The 2026 Election, 22nd Edition. The Stupid on Stilts Edition.

From Greed, 1925.

We're making a fortune. So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump Dividend. Congratulations.

Donald Trump at the GOP Midterm Convention.

A person would have to be stupid on stilts to believe that promise, and a similar one has been extended before.

Seriously, what kind of a dumbass believes anything Trump promises at this point?

The fact that the GOP is having a "Midterm" convention is itself an example of outright desperation and hubris on the part of Trump.  Trump loves Trump and you must love Trump, so he's reminding you of Trump Love so that you love him and vote for the GOP candidates to show your mindless cult like love.

The fact of the matter is that everything associated with Trump is going badly and his approval ranking is sinking like a rock.  In Wyoming it's down to 54% and the impact of the tariffs on Canada haven't even hit yet, much.  The war hasn't ended, inflation is about to ramp back up, and Trump's own weirdness is now too weird for anyone to ignore. The result is that Democrats, who were slated to take back the House, now appear likely to take back the Senate as well.  Even in Wyoming there's some hint that the Senate may be in play and it's clear that a large number of people really aren't keen on Chuck Gray, who has been pretty quiet since the primary.

Indeed, I've seen a little lashing out at John Barrasso, who isn't running for anything.  Now days we mostly see Dr. John looking at Donald Trump as if he, Barrasso, is suffering from a severe case of constipation.  He may be, as he's kept his true views on everything, none of which we know, bottled up inside of himself for so long.  Anyhow, if people are mad at Barrasso, who seems to have forgotten which state he's from, it doesn't bode well for Hageman and Gray, although they are both clearly the favorites.

This does bring us to some questions that should be asked in the next two months, however.  Those being:

1.  Do you support the undeclared war against Iran, and if yes, how do you justify no declaration of war existing?

2.  On data centers, a big deal here in Wyoming, are you against them like seemingly the majority of Wyomingites are, or for them, like Donald Trump is?

3.  What is your position on public lands?

4. For people who go outside, there are clearly environmental matters to be concerned about. Do you have any concerns, and if no, just don't tell us "it's a big fib", as that's just telling us that you'll lie for votes.  What is your justification?

5.  Epstein files. Why aren't they being released.

6.  What is your real plan for balancing the budget and addressing the debt and show us that it works.

7.  Do you support ending the trade war with Canada?

A note, prior endorsements on running candidates are below in a separate thread as an Appendix, which is also linked in below..  I'm doing that in this edition so as to not clog up the first part of it too much.

September 11, 2026

Two events occured yesterday which should; 1) cause a sane nation to invoke the 25th Amendment and 2) cause every Republican running for office to have to answer where they stand or never be voted on again.

The first.

Trump sworn his acolytes in so that they will be able to be called up as Long Knives to attack the upcoming Republican defeat in November.

It's not the pledge to go out and vote.  Frankly, most MAGA isn't paying any attention this anyway.  

It's the pledge to cheat.

Things Trump says cannot any longer be dismissed.  People who think that one liner means nothing are ignoring recent history.  He intends to steal the election.  If he pulls that off, if he's still living and semi coherent, he intends to serve a third term.

The second was a truly bizarre video based on the Paul Harvey "God made farmers" video of years ago with a "God gave us Trump" theme.

This latches on to the extreme Evangelical leg of the MAGA stool.  It would make most Christians of any branch absolutely cringe, and to claim a Divine mission like this may be very well blasphemous.

The questions that should be asked, and of any Republican candidate?

1.  Will you support the results of the November election no matter what they are.  If there's any hedging at all, tell the person they don't have your support for anything whatsoever.

2. Do you believe that Trump has a Divine mission?  Any answer than an unqualified no should disqualify the candidate.

I can guarantee you that almost any GOP candidate, particularly if they don't know your view going into the question, will waffle and not give a straight answer.

Carrying on a bit, the religiosity of this midterm Republican convention is really something else.  Protestant ministers showed up to speak at it and Tim Scott sounded like an Evangelist.  At some point Protestants who are members of these communities really have to ask their pastors how they can reconcile their faith with a man who so clearly ignores Christianity. 

