The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 3. The Confederate Legislature Edition.

 

February 9, 2026.

The 2026 Wyoming legislature commences today. 

It'll be the first one controlled by the Confederate Carpetbagger Caucus and therefore the first Wyoming legislature ever that doesn't have a strong element of moderation built into it.  The carpetbaggers of the WFC captured it, backed in no small part by riding the Trump wave, the collapse of the stability of the oil and gas industry (which was never all that stable) and oddly enough a series of warm winters that would have sent a lot of these people back to where they were from.  Instead, they stayed and brought their Dixiecrat disgruntlement into the state.

It seems that people are actually starting to wake up to them in numbers for the first time. They're gutting UW, education, and local governments, as people living in 1930s Alabama don't need none o' that stuff.  They've brought in with them a certain American sort of far right Evangelical view as well, something extremely foreign to the state.  And they're backed by money from out of state, one of which sends around Instagram messages as "Honor Wyoming" but which does anything but.  

Wyomingites who thought the WFC were just conservative have been shocked to find that ain't so.

The thing is, it might be too late.  Or it might not be.  They have the numbers not to do a lot of things, but they don't have the numbers to override vetoes.

This is a budget session, so it should only have 20 working days.  That hasn't stopped legislators from trying to introduce all sorts of things in the past, and it won't this year.  Here' are the prefiled bills:

2026 Wyoming Legislation.*

There are a lot of weird laws in this pack, but I'm just going to start off with this WFC one.  HB 01119 would ban the use of "foreign law" in Wyoming, and under its own terms, accidentally wipe out the complete body of civil law in the state, which specifically was adopted as being English Common Law.

This is an example of the sort of ignorant paranoia on the far right that preserved abortion in Wyoming.

Cont:  

The Governor and Chief Justice spoke.

Senate File 51, allowing for transferable landowner tags, a terrible wildlife privatization concept, died on introduction.

The Confederate Caucus revealed its agenda.

Wyoming Freedom Caucus Unveils 2026 Agenda Outside Wyoming Capitol

Prohibiting infanticide, I'd note, is something I agree with, but it's the far right's fault that it was preserved in Wyoming, which they need to wake up to.

Footnotes:

*In past years I ran the table of bills and much of the text of various bills on the trailing thread for that  year's legislature.  It made for lots of threads that grew really long.

That's hard to slog through, so this year I'm trying something different and putting that stuff on a seperate page.  It's up as a link now, but it'll likely go down as a link, although still be possible to bring up from the threads, when the 2026 Legislature is thankfully over.

February 10, 2025

The Confederate Caucus isn't starting off with much success. Wyoming voters apparently have awakened about them and their representation is taking note.

Six Of Seven Election Reform Bills Killed On Monday, Freedom Caucus Not Happy

School funding bill dies in Wyoming House: The Legislature is constitutionally required to undergo so-called ‘recalibration.’ The bill, drafted in the legislative off season, was unpopular among educators.

Wyoming House Kills Bill To Change How Schools Get Money, Senate Could Save It

The Confederates went to their playbook and blamed "liberal Republicans", which really don't exist in Wyoming's legislature.

Some other stupid bills died as well, including the paranoid geoengineering bill and a constitutional amendment on property tax valuation.

The Business Council seems to have survived.

It's a budget session, we need to keep in mind, so 2/3s of a body is needed to introduce a bill. 

Lawmakers kill dozens of bills on budget session’s first day

More data here:

2026 Wyoming Legislation.*

February 11, 2026

Gordon: It's Refreshing To See So Many Bills Die Because It's A Budget Session, After All

It is, although it does point out the need to end the WFC's chapter in Wyoming politics, as next year may well be different.

Wyoming Freedom Caucus calls foul on committee bill decimation: In a blow to the Republican group’s majority bloc, 21 committee bills failed introduction on Monday in the House— more than twice the number the caucus killed in the last budget session, when it was in the minority.

Funny, the Confederate Caucus was just beginning to make a stumbling effort to counter the growing "you're batshit crazy" movement countering them with "it's democracy", dragging out Cassie Cravens to with some potted meat, when now they're crying foul about how democracy works. 

Amongst the WFC's members, a fellow in the news a lot recently had a bad result.

Allemand-sponsored nuclear waste bill fails Wyoming House introduction

And this:

Wyoming House Kills Bill To Make Counties Pay Costs For Self-Defense Acquittals

And this is interesting:

Guest Column: The Hidden Price of Tax Relief — What Every Wyoming Citizen Should Know

It's interesting in part as Steinmetz, the author, is an "ally" of the WFC, and she's breaking ranks.

I will say the "hidden" aspect of this is complete crap.  Anyone who paid attention, including anyone in the WFC who was following, knew that this would gut local entities like a fish. For the most part, they simply didn't care.

