, which might place him in another category as well.

Original post:  January 22, 2026.

Footnotes

1.  While I know that it will happen no time soon, it really needs to become the case that lands that went into private hands through a Homestead Act can't go into corporate or absentee hands.

2.  According to news reports Allemand admitted to the sheriff's deputy that he drank and drive, in order to address "stress".  In the papers he came out just like he did in the campaign, which is to say as a boisterous asshole.  That alone should put an end to his political career.

Most of his business career, we'd note, was spent in Kansas.  He ought to just go back to Kansas.

Related Posts:

Blog Mirror: WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK

Labels: 2020s, 2026 Election, Blog Mirror, Carpetbaggers, Make Liberty Win, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

Blog Mirror: WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK

This was an item on Facebook.  I'm cross posting it here as it contains good information, some of which I heard recently from other sources as well. 

 WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK

I used to view the Wyoming Freedom Caucus as a gang of right-wing extremists hell-bent on destroying the lives of anyone who had an opinion, stood up for themselves, or rejected the invitation to indoctrination extended by the WFC.  However, it’s far more disgusting than that, and the truth is even more insulting to Wyomingites.  Once I started doing my own research, it became clear to me that these aren’t local patriots standing up for us; they are out-of-state interests wearing a ‘conservative’ mask to infiltrate our government and prey on the weak minds of those who ‘fall in line.’ 

For a group that never misses an opportunity to wrap itself in the Wyoming flag, the WFC is looking more like a subsidiary of a national corporation than a homegrown movement.  If they really believe in ‘Wyoming First,’ they’ve got a funny way of showing it – starting with the fact that their leadership, their strategy, and their bank accounts are all heavily imported from states that couldn’t be further from Wyoming values.

The WFC’s primary political tool is the word “RINO.”  It’s the ultimate intellectual shortcut.  In their world, a “RINO” isn’t someone who isn’t Republican; it’s any Republican who remembers they represent a district in Wyoming rather than a donor in Virginia.  They use the term exactly like the far left uses accusations of “racism”: as a weapon to shut down debate.  Strip away the party labels, and you’ll find that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the radical left actually operate from a surprisingly similar playbook.  When they can’t win an argument on its merits, they pivot to name-calling.  What I really want to know is: who the hell do they think they are to act as the gatekeepers of our party?  We don’t need out-of-state interests defining what a Wyoming Republican looks like.

The irony of the WFC’s “local control” rhetoric is staggering when you look at the biographies of its loudest voices.  Roughly 35% of their key associates weren’t even raised in Wyoming.  We are being lectured on “Wyoming values” by people who grew up in the exact urban centers they now claim to despise.  Want examples?

John Bear (Past Chair): Raised in Missouri, educated in Colorado.

Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (Chair): A native of Northern California who lived and worked in Marin County before moving to Cody.

Darin McCann: Raised in Upstate New York and lived in Florida several years.

Ann Lucas: Raise in Chicago, Illinois.

There’s a word for people who move to a place and immediately try to tear down its institutions to match their own imported grievances: colonizers.  Wyoming has always been a “Live and Let Live” state, but the WFC brings “Live My Way or You’re a Traitor” attitude that belongs in a DC boardroom, not a Wyoming ranch.

When it comes to out-of-state money in Wyoming politics, the “grassroots” narrative starts to look a bit like a corporate franchise.  While many candidates on both sides take small out-of-state individual donations, the real story of the 2024 election cycle was the coordinated spending by national organizations specifically targeting Wyoming House seats to install Wyoming Freedom Caucus members.

The following candidates were the primary beneficiaries of this out-of-state “investing,” particularly from the Virginia-based Make Liberty Win PAC and the State Freedom Caucus Network.  Make Liberty Win spent over $426,000 in Wyoming – largely on aggressive attack mailers against local, traditional Republicans.  

Ann Lucas (Cheyenne): Benefited from a massive spending campaign to unseat long-time Rep. Dan Zwonitzer.

Darin McCann (Rock Springs): Supported by out-of-state funds to defeat Speaker Pro Tempore Clark Stith.

Joel Guggenmos (Riverton): Heavily backed by national groups to unseat incumbent Ember Oakley.

Jayme Lien (Casper): Out-of-state money helped fuel her upset victory over House Appropriations member Tom Walters.

Gary Brown (Cheyenne): Received significant support from national PACs to defeat incumbent Bill Henderson.

Steve Johnson (Cheyenne): A Freedom Caucus newcomer who won his seat with the help of national ideological group backing.

Joe Webb (Lyman): Won his primary with the assistance of coordinated out-of-state messaging.