Closer to home, Harriet Hageman is ignoring calls for a debate with James Byrd and Byrd is calling her out on it.  His post from Facebook:

James Byrd for United States Senate

IF YOU WON'T FIGHT FOR WYOMING ON A DEBATE STAGE, WHO ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR?

Harriet Hageman won't stand on a stage. She won't return calls. She won't even respond. And now her silence is about to cancel the one chance Wyoming voters had to see both Senate candidates side by side.

You don't get to represent this state if you won't show up and defend what you believe in front of it. Silence isn't leadership. It's a candidate deciding Wyoming doesn't deserve a real conversation at all.

Tell Wyoming PBS: don't let her refusal to stand for what she believes in decide this for the rest of us.

Stand and fight.

That really is a chicken move by Hageman, but it seems to me she's taken that approach in the past as well.

In the past it struck me as arrogance.  She stopped debating as a wave of the hand type of move, although Grey Bull pulled down 25% of the vote in 2022 and Cameron 23% in 2024.  Here, it strikes me as fear.  Gray Bull was a good debater and still drew 25% in a year that heavily favored Hageman.  Now, with four years in, Hageman has an extremely exposed record.  She poked Wyoming voters in the eye on public lands and basically called them dumb.  In the category of dumb, her family's homestead burned to the ground but she still is a climate change denier.  She was endorsed by Trump and has yet to explain how Wyoming farmer and ranchers should view South American beef.  It's unfortunate that she lost to Mead, who was such a better candidate.

It's pretty questionable how she'd do in a debate against Byrd.  Byrd would likely best her, and what's more, he knows that.  So he's making her chicken move an issue.

Hageman ought to be held to account for hiding.

AN OPEN LETTER TO WYOMING PBS

August 11, 2026

To the Leadership of Wyoming PBS,

On August 10, our campaign was notified that Wyoming PBS would not be holding a primary debate for U.S. Senate, because our opponent declined the invitation to participate. A similar notice was given to Lisa Kinney, one of the Democratic candidates for Wyoming's U.S. House seat, whose opponent also declined. As a result, neither of Wyoming's federal Democratic primary races will be represented in a debate on Wyoming PBS this cycle.

I want the public to know directly: I did not refuse this invitation. I remain ready and willing to speak to Wyoming voters in this format, and if Wyoming PBS were to offer me the opportunity, I would be there.

We understand the position Wyoming PBS is in. Federal equal-time provisions limit what a broadcaster can do when only one candidate is willing to appear, so PBS can't simply offer a solo forum in place of a debate, and balancing that against the responsibility to keep voters informed is a hard job. We don't take issue with that constraint itself.

But we do take issue with the precedent this sets.

If one candidate declining is all it takes to cancel a debate outright, then any candidate who wants to dodge scrutiny now has a guaranteed way to do it. That's not a neutral policy. It rewards avoidance and punishes the candidate who actually showed up. It hands one side the power to decide, unilaterally, whether Wyoming voters get to see a debate at all. That is not how this is supposed to work.

When journalism requires the participation of good faith actors, rather than holding all individuals to account regardless of whether they participate, it will ultimately fail at its own goal of accountability. It is always easier to hide than to be held to account.

We've also noticed a related pattern: nominees who clear a primary and then simply skip general election debates too. Put these trends together, and debate participation stops being something candidates owe their constituents. It becomes optional for anyone who calculates they have more to lose than gain by showing up. That should worry Wyoming PBS as much as it worries us.

We are asking Wyoming PBS to make a public commitment that the U.S. House and Senate debates ahead of the Nov. 3, 2026 general election will occur, period. That commitment should hold true regardless of the participation of our opponents.

If a candidate refuses to show up, hold the debate anyway and leave their podium empty. Stations across the country already do this when a candidate declines. It lets voters still hear from the candidates who did show up, and it makes the absent candidate's choice visible instead of erasing the event altogether. Voters deserve to hear from all candidates in each race. Short of that, they deserve to see plainly which candidates showed up to answer for their records and which ones didn't. No candidate should get to use their own absence as a weapon to keep another candidate off the stage.

We'd also push Wyoming PBS to rethink its approach for future primary cycles. One candidate's refusal shouldn't be enough to cancel a debate outright, and that shouldn't hinge on how many candidates happen to be on a given party's ballot. A party fielding one or two contested candidates deserves the same debate access as a party fielding a dozen. Anything less penalizes voters for the size of their party's field, not for anything they did.

