March 20, 2026
The Oil City News has put up its updating election tracker, something we've done here as well, although theirs is an article that updates over time whereas we have to update blog entries, which is getting dicey due to some glitch on Blogger.
Anyhow, a good place to check on who is running, without, of course, our brilliant and amusing running commentary.
2026 Election Tracker: Who is running for office in Wyoming?
March 21, 2026
Former Casper Vice Mayor and City Councilor Shawn Johnson announced this wee that he is seeking the Libertarian Party of Wyoming’s nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives.
The House race has been very active, due to one term Representative Harriet Hageman taking aim at the Senate. The current candidates are:
U.S. House of Representatives
GOP
Jillian Balow
Chuck Gray. On our don't vote for list.
Reid Rasner. On our don't vote for list.
David Giralt
Bo Biteman On our don't vote for list.
Kevin Christensen On our don't vote for list.
Independent
Daniel Workman.
Libertarian
Shawn Johnson
As an aside, we heard a public radio discussion of Christensen the other day, which was neutral, but which makes it plain he's sucked on the government tit pretty much his whole life and now comes in as a far right figure. These sorts of campaigns, of which there seem to be a lot this year, are much like a new high school graduate being an expert on parenting as he's lived at home for 18 years.
We better list the Senate as well.
U.S. Senate
GOP
Harriet Hageman. On our don't vote for list.
Jimmy Skovgard.
Skovgard has so far failed to impress, unfortunately. For awhile I subscribed to one of his two blogs which I gave up on as it might be kindly described as blather. Hopefully some other Republican will announce for this position, as I will vote for him in the primary when I'd rather not, as Hageman is a no/go..
Democratic Party
James Byrd
And the Governor's race:
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 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.
Constitution Party
Joseph Kibler. On our don't vote for list.
Kibler announced as a Republican, switched to being an independent and is now in the Constitution Party..
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".
Wyoming State Superintendent
Tom Kelly
Wyoming Secretary of State
GOP
Robert Short
Rachel Williams. Williams, formerly Rodriguez-Williams, is on the don't vote for list. She's the chairperson of the Freedom Caucus.
A carpetbagger from California, she always used a hyphenated name up until filing for this office. The WFC is packed with far right Evangelicals and generally MAGA has a strong New Apostolic Reformation element that is anti-Catholic as well as anti Hispanic. She is Hispanic and Catholic and in the category of people that is abandoning MAGA like crazy. She isn't, but she may instead have wanted to camouflage her Hispanic ethnicity a bit. I don't know that, but it's pretty odd that she suddenly changed her name for the campaign.
As a politician, she's had all the WFC views.
Democratic Party
Bryan McCarty
Wyoming State Auditor
GOP
Kristi Racines
Apparently State Auditor is too boring to bring very many candidates out to run for it.
Some interesting State House races.
House District 37
GOP
Steve Harshaman
Ross Schriftman
Democratic Party
Betsy Erickson
HD 37 is an interesting race as Harshman is one of the best legislators in the House, and yet he's drawing opposition.
Schriftman, who apparently attended Casper City Council meetings frequently, is running as a "constitutional conservative" which makes him a no/go, as that uniformly means that they don't grasp the constitution whatsoever.
Erickson is a young Democrat whose already adopted the seas of blood stance of the Democratic Party.
House District 57
GOP
Julie Jarvis
Jeanette Ward On our don't vote for list.
Jarvis took out Ward in the 2024 race and Ward, who is an extreme Freedom Caucuser, wants the seat back.
House District 58
GOP
Peter Boyer
Bill Allemand. On our don't vote for list.
Allemand, who is facing legal trouble for drunk driving, is one of the worst members of the legislature in our view and needs to go. Boyer is the Mayor of Bar Nunn.
March 24, 2026
Reid Rasner Sues A Fifth Person For Defamation
Reading the article, it's easy to see why Rasner is upset, but suing people during a campaign is a questionable tactic, although Rasner may figure he has no other vehicle to clear his name.
March 25, 2026
A special election was held in Florida for the Florida house district in which King Donny claims residency.
A steadfast opponent of voting by mail, Donald voted by mail.
The Democrat took the seat, flipping it from the GOP.
I'm sure MAGA has some explanation why their beloved gets to vote by mail even though he declares it to be hideous, and why the people of his state House District just said no to the GOP. But it will be delusional.
A good essay on an election closer to home.
The case for deep Wyoming roots
Chad Auer, a senior policy advisor to Governor Mark Gordon, announced his bid for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Legislator Tom Kelly announced earlier. Neither candidate has very deep roots in the state, both being recent transplants.
Rasner and Gray's contest, and of course they're only two of the candidates in that race, has turned out to be surprisingly interesting recently as Rasner has been pointing out Gray's hypocrisy on wind projects he claims are "woke", but which he voted for. Both candidates oppose wind power, because they love oil and global warming is a fib in their minds, but Gray is exposed on this. Gray's struggling to respond and has resorted to blaming his votes on Governor Gordon.
March 26, 2026
Another carpetbagger, one Frank Chapman, a lawyer from out of state who moved to Moran about a decade agon and is now some sort of rancher and outfitter, has announced for the House race.
Like every other Republican, he's running on the government is mean to me ticket. He's self declared MAGA.
In other news:
Hageman Endorses Degenfelder For Governor Of Wyoming
That's a pretty good reason not to vote for Degenfelder.
Must Be Campaign Season: Rasner, Gray Blast Each Other
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