Paul Hoeft (Cody): Benefited from the national network’s effort to unseat traditionalist David Northrop.

Robert Wharff (Evanston): Reclaimed a seat with the help of PACs focusing on unseating more moderate incumbents. 

According to 2024 campaign finance filings, the following candidates also received Make Liberty Win support: Abby Angelos, John Bear, Chip Neiman, Chris Knapp, Ken Pendergraft, Scott Smith, Tomi Strock, Jeremy Haroldson.

I’ll say it again; the sheer volume of this money is what makes the WFC’s “local control” rhetoric so ironic.  For example, in the 2024 primary, out-of-state PACs often outspent the actual candidates’ own local fundraising.  Virginia-based Make Liberty Win spent more in a single Wyoming primary cycle than most of these candidates could raise from their actual neighbors in a decade.  Let that sink in!

It’s a strategic takeover: national groups realize that for the price of a single mid-tier Congressional race, they can buy an entire State House in Wyoming.  Do you think they really care about local issues?  Neither do I.

We cannot allow our state’s identity to be sold to the highest bidder in Virginia.  When you sell your soul to the devil, there is no turning back.  It is time to take our government back from the importers and return it to the people who actually call Wyoming home.

The 2026 Election, 5th Edition: The Saddle Up Edition.

The last edition of this was already sufficiently confusing that a new one is in order.

In this one, when we list the candidates to start with, we're not going to try to comment on each for the most part, as we've already done that in the prior edition.  Having said that, we've made some exceptions.

February 1, 2026.

U.S. Senate

GOP

Harriet Hageman. On our don't vote for list.

Jimmy Skovgard.

U.S. House of Representatives

GOP

Jillian Balow

Chuck Gray.  On our don't vote for list.

Reid Ransner. On our don't vote for list.

David Giralt

Independant

Daniel Workman.

Governor

GOP

Eric Barlow:  At least so far, Barlow seems to be by far the best choice for this office.  I'm seeing some of his signs around.

Brent Bien. On our don't vote for list.

Meggan Degenfelder. On our don't vote for list.  Degenfelder is from the relatively hard right and has been tarred with the brush of a Trump endorsement, which she really doesn't seem fully comfortable with.  She may be aware that it's problematic.

Democratic Party

Gabriel Green:  Green is listed here for the first time.  He's associated with the DINO movement, so while he's running as a Democrat, it's "in name only". Indeed, he founded the state's DINO movement, and he might be the only person to run under that banner.  He's aggressive in this strategy, and is nearly as hard on the Democrats as he is the Republicans.

This is an interesting approach, and I've wondered why somebody hasn't tried it before.  It'll be interesting to see how he uses it.  Many of the state's past Democratic Governors were as conservative as any Republican, in actual terms, so there is something to be exploited here.

Independant

Joseph Kibler.  On our don't vote for list.

Kibler announced as a Republican, but now is running as an independant.

Kibler is a carpetbagger and has the typical carpetbagger "I just moved here from California for all your freedom and now I'm going to run things". 

Go back to California.

*******************

On this race, WyoFile has asked the candidates, asd seems to have caught all of them, on what they think about the Freedom Caucus budgetary  nonsense.

Where Wyoming’s gubernatorial candidates stand on budget cuts: WyoFile asked the five candidates whether they supported some of the more drastic proposals lawmakers will consider in the upcoming legislative session.

Treasurer

GOP

Curt Meier

*******************

In election related news, Chuck Gray turned over the entire state's voter rolls to the Federal Government.

UPDATE: Gray defends voter roll compliance after Wyoming’s League of Women Voters slams transfer

Secretary of State refutes League’s claims, says group has ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

I'd really question the legality of this, but if the Trump Administration ordered states to run over kittens with bulldozers Gray would gleefully comply.  His actions provoked the criticism of the League of Women Voters which Gray accused of being liberal fanatics, his standard retort to everything.

We're stuck with Gray until the end of his term, assuming that he doesn't get elected to the US House, which we should dearly hope he does not.  If he fails to get the House, we can be assured that he will not run for Secretary of State again, as his only point in running for the office in the first place was to try to position himself for higher office.  He'll wonder off to some other state at that point.

In another developments, Texas continued a nationwide trend of Democrats advancing at the state level in advance of the November election.  In a district that voted heavily from Trump in the last general election, a Democratic candidate defeated a Trump endorsed Republican candidate whom Gov. Abbot had attempted to assist.  This means that the GOP holds the Texas Senate by a mere five seats.  They hold the House by 22 seats.  Some of these state legislatures are going to flip in the next election.