We appreciate the work Wyoming PBS does for this state, and we expect a response.

Sincerely,

James Byrd

Byrd for Wyoming See less

 

September 12, 2026

Opponents Blast Hageman, Gray For Skipping PBS Debates Ahead Of General Election

It turns out that neither Gray nor Hageman are willing to debate.

I'd have much less faith in Kinney being able to really do well in a debate against Gray, although she was a practicing lawyer and has been a legislator.  Additionally, Gray's default setting when he gets stressed is asshole.

Both Hageman and Gray's campaigns are defending their position to be chickens.  So are their diehard supporters.  But it isn't a good look.

September 16, 2026

Rod Miller: Proposition 1 And Rolling The Dice For Lives

Rod Miller voices his opinion about Proposition 1.

What the text of Prop 1 states is:

(xliii) A portion of property used as a primary residence as a homeowner’s exemption. The following shall apply to the homeowner's exemption:

(A) For property used as a primary residence, fifty percent (50%) of the assessed value of the primary property is exempt from property taxation as a homeowner's exemption. Not more than one (1) homeowner’s exemption shall apply to the same property in any year and no owner shall claim more than one (1) homeowner’s exemption in any year including property that is improved by a residence that houses more than one (1) family. To claim a homeowner’s exemption the person shall have been a resident of this state for not less than one (1) year prior to claiming an exemption under this paragraph and shall have resided in the applicable primary residence for at least six (6) months of the immediately preceding tax year. To claim a homeowner’s exemption, the owner of the property shall submit a sworn claim to the county assessor not later than the fourth Monday in May on forms provided by the department of revenue demonstrating that the person is the owner of the property, and that the property is the person's primary residence. False claims are punishable as provided by W.S. 6-5-303.

Basically this proposition was a Wyoming Freedom Caucus "I just moved here with lots of money from California, bought a McMansion or a 40 acre dirt farm, drove up everyone's property taxes, and I don't like it".  The proposition would gut local communities income like a fish, which most of these people don't care about as they truly hate the government and don't care about educating children, for instance, as they prefer ignorance.

We're voting no on Prop 1.

Indeed, this is the one thing we've actually answered a poll on. The poll was clearly supposed to be in favor prop 1 and the pollster, pretty clearly calling from some place in the South, didn't really know how to react to my answers to the questions.

Speaking of speaking, where's Harriet and Chuck on doing a debate?

Speaking of those two, there are questions as we proceed along that they should be made to answer.

Harriet, now that her home county is on fire again, should be forced to answer if she's willing to basically burn everything down to support the lie that climate warming isn't real.  We all know it's real. She no doubt knows it's real.  Why the fib?

Both should be made to answer if they support the illegal war against Iran and why?

And what about those diesel prices, eh?

On other matters, there's some rumors going around that Bill Allemand, the far right wing Freedom Caucus candidate who barely survived a primary challenge, may bail out of office.  Apparently he may run through the election, according to one version of it, and then bail out some time after that.  Without the Freedom Caucus crew in Cheyenne there's nobody to tell him what to do, and it would appear, generally, he needs somebody to tell him what to do and he knows that.  He's not going to have any friends any longer in Cheyenne either.

If he bails out now, he probably throws that race to the Libertarian running in the district, although there is a Democrat running as well.  He likely won't do that now and I'm not exactly sure what happens if he does.  The logical thing would be that the other GOP candidate from the primary would replace him through a party process.  If he drops out after the fall election, and if he wins it, the party would pick three names and send them to the County Commissioners who would pick the new legislator.

That, in fact, is how Chuck Gray first took office.

September 17, 2026

The propeller hat Dixiecrats in the GOP are at war with their own party.  Unfortunately for that party, they are also in control of a lot of county, and the state, committees.

Hence some of those organizations basically backing the losing campaign of carpetbagger Rebecca Bextel.

Sheridan County GOP Posts, Then Removes, Statement Backing Bextel Over Barlow

Tom Lubnau: The Wyoming GOP Aims A Gun At Its Own Foot

The party is really hypocritical.  This past year it endorsed candidates in the primary for the first time and basically told GOP voters who they had to vote for.  It endorsed Hageman, Gray, and Bien.   Bien came in third in the Governor's race and they've been pouting ever since.

