May 29, 2026 is the last day to declare a candidacy in one of the two "major parties".
We will, therefore, likely be learning of some new candidates in the upcoming days for the first time.
And we might be surprised that some who stated they were running, but who haven't filed, don't.
May 21, 2026
Two Democrats, Ana Cordova and Sergio Maldonado Sr. have entered the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. It seems that a third, Libertarian Ryan Shollenberger, will. They join existing GOP candidates Tom Kelly, Chad Auer and Steve Harshman.
Shollenberger doesn't have to file by May 29, as Libertarians are not a "major party". It's worth noting here that a Libertarian candidate for this office makes darned near no sense whatsoever.
Democratic candidates do, however, and both of the declared Democrats have experience in education. Maldonado ran against Degenfelder last time, and given here throwing roses to MAGA, which she sort of did and sort of didn't, while in that position, he frankly would have been a saner choice.
Harshman is highly likely to win against the two carpetbagging competitors he faces and is a really solid choice. This race might actually feature two really good candidates and a throwaway.
Columnist Rod Miller wrote in Wyofile to advance an idea that I've been backing here for quite some time, that being getting rid of party identification and affiliation in the state's elections.
He points out that our state constitution is silent on party affiliation, and I frankly feel our current primary system is unconstitutional. I wish somebody would file a lawsuit over the issue.
May 23, 2026
The more I've read on this, the more it seems clear this fellow is not eligible:
This will be a test for Chuck, who hasn't been very good at passing tests so far.
Chuck also met with some discontent outside a legislative committee meeting:
Of course, Chuck tagged the protest as hoard of radical leftist, as he does, a hoard apparently meaning any group of people exceeding one person and a leftist being anyone who disagrees with him.
May 24, 2026
Updates as we reach the filing deadline.
U.S. Senate:
Republican Party.
Harriet Hageman. On our no go list.
Jill M Edwards. A new name, no idea who she is.
Jimmy Skovgard
John Allan Holtz. Perennial GOP candidate who was apparently a judge at some point and just can't get the message that no one wants him as an office holder.
"Okay, Boomer".
Sam Mead. Best GOP candidate so far.
Democrats.
Billy Benavidez. A new name. No idea who he is.
James Byrd.
On this race, State Rep. Campbell, running for reelection, came out and boldly branded Hageman a threat to public lands, which she is. That took guts.
May 27, 2026
Lisa Engebretsen, a Casper real estate agent, has announced a bid for Senate District 29, which is currently held be uber extreme Wyoming Freedom Caucus commando Bob Ide. She's running as a conservative candidate.
The more power to her. Ide was even in Washington D.C. on January 6, although he wasn't a rioter. He need to be voted out.
Another menace to the state, Chuck Gray, is getting no love from the legislature:
In Texas, which has the stupidest politics in the country, Ken Paxton defeated John Cornyn in the Texas Republican runoff and boisterous GOP annoyance Chip Roy was defeated in his bid to replace Paxton as attorney general.
In at least the first race, the nomination of Paxton gives the Democrats, whose fortunes are overall reviving in Texas, a chance of taking Cornyn's seat and gives Cornyn the chance to go whole hog on the Senate on seeking revenge against Trump. Trump's recent actions in the 2026 race are not only boosting Democrats, they're freeing up current office holders to act against him.
May 28, 2026
Occasional Casper Mayor Ray Pacheco has announced for Natrona County commissioner, which would mean that two former mayors are running for positions on the commission.
Balow has commenced running her ads.
It's notable that the three candidates who have really been spending money in the House race, Gray, Friess and Rasner, all have wealth or family wealth. It raises the obvious comment that if they're conservatives as they claim, or populists as they really are, they can afford to hold their positions, which is something to consider.
The median income in Wyoming is $76,000/year.
May 29, 2026
Freedom Caucus member Scott Smith announced to challenge Treasurer Curt Meier, who is seeking reelection to the office.
He was mysteriously endorsed by the Make Liberty Win group of far right wingnuts before he announced.
Jillian Balow ads have started running. An example of them is:
Today is the last day to announce to run for the 2026 elections.
May 30, 2026
And now all the names are in.
Governor:
The Democrats have completely thrown in the towel on this race as Casner, who is so old that he attended the Lincoln Douglas debates, has no support and probably is in the category of having negative support. They gave up on this race completely. Casner ought to do everyone a favor and drop out.
A new name appears in the form of Curt Blake. I have no idea who he is.
This is a race between Barlow, Bien, and Degenfelder, with Bien and Degenfelder both vying for the far right. Bien isn't really even trying for the middle, but he'll draw votes away from Degenfelder. Barlow is by far the best candidate and the primary will determine the election due to the Democratic tragedy of not having a real candidate for this office.
U.S. Senator:
The only real change here was the addition of Billy Benavidez to the Democratic slate. That's unfortunate as Benavidez has less than 0 chance, but it does distract from the candidacy of James Byrd, who is a really good candidate.
Ideally Same Mead would take the GOP nomination and the race would be between Mead and Byrd. Mead would win. Hageman has the advantage, however, in spite of her far right anti public lands positions. Byrd will pull quite a few votes in the fall, assuming he's the nominee on the Democratic side, if Hageman is the Republican nominee, but Mead likely has a better chance than people might suppose. There's a fair amount of discontent with Hageman who was only elected to Congress on a visceral reaction to Liz Cheney thinking independently.
Jill Edwards is a complete unknown in this race. Holtz is an other antiquated baby boomer who just can't get over not being needed.