More locally, Harriet Hageman has been taking flak at town halls, with the one in Casper directly confronting here on her claims to be a "Constitutional lawyer", a status itself which I've never really figured out what it was supposed to mean.

Related posts:

Blog Mirror: WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK

Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 4th Edition: The Wasting No Time Edition*

Going Feral: Questions hunters, fishermen, and public lands users need to ask political candidates. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 2.

Going Feral: Questions hunters, fishermen, and public lands use...: Something similar was mentioned on a companion blog to this one just the other day, that being that it was never the intent to make this a p...

Questions hunters, fishermen, and public lands users need to ask political candidates. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 2.

Something similar was mentioned on a companion blog to this one just the other day, that being that it was never the intent to make this a political topic blog.

But these are not ordinary times in Wyoming, or anywhere else.

Most real outdoorsmen, and by that I mean the sort of outdoorsmen who have the world out look that those who post here do, not guys with excess cash who are petty princes like Eric Trump, would rather be hunting or fishing, or reading about hunting and fishing, than thinking about politics.  But just like duck hunter (seriously) Leon Trotsky once stated; “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you,” and that applies to politics as well as war.

Trotsky.  Bad man, but he was a hunter and fisherman.

You might not be interested in politics, but politics is very interested in you.

And frankly, given the assault on everything hunters, fishermen, and the users of public lands hold dear, you don't really have the luxury, and that is what it is, of ignoring politics.

Nor do you have the luxury of ignoring your politicians.

Donald Trump was embarrassing his first term in office, but in his second unrestrained term in office, he and the Republican Party have been a disaster for outdoorsmen, nature, and the environment.  Last year there was a diehard effort by Deseret Mike Lee to basically sell off massive parts of the public domain. That effort was supported by all three of  Wyoming's Congressional delegation in spite of massive public opposition to it.  This year a Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Wasserburger, is trying the same thing in the state with state lands.  None of this should be any surprise as Freedom Caucuser Bob Ide, who campaigned on less government, more freedom, but who is a big landlord depending on the government to protect his property rights, sponsored an effort to grab the public lands the legislative session before that.

When put right to it, the Freedom Caucus hates government ownership of anything, and by extension, just flat out isn't really very concerned about the collective good on anything at all.  They're an alien carpetbagging force in the country, but the sort of dimwitted views they have on nature and land are being expressed all across the country.  Hunters, fishermen, farmers, ranchers, campers, hikers and other users of the land who had reflexively voted for one party or another based on some belief on what those parties held can absolutely no longer afford to do that.

Part of this is because politicians just flat out lie.  People who naively thought that Donald Trump was a supporter of the Second Amendment, and therefore supported "gun rights" are finding out right now that he never believed any of that. Why would he?  He's an old, fat, wealthy, New Yorker.  It's not like you saw him at the range, now is it?

But chances are, you haven't seen California Chuck Gray there either, have you?

So, some questions that you, dear feral reader, really need to ask your politicians.

1.  Do you have a hunting or fishing license right now, and if you do, can you pull it out of your wallet so we can see it?

It used to be standard in Wyoming and Colorado, and I bet other Western states, to see a politician dragged out in front of a camera for an advertising campaign wearing brand new hunting clothing and carrying a shotgun (interestingly, never a rifle).  It was a little fraud that we all participated in. We knew that the politicians would probably wet his pants if he had to fire the gun, but we took that as a symbol of support.

Don't.

Find out if they really share your values. Do they hunt, or fish? What's the proof?

And if they answer yes, find out what that means.  Does it mean the politician goes sage grouse hunting every year or does it mean that he waddles on to a pheasant farm once a year to shoot some POW pheasants?  Worse yet, does it mean that he went on a catered "hunt" in Texas with fat cats.  

How often does he go, where does he go, does he use public land to hunt?

Same thing with fishing.

If he doesn't do either, and regularly, don't vote for him easily.  Chances are he cares as much about hunting as Elon Musk does about marital fidelity.

2.  Do you use public land for anything, and if so, what?

Nearly every feral person worth his salt uses public land.  Does your Pol?  And I mean for anything. Hunting, fishing, camping, running cattle, photography, running nude through the daisies.  Anything.

And ask for proof.

If that proof is a photograph of a cleanly shaved pol with brand new clothing, it's proof he doesn't use it, or that she doesn't use it.

And if the answer is the typical "I love Yellowstone National Park", be very careful  National Parks are great, but a lot of them aren't really very wild until you get off the beaten path.  Going on an auto tour of Yellowstone and seeing all the geysers is great, but that's not proof of much.  And quite a few of the "I support public lands" political class limits that support to parks. Everything is fair game for development in their view.