Barlow, who won the Governor's race, swamped his opponents, taking 45% of the vote, but sad Dixiecrats note that 45% is not 50%, and therefore, they argue, he's not the legitimate candidate.  That logic is pretty flawed as he certainly is under Wyoming's law, and his only real rival in the campaign was Trump endorsed Degenfelder, who took 30%.  Dixiecrat darling Bien took 24% and sad Confederates note that if you add Degenfelder and Bien together, that's more than 50%.

It is, but it assumes that Degenfelder voters would have voted for Bien if she hadn't been running. The opposite is probably true.  The 1/3 bottom of the bell curve probably would have voted for Trump knighted Degenfelder if Bien hadn't been running, but Degenfelder voters in large part would likely have gone for Barlow if Bien hadn't thrown his gray kepi into the ring.  If anyone had an argument here, therefore, it would be Degenfelder.

Neither Bien or Degenfelder, who hope to dig out of their holes rather than convert them into political graves have said anything about the results being illegitimate but upset WFC members have a bit, for Bien.  They tried to get a write in campaign going for him and at least locally one badly defeated WFC  member still is.  Others, including some committee members, are backing Bextel, who will lose massively in November.

The Constitution Party itself, which support a strict reading of a double secret constitution only they know about, is open enough itself to admit that it's hoping that Bextel can pull down 10% of the vote so that it can be a "major" party.  Under Wyoming's law on primaries, which I believe to be unconstitutional, that would make the party the very model of a modern major party.

That result might occur and it might actually be a good thing, although anyone voting for Bextel, as noted, fits into the bottom end of the bell curve.  What it would do, however, is give propeller hat wearing Dixiecrats a place to actually go, and they should go there. They are not Republicans.

Lubnau notes that upset Dixiecrats in GOP committees positions oddly don't make the same argument about Freedom Caucus darling Chuck Gray, who only pulled down 25% of the vote.  While Barlow isn't threatened by Bextel, Gray actually may be by Libertarian Johnson and Democrat Kinney.  I wouldn't have given Kinney any chance at all, but Gray's refusing to debate her is actually elevating her status.

On Sheridan County, while some on its GOP committee may be crying in their Bomber Mountain Amber Ale, the results were the same as they were statewide.  Barlow swamped his competition and while Bien did come in second there, he only barely beat out Degenfelder.  Again, those Degenfelder votes would have most likely gone to Barlow.  And Gray only barely beat out Biteman and Christensen there.

One final thing to note. Teton County, where Bextel has hung her kepi, and Sheridan County, are the homes to a lot of rich carpetbaggers.  These people tend to vote their own economic interests, and not paying taxes and telling the peasants to go **** *** are in that category.  Like the rank and file in Confederate Gray in the 1860s, a lot of that rank and file (which here includes a lot of carpetbaggers) tend to be dim enough to follow the dictates of their oligarchic masters.  We're seeing that, and frankly just a lot of real bottom of the bell curve ignorance, at work on these topics.

On other topics, Postmaster General David Steiner wants to quit his job, according to insiders.

He should as he's serving a madman.

The Post Office has been in the news recently as Trump keeps ordering it to impose impossible regulations on mail in voting, which Trump himself uses, as part of Trump's effort to interfere with and steal the November election. The Supreme Court won't let him so he's having a major tantrum.

cont:

Holy smokes. . Rebecca Bextel has released a campaign video.  Buckhorn Bar t-shirt aside (after a certain age, no matter how doe eyed you may be, you can't pull that off), she sounds like the biggest Alabama hick ever.  Her accent is so thick it's really impressive.  Trying to use the tag line "you don't have to be smart to be governor", she unintentionally sounds to native Westerners as Southern hick, which is admittedly a stereotype, given that's how Westerners tend to view Southerners.  Southerners probably are unaware of that.  

Bextel has lived in Wyoming for 20 years, which  means that she's hardly lived here any time at all.  And she lives in Teton County, which Deep Wyoming regards as California.

Anyhow, in terms of actual intelligence, Barlow is a veterinarian, one of the most difficult degrees to obtain.  Bextel has a degree from the University of Alabama, although I don't know in what.