U.S. House of Representatives.
A real surprise here as longtime Natrona County politician Keith Goodenough reappears for the first time in quite awhile seeking the position of Congressman. It's really surprising as the race is pretty far along already, with Jillian Balow starting her campaign in earnest, and with Steve "my daddy was rich so I can afford to be a conservative" Friess, Chuck "everyone against me is a communist, fascist, Marxist, monarchist, podiatrist Gray, and Reid "I say abhorrent weird things" Rasner, violently throwing money at each other.
Rasner's campaign, we'd note, has been sufficiently weird that there's actually an article in the Cowboy State Daily in which WFC chief John Bear explains that its not a joke, no really it isn't, it's weird, sounds like a parody, but, um, it's not a joke.
Secretary of State
More new names on the Republican side here.
A lot of these candidates are completely unknown. Robert Short is likely the best candidate and Rachel Williams, who was in the legislature as Rachel Sanchez Williams (you have to wonder if she learned that the WFC, of which she is a member, doesn't approve really of brown people), a complete no go.
Other Statewide Races
Apparently nobody really wants to be State Auditor.
The rest of these races we've already reported on.
In legislative races, Senate District 9 has only a Democrat as a registered candidate, incumbent Rothfuss. That's unusual. Senate District 17 also only has a registered Democrat.
In other news, Trump endorsed Pam Evette in South Carolina’s Republican primary for governor throwing Nancy Mace under the bus.
Mace voted to release the Epstein files. There's a real pattern here of Trump going after everyone who did.
In yet more news, we have this:
It probably will be dismissed, but at least in my view, our partisan primary system is in fact violative of the Wyoming Constitution It'll be interesting to see how it progresses. The case is filed in the State's 7th Judicial District in Natrona County.
June 2, 2026
In a story thick with irony, the Gray campaign released the result of a poll yesterday and by the end of the day, it was clear it was a push poll.
A poll at this point, with one major candidate having only started running within the last week, is pretty questionable, as some interviewed noted. Gray, however, is in a bad spot as there are three candidates who are thickly funded all running on the platform that they'll be Trump's political paramour, of which Gray is one.
The push poll asked really vile questions about the other two candidates, but they're highly ironic as well. The question on Freiss called him an "out of state" elitist who has never held a real job, which describes Chuck "I only worked in my daddy's radio station" Gray as well.
This can't be emphasized enough. Both Gray and Freiss are carpetbaggers with family wealth. Gray is tarring himself with the same brush he's tarring Freiss. The point is in fact valid, but it means that neither one of them should be elected.
The poll also attacked gadfly Reid Rasner. The attack on Rasner pointed out that he is a homosexual who has been married and divorced, and points out that apparently the divorce settlement contains some sort of confidentiality/non disclosure provision.
Rasner deserves the attack if for no other reason he's gone after transgenderism, which a lot of people with conventional sexual orientation or morality (they are not the same thing) think is a homosexual mental illness. I think it's a homosexual mental illness and for that matter, I regard homosexuality as disordered. I know of one person who won't vote for Rasner as he's a homosexual, and Gray is hoping that there are others of a similar mind.
Rasner is 41 years old, admits being homosexual, and we know has had a sexual relationship, given his marriage. We note that as Gray is 36 and Wyomingites know nothing whatsoever about his private life at all. Absolutely nothing. He's the least well known candidate, I'd wager, in Wyoming's history.
Both men are Catholic, which makes Rasner's earlier marriage invalid in the eyes of the Church and the conduct within it a mortal sin. He may have confessed and repented. We have no idea. Gray is Catholic as well and his lying and public conduct of this type crosses the line into what I'd regard as a mortal sin, but I'm not a moral arbiter. What I'd note, however, is that having brought this topic up, he should now answer the question as to why he's unmarried and has never been married at age 36.
There may be good reasons. I've known a few perfectly straight people, one my age, one quite a bit older, and one half my age, who have never married and never been in any long term relationships just because that's how life worked out, or is working out so far, for them. One just prefers ones own company. But Gray is obviously out and about and frankly age 36 and no relationship, if there is no relationship, is weird. Gray now owes us an explanation for why half his life is over and he's totally unattached, assuming that he is. Maybe women can't stand him. Maybe his standards are sky high. Maybe there's another story.
On this topic, there has been one Wyoming office holder who was a closeted homosexual for their entire term in office (and they were an excellent office holder). That person was often mentioned as a possible Governor and never ran. I have to wonder if that's the reason why. And there's another whom is consistently rumored to be homosexual and not only at the street level, but at the in the know level. If that person is (and I don't know), they've taken very active steps to conceal it.
The reason is pretty clear. The perception is that Wyomingites won't vote for them if they're homosexual, which is why 36 year old unmarried Gray is pointing fingers at 41 year old homosexual unmarred Reid and saying, "Look! He's gay". Funny thing is that at least at the local level things are often different. Casper's had an openly homosexual mayor and another openly homosexual councilman.
Who knows.
We do know that Gray wants to be Congressman so bad he's now throwing the pooh at his competitors even if he has to sit in it to do it.
Degenfelder and Bien engaged in a debate, which is amusing, as there are other candidates, and that's basically pointless.
June 3, 2026
California's open primary was too close to call. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican business executive Steve Hilton lead the contest.
This sort of open primary, in which the top two vote getters move on, makes a whole lost more sense than the Wyoming one which (probably illegally) is a party election.
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