3.  Do you shoot?

I don't expect every outdoor users to be a shooter, although in the West, if you are a user of wildlands and don't have a gun, you are a complete and utter fool.  Having said that, I'll be frank that I have known fishermen who had one gun, probably a revolver, that they carried in some places.  They probably went years between shooting it.  I don't regard owning a gun as a precursor to all feral uses of land, particularly by people who don't hunt, but who do fish, or camp, or hike (but if you do any of these things, please get a handgun and learn how to use it).  

A lot of people in the West vote for pols based solely on "I support the Second Amendment type statements".  Lots of people allowed themselves to be duped into voting for Donald Trump that way, although we never believed his claims to be a Second Amendment supporter.  We're sorry that we were so right.  Anyhow, ask them if they have a gun and if they shoot.

No matter what they really believe, they're going to say yes.

I'll note I've seen this question asked just once, and when I did the female candidate, a native Wyomingite with a rural background, went on to qualify that she was just familiar with .22s.  Okay, that's an honest answer. 

She was, I'd note, a Democrat.

You do need to follow up on the question.

Right now, if you asked this question of Chuck Gray or John Barrasso, they'd both undoubtedly say yes.  I don't know if either of them owns a firearm, but my guess is that if they do they own it in the way of people who have bought or been given a handgun that's gone in a drawer, and that's where it stays.  Ask for proof.  What do they own, where do they shoot, how often, and are there photos.  And not photos from a gun show, like Reid Rasner posted the other day.

Take them to the range and have them shoot a box of .375 H&H.  If they run to the SUV crying, they're out.

If they can't back this stuff up, I'd assume they really don't care about the Second Amendment. There are people who don't shoot at all who do care about the Second Amendment, but they're are rare as people who are interested in stock cars but don't follow NASCAR (this would describe me).  Not too many.

4.  Do they believe in man made climate change?

This gets to the land ethic. Educated people, and most politicians, are educated who say no really don't give a rats ass about the planet or they're engaging in diehard self delusion. They're comfortable with everything being destroyed as long as they're dead before it happens or they just can't face the hard task of addressing, correcting, and reversing it.  They're not worth voting for.

Aldo Leopold.

5. Do they have a land ethic?

I've known a lot of people who have a very strong land ethic. Absolutely none of them didn't make use of wilderness in some ways.

That's a big clue.

Anyhow, more than anything else, do they have a land ethic?  That is;

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.

Aldo Leopold.

Do they support that?

A huge pile of Western politicians really don't.  Some, however, who would surprise you do.  This is a hard question to really explore, because an existential question isn't necessarily easy to question on.  In a collegiate debate, you'd just state the proposition and ask if they agreed, or didn't and follow up with examples.  That may be the best way to do it.

Nobody should vote for a politician who doesn't support the Land Ethic.

Last edition:

Addressing politicians in desperate times. A series.

Labels: 2026 Election, 2028 Election, Commentary, Democratic Party, Politics, Questions for politicians, Republican Party, Trailing thread

Addressing politicians in desperate times. A series.

 

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

Howard Zinn.

These are desperate times. 

Our politicians have made it so.

And therefore, we bear the burden of having made them desperate, by electing, overall, a really bad crop of national and state politicians. We did this by not asking them questions we should have, or just by believing the lies they told as we chose to believe them, or worse yet, we were too ignorant not to disbelieve them.  There's no credit in any of this.  The United States has gone from a highly imperfect functioning democracy to a highly imperfect dysfunctional kleptocracy.  To some degree even worse, we've gone from a country that did not want kings, to putting kings and everything they stood for right back in power.

Part of how we did that is by not asking questions.

Normally I wouldn't start threads about elections so early, and indeed when this blog started off it didn't' deal with politics at all.  But modern times inevitably crept in, and currently, as things are so desperate, there are posts on politics nearly every day.  We are, moreover, at a real crossroads in the country's history.  The Republican Party, a conservative party after the failure of the Progressive Movement to reform it early in the 20th Century, and a Buckley Conservative Party since Ronald Reagan, has collapsed nearly completely, with only remnants remaining, the way the Whigs did in an earlier era.  A party that calls itself Republican and claims to be Progressive exist, but it's neither.  It's a fascisic Protestant Francoist party that holds nothing in common with any prior Republican expression.  The Democratic Party is reforming before our eyes, and in spite of what Republicans say, after the killings in Minneapolis it's rocketing towards the center, picking up the dropped pieces of prior Republican platforms.