Becky also tried to sound tough in a recent Chamber of Commerce appearance by claiming she had "bigger balls" than her opponent.

Pretty insightful, really.  She had to demean her status as a woman in order to have merit in her own eyes.

The Dixiecrats.  Just go home.

September 18, 2026

Harriet Hageman wrote a guest column in the Cowboy State Daily regarding birth right citizenship.

Guest Column: Birth Tourism Is Diluting American Citizenship. Here’s What Trump Should Do

Hageman won't debate her opponents and probably for good reason.  She's arrogantly supported a bill that would have set public lands up to be privatized and essentially called Wyomingites' opposing it stupid.  She claimed to be a "Constitutional Conservative" but has done nothing about Trump running roughshod over the Constitution, including waging an illegal war that's driving up prices for everyone in the state.  She has nothing to campaign on and American's short attention span doesn't allow for a "I'm not Liz Cheney" as a platform.  With Trump down to a 54% approval rating in Wyoming, "I love Trump" is starting not to sell so well either.  So she's taking a page out of the Desperate GOP Playbook, that being hordes of foreigners are coming here to have babies, or in this particular case, hordes of Chinese are coming to have babies.

Well, in reality, for the first time in fifty years the US had negative migration last year. That is, more people are leaving the US than entering it.  The US has been teetering on the edge of rapid decline for years, but Trump has floored the accelerator on that, with the help of Republicans in Congress, and the country looks like a joke.  China, the nation which Harriet maintains is trying to plant vast hordes of babies into our country, is the clearly up and coming nation.

The truth of the matter is that this problem, if there was one, has pretty much jumped the shark.  While I'm really skeptical of it being a crisis, right wing demographers right now are arguing the opposite problem, that being that the US population is actually starting to decline, that decline accelerated by the country having become unwelcoming to foreigners.  The solution is supposed to be for (white) Americans to get busy, so to speak.

That interestingly cuts in an opposite direction for a person like Hageman, and it really stands in contrast to Cheney.  Cheney, now 60 years of age, is a Gen Xer and the mother of five children.  Hageman (age 63) is technically a Baby Boomer (perhaps more accurately a Gen. Jonser) with no children whatsoever.  Both are lawyers, but Hageman looks a lot more like a feminist in every fashion.  Indeed, as I slightly knew here, and knew her friends better, I was quite surprised early on when she emerged as a Conservative.

I'm well aware, of course, that these sorts of questions aren't even supposed to be raised in polite society, but we no longer live in a polite society and people like Hageman are part of the reason why we do not. So the questions are fair game.

Anyhow, Hageman may have some accomplishments but I don't know what they are, and whatever they are, they to not appear to be large enough to justify voting for her.  Mostly she's been a Trump loyalist right up until recently, and an opponent of public lands.  She's complicit in the failures of the Trump Administration by doing nothing, or actively supporting them, and she's detrimental to the interest of Wyoming.

Time, therefore, to drag out the Hordes Of Chinese Babies Have Landed on Our Shores line.

Prior related recent threads:

Something is going on, and I'm not the only one sensing it.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, Adam Kinzinger, Canada, Donald Trump, Evangelical, Food, Immigration, inflation, Taxes, The Second Trump Administration, The Trump Trade War with Canada, Trump Trade Wars, United States

Appendices:

The 2026 Election, 22nd Edition. The Stupid on Stilts Edition. Appendix 1.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 21st Edition. The Contest in the General Election.

Labels: Bill Allemand, Constitution Party, Democratic Party, Economics, Industry, Joe Porambo, Karlee Provenza, Keenan Morgan, Libertarian, Ogden Driskill, Republican Party, Rod Miller, Tamara Trujillo, Wyoming (Natrona County)2026 Election, Ana Cordova, Brent Bien, Bryan McCarty, Chuck Gray, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, James Byrd, Kenneth Casner, Kevin Christensen, Rebecca Bextel, Robert Short, Shaun Johnson, Steve Harshman, Wyoming

The 2027 Legislature, super early edition. The make them stop edition.

Ugh, just when the first corn fed, cornfederate legislature was safely in the history books, the Management Council met.  Of course, the same dumb ideas that get rejected repeatedly are back up for reconsideration, at least in part.