Indeed, the carpetbagger element of this is really strong here.  WFC supporters include a fair amount of carpetbaggers who moved in here from other state, bought property at inflated values, and don't want to be taxed. They really don't care if towns and cities don't have services or if kids aren't educated. They raised their kids elsewhere and, American style, abandoned them somewhere else.  They're happy to sit i in their McMansions in a town with no local services as they're old and they aren't going to use them.

But now legislators are hearing from people who are from here, and who want a police department, a fire department, decent towns, and to educate their kids.  

February 13, 2026

Wyoming lawmakers will investigate checks activist gave to legislators on House floor: The incident in question occurred Monday night when Rebecca Bextel of Jackson handed out campaign donation checks. The House voted unanimously in support of the investigation.

 Change to Wyoming law to recognize legality of corner crossing clears early hurdles: Although it’s been smooth sailing so far, the measure still has “98 yards to go” in the legislative process and faces opposition from influential parties.

 Bill to put abortion-related question to voters fails Senate introduction: The measure would have asked voters to amend the Wyoming Constitution so the Legislature can define health care. It comes on the heels of a Wyoming Supreme Court decision striking down state abortion bans.

On the last item, the ghost of the constitutional amendment regarding "health care" now appears in the legislature, which provided the reason that some Republicans voted against the bill. 

February 14, 2026, Valentine's Day.

Wyoming Freedom Caucus in Cheyenne.

Well, the first week of the legislature is over and it proved to be an interesting, and surprising, one.

The Confederate Carpetbagger Caucus went into the session with its orders from out of state interests and extreme right wing agenda and ran right into, well, Wyomingites.

It also ran into its own ignorance.

Full of piss and vinegar, the collection of carpetbaggers and carpetbagger drones simply figured it had the numbers and it was going to return the state to November 11, 1620.  It forgot, apparently, that in a budget session it needs a supermajority to introduce legislation, and while it may have the majority, it doesn't have that.

It was also taken off guard by a sudden rise in attention to it by regular people from the state, which now that they are more informed, are starting to organize against it.  They haven't been able to get back on their feet from that, with perhaps the most pathetic response being Cassie Craven's "but don't you still love us?".

We never did.

All this is bad news for the WFC as it may have shot its bolt.  Candidates are starting to come out to take them on, as evidenced by the Mayor of Bar Nunn coming out against Freedom Caucuser Bill Allemand.

And the exposing of their money supply hasn't been a good thing for any of them, even though those who were watching them carefully knew about it all along.  Likewise, that they were fed canned legislation was well known, but it was not known that they were basically fed instructions on what to do.

Amongst those whom its not good news for is Chuck Gray, who turned the state's voters roles over to his beloved, Donald Trump, because Donny asked for them.  Gray adores Trump like a teenage bride adores her husband and is making that the gist of his campaign, Trump Love, but he's responsible for a bunch of WFC voting bills that went down in flames.  He's running for the House against Jillian Balow, Reid Ransner and David Giralt.  I suspect that this sort of thing really starts to boost Balow.  Gray is really detested by a lot of people to start with, and Giralt to unknown.  Rasner is a gadfly.  Gray's term as Secretary of State end in January, 2027 and if he doesn't secure the House his political career in the state is at an end.

Amongst the bill casualties so far has been the bill on abortion.  This also signifies, fwie, a return of Wyoming politics to the middle.  I'm opposed to abortion so I would like to have seen that bill advance, but it's the case that for eons Wyoming Republicans opposed abortion more or less, but wouldn't act to make it illegal. The first time that the legislature ever passed anything doing that was right after Dodds, and that's the statute, or statutes, that died in court.  It was killed there by an amendment to the constitution that was designed to protect individual health care decisions from the fantasy of AHCA death panes, and it became a death panel itself.  So effectively the state returns to the status quo ante on abortion, thanks to the GOP in the first place.

So we'll see what next week brings.

February 15, 2026

And, finishing up this past week:

Laramie County sheriff launches criminal investigation into Wyoming Legislature check controversy: The inquiry will examine whether campaign donation checks distributed to lawmakers amount to bribery.

Sheriff Investigating Check Passing Scandal In Wyoming Legislature

I suppose it shouldn't surprise anyone too much to learn that Bextel, the check giver, is from Alabama, although she lived in Guatemala as a Protestant missionary, that part of the world having Protestant missions that seek to convert people who are already Christians.  She's been in Wyoming about twenty years.

It'll probably turn out not to be criminal, but the act of giving out checks on the floor was monumentally dumb, as was the act of receiving them that way.

Cheyenne Roundup 2026: Episode 2 | Checkgate, dead bills and the start of the session: Bills are flying and dying in the Wyoming Legislature’s budget session. And lawmakers haven’t even touched the budget itself yet.