Other parties, of course, exist, but for the most part, their natural members cling to some other party in order to get elected.  A Socialist New Yorker ran as a Democrat in New York as he had to.  Independants from New England in Congress have done the same.  The Republican Party, essentially captured by Know Nothings, are fighting with remnant conservatives, like  Thomas Massie, or outright Libertarians, like Rand Paul, who remain in their ranks.  More locally, where more, and often horrified old school Republicans remain, they find themselves in constant rearguard action's against Francoist.

And this is our fault.  We didn't ask the questions.

And the Press didn't do a very good job either, at least on a local level.

I've routinely followed regional elections for years.  As soon as elections get rolling, the Press pretends to be asking the tough questions, and doesn't.  Indeed, I know of one case in which a really worthy politician was attacked by a (successful) opponent and only one news outlet followed up on what should have been seen as an obvious lie.  

Perhaps less excusable, every election cycle, at least locally, the press puts out questionnaires and then publish the results.  I always look forward to reading them, only to find out the questions are utterly lame and the answers aren't followed up upon.  It's as if"

Press:  What is the most important issue facing Wyoming?

A.  The important one.

Press:  Okay, thank you for your answer.

Local debates are almost exactly the same, as in:

Press:  Mr. Candidate, last year there was an effort to sell off public lands. Can you please tell us if you like kittens?

A.  I like them sauteed.

Press:  Okay, thank you. 

I'm not exaggerating much.

As lame as the questions from the press are, politicians have taken up even avoiding showing up for debates.  Republican candidates essentially say; "I love Donald Trump, and the Trumpiness of Trump, with all my heart and soul, and I don't have to talk to you left wing pressmen or the filthy dirty voters". 

Well, generally, they can't avoid everyone all the time everywhere.  The Press isn't going to do it, so you're going to have to.  Indeed, this happened just this past week when Harriet Hageman got a blistering from questioners at a forum at Casper College, causing it to be shut down due to "decorum".

Show up. Ask the questions.  Ignore party affiliation.  Vote for people who aren't going to screw you.

The 2026 Election, 4th Edition: The Wasting No Time Edition*

 

The Wyoming races went from speculative to active virtually overnight, thanks to Sen. Lummis' announcement that she was not going to run again.

We'll note, before looking at the state of the races, that not a single Democrat has announced for any of these offices so far.  It is early, of course, but hopefully some do.  Otherwise, given recent examples, the races tend to be "how far right can we go", which isn't conducive to democracy or health politics in general.

December 24, 2025

Cynthia Lummis political future was barely deceased before the opportunities that it presented were being exploited.  It's caused a lot of shifting about and pondering, as this news article relates:

Degenfelder 'Strongly Considering' Run For Governor, Others Ponder Higher Office

We'll take a look, therefore, at where we current are in the 2026 races, now that the charge has started.

U.S. Senate

GOP

Harriet Hageman.

Our prediction came true amazingly fast.  Harriet Hageman announced for the Senate yesterday.

Well. . . of course she did.  She nearly had to, before other state Republicans volunteered to pick up the Senatorial baton and run past her, which is how Lummis obtained the seat in the first place, announcing before Liz Cheney could.  And in doing so, she immediately picked up endorsements from those whom she should have feared would run, and who very well may have.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, for instance, endorsed Hageman, stating:

She is the fighter that we need to defend the conservative movement in this country and in Wyoming,  I endorse Congresswoman Hageman for her campaign for US Senate. Harriet has advanced our Wyoming values as a member of the US House, protecting Wyoming industries and our way of life.

Degenfelder is somebody who clearly has political ambitions beyond the office she holds, as noted below.  

Chuck Gray, who clear does also, also came immediately out of the chute to endorse Hageman, although probably nobody really cares about Gray's endorsements.  He stated:

She will do the same as our US Senator. Congresswoman Hageman has my complete and total endorsement for US Senate.

There were, as we noted, already two filed candidates, although we can now doubt that one of them will go for the Senate, as we'll discuss below.

Hageman also picked up the endorsement of Donald Trump, which in spite of  Wyoming being the state that is the most enamored with the illegal occupant of the White House, probably doesn't really mean all that much.  As Wyoming is also the the state with the highest percentage of citizens who are enrolled in the AHCA, by the primary date that may be a bit of a liability, if Wyomingites wake up to the fact that they're played the fool by Donald Trump nearly daily.¹

The local state of the economy might play a role in that as well.  The price of Wyoming oil today is $43.91/bbl. Hageman has already made a statement about Wyoming contributing to the great state of the economy (as she sees it) due to energy, but the fact of the matter is that the current price is a good $20.00/bbl below what Wyoming needs it to be in order for Wyoming crude to be economic.  Nationally oil is at $58.60/bbl, which is right at the break even point.  Moreover, if the agricultural markets decline, and save for beef they're in bad shape, she might end up bearing the brunt there as well.