I hear we want to do the election review again and redo the same bills that just died three weeks ago ... in exchange for 911 funding.

Tara Nethercott.

The corner crossing bill won't be back, which is too bad.

Vote the WFC out and send them back to pre 1964 Alabama where they'll be happy.

May 13, 2026

Woman Sued By House Candidate Reid Rasner Urges Ban On Frivolous Lawsuits

I was aware this legislation had been introduced.  Frankly, Anti SLAPP provisions are really tricky as they're based, basically, on pre judging a litigants intent.

June 10, 2026

Lawmakers revive proposal to remove Wyoming property taxes

The money has to come from somewhere.  Property taxes rise because in no small part new people come in and overpay in the local housing market, and otherwise inflate it.

A better idea would be to have an unrealized sales tax on the sale of real property from other states that

 is used by a person within five years of moving to Wyoming.

August 13, 2026

Lawmakers reject proposal for online court records, streamed hearings

Thank goodness. This idea was outright unworkable.

August 29, 2026

Things are going to be rough from now until the the beginning of the next legislative session as the members of the deposed Freedom Caucus be a general pain.

At Least Five Lawmakers Walk Out Of ‘Absurd’ Joint Committee Meeting

August 30, 2026

The WFC food fight at the legislature continues as Chip Neiman took to Facebook to pout over Senators walking out of the recent pointless joint meeting.

As Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, I’m entrusted with the responsibility of appointing legislators to standing committees. It’s a charge I didn’t take lightly upon my election to the Speakership.

I’m proud of the members of the House Minerals and Appropriations Committees for finishing the job they took up for the interim pertaining to local government infrastructure funding and the Wyoming Business Council. 

Today, the Senate walked out on Wyoming cities, towns and counties. Conversely, the House committee members remained steadfast in order to deliver the strongest local government funding model seen in decades. This bill will fund local infrastructure and benefit every local jurisdiction and citizen.

The Legislature isn’t a place for turf warfare. 

I worry for the future of the Wyoming Legislature. I encourage those new members coming to Cheyenne, to remember who they serve; not a committee, a chamber or any particular lobbying outfit, they serve the people of Wyoming. See less

Neiman notes that he's Speaker of the House in the legislature, which is true, but he's on his way out and is a lame duck.  The complaint that the "Legislature isn't a place for turf warfare" is really rich given that the WFC acted like the first Vandals in Rome in Cheyenne.  If it's turf warfare, they started it.

We're going to see a lot more of this.  The WFC has been kicked to the curb, but like the the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) in the Battle of Berlin, it's going to see that everything is destroyed that it can destroy before it goes.

One common theme we're now seeing in connection with the WFC losing is this one that appears in the comments to Nieman:

Me too! We are quickly becoming a blue state, just as Charlie Kirk predicted!😢

I've scene that more than once now.

People who make that comment are deluded.  I don't know about this person, but they're likely also carpetbaggers.  Wyoming is a conservative state, but it's not a Turning Point USA Southern Bible Belt state.  This is why traditionally there was no support for restricting abortion much here (which I do feel should be restricted, and indeed illegal) and nobody cared much whether somebody was a homosexual or not, which apparently is also no longer the case.  The local view, and it was expressed in the Democratic and Republican parties, wsa "I don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone".  The WFC didn't want to leave people alone.

As for Charlie Kirk and his predications, I'm increasingly in the "I don't care what  Charlie had to say" camp.  I don't mean to sound like a Kirk basher, but those politicos and their followers that are Kirk acolytes increasingly don't impress me.  Kirk was brought to UW by one of his collegiate admirers who went on to work for Hageman and get canned for following Francoist website, with the same fellow then managing Chuck Gray's campaign.  That's a good enough reason not to vote for Gray, although were are are plenty of other reasons not to do so.  Anyhow, Kirk never reflected a Wyoming point of view.

September 3, 2026

Wyoming lawmakers change course on property tax reform amid signs of waning support

This is a result of the defeat of the WFC, and that Wyomingites did not rise to the occasion to take advantage of a bevy of potential exemptions, at least one of which was in my view likely illegal.

The last year made it increasingly obvious where local funding came from for municipalities and counties, which likely helps explain this.

It also signals the death spiral of a WFC dream.