Related threads:

In Full Debate On University of Wyoming Budget Cuts, Lawmakers Ask If It's Retaliation The Wyoming House and Senate debated a $40 million cut to the University of Wyoming on Thursday, with the budget committee co-chair John Bear confirming the number was meant to "get their attention." He said legislative directives on DEI were ignored.

Guest Column: Proud Of Wyoming And UW – And If You Take Time To Learn, I Bet You Will Be Too Guest columnist Marilyn Kite writes, "Most Wyoming citizens are proud of our state. But today, we hear attacks. Where all these attacks are coming from is a puzzle, but they are likely driven by out of state forces that know little about our history and public assets."

Tom Lubnau: Puppets, Phones, and Power — Inside Wyoming’s Shadow Legislature Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "We know money changed hands – on the house floor. And during floor debate, you can routinely watch legislators read directly from their phones. We do not know who is scripting the debate."

Donor: Two checks given to Bextel were intended for pair of Wyoming Legislature’s most powerful lawmakers

Last edition:

The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 2. Pre Legislative Committee Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Economics, Education, Ignorance, Mark Gordon, National Public Radio, Radio, Sports, Taxes, Tom Lubnau, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

Tom Lubnau: Puppets, Phones, and Power — Inside Wyoming’s Shadow Legislature Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "We know money changed hands – on the house floor. And during floor debate, you can routinely watch legislators read directly from their phones. We do not know who is scripting the debate."

 

Tom Lubnau: Puppets, Phones, and Power — Inside Wyoming’s Shadow Legislature

Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "We know money changed hands – on the house floor. And during floor debate, you can routinely watch legislators read directly from their phones. We do not know who is scripting the debate."

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, 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

New Year's Resolutions for Other People.

Some years I do this thread, other years not.  2025 was such a serious year, I'm tempted not to.

Maybe that's when you should.

I'm going to start of with a minor one.

Heather Cox Richardson, for goodness sakes pay some attention to the production values of your Vlog.  It's absolutely horrific and yes, it does matter.  Sitting in front of a coast map may be something you can get away with as a professor to your students, but frankly everyone else just wonders on to Erza Klein.

The ones with Joanne B. Freeman are the absolutely worst, not because you both don't have things that are serious to say, but because it comes across like two elderly professors in the faculty lounge who are annoyed with undergraduates.

You have good content.  Improve the production values.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way. . .

Cabinet members, invoke the 25h Amendment.

You know that Donald Trump is getting increasingly bat shit crazy and he's making everything worse.  The point at which he serves as razzle dazzle is over.  It's no longer safe.  Remove him.

And once he's removed, do a serious investigation into what his thing with Putin is.  It's weird, bare minimum, but is there more there?

Some will note, and indeed people already are, that if Trump goes Vance is in. This is true.Vance has his own dangers, but he's not likely to nuke Denmark.

Regarding Vance, Vance probably is who he always was, or so it seems to me, but his philosophical underpinnings have developed enormously, whether you like them or not.  It occurs to me that people who were charmed by Hillbilly Elegy were charmed by it as they didn't regard it as a call for action for a hillbilly class, but rather as a fun thing to lament over while sipping some weird tea based drink and watching Heather Cox Richardson.  Nope, it was a call to arms.

Vance, or whatever your name is, its time for you to be open about your beliefs.  Either the American public accepts them, which they probably do not, or they'll reject them and you can try to convince them.  

Also, reconsider their harshness.  It's easier to be Kevin Roberts if you are an academic.  In the real world, Pope Leo XIV makes a lot more sense.

Wyoming Freedom Caucus.  Go back to your homes and leave Wyoming alone.

John Barrasso.  Grow a spine and start backing Wyoming.

Chuck Gray. See item on Freedom Caucus.

Wyoming Democrats.  Be like what  you once were, moderate Republicans.  You're never getting anywhere running as the French Socialist Party.

Wyoming voters, quit screwing yourself.  I swear, the things you keep voting to support are so darned dumb it defines description.  Voting for politicians who will grab Federal lands would sell them in a heartbeat.  Coal is not coming back. Climate change is real and needs to be addressed.

And, if you are a new Freedom Caucus type voter, go home.  We'll even buy you a box set of the Dukes of Hazzard if you leave.

Members of the Evangelical Protestant right wing community (and maybe Evangelical Protestants in general). Read some history.  You guys are carrying out a historically discredited effort that's contrary to the Church.

Also, knock off the divorce doesn't matter thing.  It does.  

Last edition:

New Year's Resolutions for Other People, sort of.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2025, An hoc pertinet ad naturam?, Donald Trump, Joseph Biden, Natural Law, New Apostolic Reformation, New Year's Resolutions, Politics, religion