Reid Rasner

Rasner filed forever ago, and he's running for something, but what isn't exactly clear.  Earlier it was apparently Lummis' seat, after having failed to push Barrasso out of his. Now it appears, however, that he's reconsidering.

Rasner is simply deluding himself on his chances for any office, but it's not for want of trying.

Jimmy Skovgard.

Nobody really knows anything about Skovgard, but he is, or at least was, running.

U.S. House of Representatives

GOP

Gavin Solomon

One dipshit carpetbagger of New York Gavin Solomon has filed as an annoyance.

The state needs to do something about out of state residents running for Wyoming offices, as in make it criminal.

Other possibilities.

It's clear that Chuck Gray, discussed in more depth below, has his eyes set on this seat.  He has to run for it, or for Governor, or his political career is over.  

If Gray runs, other Republicans will as they won't wont to see him in this office.  My guess is that Casper's Tim Stubson may do so, and might whether Gray runs for this office or not.  It's likely some current members of the legislature will as well, including both moderate Republicans and Freedom Caucus members.

Governor

The Lummis reshuffling of the deck has caused politicians to reassess their aims, as we're very quickly seeing.  That's impacting the race for Governor.

GOP

Eric Barlow

Barlow is running, and is the front runner. He's a rancher and a traditional conservative.  He wisely got out in this race first, and has been campaigning for awhile.  So far, he's pulled way ahead of the pack.

Brent Bien

Bien was a career Marine Corps officer and is running on the archetypical "I spent my entire career elsewhere sucking on the Government tit and I'm here to tell you why you won't get to".

That's really harsh, but in recent veterans who had guaranteed pay and guaranteed retirement have come into or back to Wyoming and campaigned on hating the government, which if they do, they should have resigned their careers and worked in the uncertain world of American capitalism like the rest of us.  Their position is really hypocritical.  They've never had to punch a clock or write down their time daily, or worry about income and expenses.

Bien, I'll note, was a Marine Corps aviator and retired as a Colonel.  That's honorable service, which fully qualifies him to be a Marine Corps aviator.

Bien is a figure of the far right, as would be predictable.  Most of the returning or imported candidates who are veterans have been.

Meggan Degenfelder

The State Sueprintendant of Education indicates that she's  "Strongly Considering"  running, which practically means that she is.  She was probably pondering this move all along, but may have been hedging her bets on inside information to see what Hageman would do.  If Hageman hadn't announced for Senate, she probably would have, and she likely would have been a strong candidate.  It's surprising for that reason that she didn't announce for the House.

I have mixed feelings about Degenfelder, who has tacked to the generally far right, but not so much that she's a Freedom Caucus type.

Reid Rasner

Rasner has filed early for Senate, as noted above, which has been ignored by the press, but is now publicly indicating he many run for Governor.  A person has to wonder if Delgenfelder's announcement will cause him to back off.

He's sure running for something.

Other possibilities.

Chuck Gray is running for something, and has taken a page out of Rasner's book and has recently run a television ad in which he boosts himself without saying what he's running for.

Gray has a loyal pack of acolytes, like Donald Trump, but he's worn increasingly thin over while he's been Secretary of State.  He's locked horns constantly with Gov. Gordon and other members of the State Land Board, which means that if Degenfelder runs she's going to skewer him like a pot sticker.  He's not from Wyoming and doesn't come across as a guy who could survive in the state for more than a brief vacation if he wasn't backed by family money, although perhaps that's deceptive.  He rose to his current office in part by backing election lies and has tried to make the mission of the Secretary of State's office to return Wyoming elections to the year 411.  He's intensely disliked by a lot of people, and openly so.  While in office he's operated the same way that Rep. Jim Allemand has, by claiming to be from the far right but then embracing local environmental issues when convenient.

A dark horse candidate right now would be Governor Gordon himself.  While theoretically blocked by term limits, it's well known that they are unconstitutional and would not survive a legal challenge.  Having said that, the entry of Barlow into the race would strongly suggest that Gordon will not attempt a run.

Treasurer

GOP

Curt Meier

Curt Meier is running for reelection and will be successful.

December 25, 2025

Hageman's Senate Run Reignites Criticisms Over Public Lands

As well it should.

December 30, 2025

Chuck Gray, surprising noone, announced that he's running for Congress.  In announcing, the fish out of water Californian stated:

I’m running for Congress to continue fighting for Wyoming’s way of life. With Congresswoman Harriet Hageman running for U.S. Senate, Wyoming needs a representative who will build on her strong record, advance our shared Wyoming values, and advance the Trump agenda that has delivered the largest margin of victory in the nation in three straight presidential elections.