The 2026 Election, 20th Edition. The 2026 Wyoming Primary Results.

 

August 18, 2026

Today is primary election day.

Quite a few of us have already voted of course, myself in cluded.

Early voting in Wyoming’s primary election trails historic 2022 contest, clerks say

Wyoming’s primary election live: The consequences of today’s election

This will bed a consequential day.  After the polls close, most of the races in Wyoming will have been determined.

The polls, for that matter, just opened.

August 19, 2026

Results are in.

Like most elections, it's a mixed bag. Some good results, and in this instance, some really awful ones.

Governor:

Erick Barlow trounced his opposition including Trump endorsed Megen Degenfelder.  A win for Wyoming and a loss for Trump and a major loss for the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.  The GOP/WFC endorsed Bien came in a career ending third.

A very good result.  Barlow was the only good candidate, and stands to be a better Governor than Governor Gordon.

Senate:

Harriet Hageman, in spite of holding views on public lands and being fairly nasty publicly, handily beat out her competition.  She'll face Democrat James Byrd whom is likely to lose, but who would win this contest in any normal situation.

A very bad result.

Wyoming will regret this choice, and almost immediately, if it sticks and Byrd doesn't win, which he's not likely to in spite of being the clearly better candidate.

House:

Chuck Gray took a minority of overall votes but more than anyone else to squeak by with 25.4% of the vote./  Friess came in second with 20% and Christensen just behind him.

How anyone could vote for Gray is a complete mystery.  75% of Wyoming Republican voters didn't.

He'll face Lisa Kinney who will lose.  Gray will be our horrific complete Trump sycophantic Congressman.  He'll be the worst Congressman in the state's history.

A very bad result.  My guess is that he might be a one term Congressman, bucking the normal Wyoming trend. 

Secretary of State

Robert Short won beating out WFC Rachel Williams.  Wiliams was the titular head of the WFC, and her career is now over.

He'll face Bryan McCarthy, who will lose.

A very good result.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Harsham easily beat his opponents and will win in the fall.

He'll face Ana Cordova, which is surprising.  She's likely a good candidate, but will lose.

Local races.

Really interesting results locally. The night was a disaster for the well funded Freedom Caucus.

Freedom Caucus candidates in Natrona County were trounced.  Bob Ide was sent packing, which was a great result.  Tony Locke was booted.  Jayme Lien was booted.  Jeanette Ward lost big to Elissa Campbell in her bid to recapture her seat.  Allemand retained his seat by only eight votes, which is pathetic and surprising.

Major Freedom Caucuser John Bear is out, a huge defeat for the WFC.

Elsewhere, Ogden Driscoll kicked out Freedom Caucus member Neiman

Melissa Butcher kicked out WFC member Ken Pendergraft.

Eve Brennan booted Daniel Singh, a WFC member.

Conservative Republican Albert Sommers is back in the House.

All in all the Wyoming Freedom Caucus lost at least fourteen seats in the legislature with two of its main figures, Ide and Bear, going down in defeat.  Reps. Steve Johnson, Tony Locke, Ocean Andrew, Ken Pendergraft, Marlene Brady, Jayme Lien, Nina Webber, Mark Jennings, Gary Brown, Daniel Singh, Ann Lucas, Robert Wharff and Darin McCann, Chip Neimann and Sen. Bob Ide, all lost.

A very good result.

In the Natrona County Commissioner GOP race, where six candidates advance, ancient Dallas Laird took the highest number of votes, which is franky bizarre.  The other candidates advancing aren't too surprising.

An interesting night, and a bit difficult to explain.  At the statewide level, the voters made a hard correction towards the center, where as for Congress, they sent two people who don't represent Wyoming's views, and one who is a pathetic sycophantic liar.

Of course, the general is yet to come, but it's very difficult to imagine Lisa Kinney, who is ancient, beating screaming whiner Chuck Gray, even though 75% of Wyomigites voted against Gray.  It's not impossible to imagine Byrd defeating Hageman, but it'll be hard.

August 20, 2026

The impact of Tuesday's primary in Wyoming is still being widely discussed.  The rejection of the WFC was on the historic level.

They are not all taking it well.