Chuck Gray announces bid for U.S. House

On the last item, Gray fully endorsed the lie that Trump beat Biden, and is still apparently wedded to the outright fabrication, along with some new "margin of victory" lies.

The Californian is a Freedom Caucus member, and was immediately endorsed by them.  He released a video for his campaign that makes it clear that he's awkward in Wyoming settings, as to be expected, and fully wedded to MAGA and its hero, Donald Trump.

January 3, 2026

Reid Rasner has announced that he isn't running for Governor but will announce what he's running for this week.

Footnotes

*Regarding the coloration on this post, blue is recognized worldwide as the color of the right, and red of the left.  In the U.S. in recent years the opposite has been the case as some total bufador reversed it.  At least in this thread, we're not doing that.

1.  Regarding the primary:

Party Changes

The state of Wyoming passed legislation affecting when a registered voter is allowed to change their party affiliation.

• You MUST appear in person in the Elections office on or before May 13, 2026 to declare or change your party affiliation.    
• NO party changes at the polls on Primary Election Day.
• Qualified voters who are not yet registered will still be able to register and choose their party on the day of the Primary Election.

Absentee Voting

The timeframe for voting absentee has shortened from 45 days to 28 days.

• Absentee ballot request may be made by phone, mail, email, online or in person.
• Your ID is required to vote in person or to pick up a ballot.

Absentee voting for the Primary Election:     July 21 - August 17, 2026
Absentee voting for the   General Election:     October 6 - November 2, 2026

January 6, 2026

George Conway, former Republican, former spouse of  Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, and a conservative is running as a Democrat for Congress in NY-12:

January 8, 2026

Reid Rasmer announced that he's throwing himself in a flaming blaze of misbegotten hubris ignited glory into the race for the U.S. House.

So we now have two far right candidates who will be in favor every stupid thing Donald Trump says even as he takes steps to wreck the American standing in the world, screw the Wyoming economy, and wreck the environment Wyoming depends on.  

There's room for a moderate candidate, or a conservative one, here.

My prediction is that this will get nasty.  Chuck Gray has been full of shit so long that he won't be able to help himself and he'll start slinging it like a zoo chimpanzee  Rasner will ignore it, but will seek the embrace from the political right, which will reject it as he's an acknowledged homosexual.

That Rasner is "out" and unapologetic about it, while not making a big deal about it, is really to his credit actually.  His sexual orientation does appear to have been the source of a vile rumor campaign against him which he justifiably brought suit over, but that entire episode reveals a lot about the state of the GOP.  The person sued was himself the father, in Florida (most of the Freedom Caucus are actual or intellectual Confederate ex pats), of a child by way of an underaged teenagef girl when he was an of age teenager.  There's a pretty strong anti homosexual bias in the GOP far right which really, at the same time, in spite of its embrace of Evangelical Christianity is basically okay with sexual immorality, at least if its of a conventional type.  But if people are going to raise flags on the issue, they ought to explain the mysteries they present themselves.

That's not the normal Wyoming norm, where such questions are not usually openly asked, but its probably time that they are. Rep. Hageman has for years indicated how strong family values are to her, but she has no children of her own.  Nephew's and nieces aren't substitutes for your own children.  There may be a tragic medical reason for this, but it could be avoidance for career, which is neither traditional or admirable.

This campaign will focus in people's minds, although they will not admit it, that Chuck Gray, age 36, isn't married.  It's not the case that everyone has to be married, and at one time it wasn't regarded as particularly abnormal that a 36 year old man or woman would not be married and have no known significant other, but following the Sexual Revolution it has been.  And frankly it is odd.  What does that say about his character that he can draw such public attention, but not a suitable spouse (and no, I'm not claiming he's a homosexual, but rather that being unmarried at 36 is odd).

Nasty questions?

Yes, but in an age where Wyoming elected somebody like Bill Allemand, and in one in which Republican figures where the symbols of Crusaders on their chest, when those Crusaders would have found them to be heretics, it might actually be time to ask them.

January 2026

This news makes puts Degenfelder on the don't vote for, for anything again, every list.

‘RUN MEGAN, RUN!’ Trump Promises Endorsement If Degenfelder Runs For Governor

Involving a current client:

Gordon To Gray At Wind Meeting: 'Do You Want To Step Outside?'

In Gordon's defense, all sentient life forms would like to invite Gray outside and point him back towards California, which is what I'm going to assume Gordon meant.

January 12, 2026

Megan Degenfelder is now officially running for Governor.  She claims she announced after an insane clown urged her to do so on X.

January 13, 2026

Barrasso Endorses Hageman's Candidacy For U.S. Senate

Former Democratic Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola is running for the Senate.

January 14, 2026

Jillian Balow, former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction announced for the House.

I don't know what I think of Balow, other than she's actually from Wyoming, and a better candidate than Rasner or Gray.  When she was Superintendent of Public Instruction, I didn't pay all that much attention to the position.  She must have been fairly well thought of as she was recruited away by Virginia, where the position is not elected.

Balow was, by my recollection, a breath of fresh air compared to Cindy Hill who came before her, who was the first Wyoming politician who fell into what we might now regard as the Wyoming Freedom Caucus camp, although it wasn't called that at the time, and probably didn't even really exist.  Hill ended up being very controversial and hugely unpopular, and should have served as a warning sign as to what was to come.

So, right now for the House, we have:

Chuck Gray, who is a carpetbagging founding member of the Freedom Caucus.

Reid Rasner, who is a gadfly.

Jillian Balow, who is the only palatable candidate to announce so far.

Well, that is that Solomon guy, but he's a joke. And a Daniel Verl Workman has done so as well, as an Independant, and he's a joke.

Following up on yesterday's news, the Demented Caudillos endorsement of Degenfelder probably means that unthinking MAGAs are now in her corner, dooming the campaign of Brent Bien.  Frankly, that's a good thing as both Degenfelder and Barlow are leagues better than Bien.  Having said that, Barlow is clearly a much better choice than Degenfelder who is still pretending to drink the Koolaide.

January 17, 2026

It didn't take Gray long to go full weasel:

My record shows that I’m the  only candidate in this race that has  the track record of getting com mon sense conservative priorities  done. My track record is in sharp con trast to the others in the race. Jillian  Barlow [sic] has a Liz Cheney 2.0 profile.

Having a Cheney 2.0 profile would be a good reason to vote for Barlow, but that's pretty much baloney.  Gray went on to accuse Reid of being all talk.

The Trib reports that  David Giralt, a former advisor to Lummis, plans on joining the race.  I don't know much about him, but he's noted to be a veteran, which isn't a reason to vote for or against him.  He's also a member of the Knights of Columbus, which means he's Catholic.  Gray is also Catholic, which doesn't seem to have kept him from telling some whopping lies in the past.

January 20, 2026

Knezovich drops out of Wyoming governor race due to eligibility requirement

We failed to even note him, but after reading the article about him, he would have been on our don't vote for list, fitting into a whopping three categories.

January 21, 2026

Forcibly retired Admiral Nancy Lacore is running for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District.

I don't know anything about the district, but what this symbolizes is that Trump's enemies lists are lining up to get into Congress.

We will conclude this edition with this entry.

January 22, 2026

Skovgard, whom we mentioned above, is in fact running for the U.S. Senate.

Skovgard publishes a blog, which might reveal his positions on things.  Otherwise he's really a bit of a mystery right now.

One thing about Skovgard is that, right now, the other two candidates in this race, Hageman and Rasner, are on the don't vote for list.  That may simply be because we don't know anything about him.  Having said that, if the election were held today, we'd seriously consider Skovgard as we won't vote for the other two.

January 24, 2026

One Joseph Kibler is running for Governor as an independent.  He's a Californian who moved in and is running what appears to be, more or ess, a religion based campaign.  It'll go nowhere.

January 28, 2026

A Hageman event sounds like it was poorly attended and didn't go really well:

Rep. Hageman touts Wyo earmarks, faces fiery ICE questions in Casper

People didn't show up, and jeered Hageman on her response to 4th Amendment violations in Minnesota and her delusional response on climate change.

When she left the stage early, after a round of ICE questions, Hageman was booed.

Of course, predictably, Jane Ifland appeared to represent Democrats from 1973.

January 29, 2026

Sen. Amy Klobuchar is running for Governor of Minnesota.  Klobuchar has run for the Democratic nomination for President in the past.

Related threads:

Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.

Labels: 2026 Election, Chuck Gray, Cynthia Lummis, Dixiecrats, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, Ignorance, Megan Degenfelder, Populism, Public Land, Republican Party, Trailing thread, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 3rd Edition: The Self Inflicted Wound Edition.

Labels: 2026 Election, Carpetbaggers, Chuck Gray, Climate Change, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, Mark Gordon, Politics, Public Land, Reid Rasner, Republican Party, The Amos Barber Effect, The Law of Unintended Consequences, Wyoming