As earlier noted, they're back out of control of the House having suffered an election massacre and have reduced influence in the Senate.  Their members are pouting and declaring that they'll come back, which they will not, and that they have had a positive impact on Wyoming, which they haven't.

Some news articles:

In Wyoming’s G.O.P. Primaries, an Emphatic Rebuke of the Hard Right

Nine of 10 Republican candidates tied to ‘Checkgate’ lost in Wyoming’s primary

In stunning upset, Wyoming Freedom Caucus loses most of its House seats, backslides in Senate

Near-Total Massacre For Freedom Caucus In Wyoming Primary

Wyoming Freedom Caucus Says It’s Not Dead After Devastating Primary Losses

It's dead.

The Great Wyoming Freedom Caucus Massacre — By The Numbers

Freedom Caucus Champion John Bear Upended By Political Newcomer In Campbell County

Majority Floor Leader & Founding Member Of Freedom Caucus Scott Heiner Ousted

Freedom Caucus Leader Ken Pendergraft Ousted From Sheridan County Senate Seat

Rock Springs Fire Chief James Wamsley Knocks Down CheckGate's Darin McCann

UW Professor Cameron Wright Defeats Incumbent Ocean Andrew in Laramie's HD 46

Ogden Driskill Beats Chip Neiman, Says It's A "Solid Rejection Of Freedom Caucus"

On the Freedom Caucus, right now it's defeated members seem to largely be a state of shock, but as noted, there's some angry defiance there.  The WFC posted this:

The broadside is more than a little ironic.  The WRC liked to defend its extremism by claiming that the voters had elected them and it was the will of the people.  Now, the will of the people has shown them the door, and they're saying they're not leaving.

As a movement, they will be.

And much of what they did in the legislature, which was darned little, will pass like a fart in a windstorm.

It's a shame, frankly, that most of the carpetbaggers who represented the face of the movement won't be packing up and moving back to where they acquired their extremism.  This election should have informed them that the Wyoming they live in isn't the imaginary one that they thought they did.  The far right tends to be delusional, but a defeat of this magnitude is such that a delusion will be hard to maintain.

Still, one of the first Freedom Caucusers in the legislature, who lost her position two years ago and lost again this week, Jeanette Ward, commented that it was "curious" that she lost as it didn't reflect her canvassing results which shows that people who answer doors are a lot more politie to visiting politicians than I am.

On the Freedom Caucus/MAGA hard right, it turns out that fifty Republican Sheridan County voters tried to change how votes were counted by getting the county to conceded that its electronic voting was out of date and revert to the really out of date hand counting, giving the county less than a week to accede to their demands.  Almost all of the signatories to the letter signed it on August 9 and were members of Cowboy Church of the Big Horns, which was founded by Mark Jennings, who was running for House District 30.

I have another thread I'm working on regarding the association of the Evangelical hard right with the conspiratorial thinking of MAGA/hard right/WFC, but this provides an example.  The church proclaims itself to be "Nondenominational Bible-based Worship" which means it is denominational and a member of a minoritarian view of Christianity that's common in the US.

The incoming legislature will return to sanity.  Before we get there, however, we have the outgoing legislature holding hearings on proposed legislation now, and will all the way until the new legislature convenes.  The Freedom Caucus influence in those has been felt, but by the same token its been muted as they never controlled the Senate.  This probably kills off Freedom Caucus bills for the 2027 legislature, although it may also mean that they'll work to stall any bills contrary to their desires as well.

The next session is a budget session.

Tempering the general rejoicing over the death of the Freedom Caucus has been the bad news on the primary victories of Gray and Hageman.

On the costs of that:

Primary Election Winners: Curt Meier Got The Best Deal Per Vote, Chuck Gray The Worst

Distress over Gray's victory is widespread.  He only took 25% of the vote and a lot of Wyomingites are not happy about his winning the primary. There's already serious discussion of a write in campaign for Kevin Christensen.

Some disaffected Republicans are indicating that they'll vote for Democratic nominee Lisa Kinney.  I'm sure some will, but Kinney is a weak candidate and stands very little chance of beating Gray.  Christensen would stand a real chance.  It'll be interesting to see how this develops.  Suffice it to say a large number of Republicans are unhappy with Gray's candidacy and its pretty clear but for the vote splitting he would have gone down with the rest of the Freedom Caucus.

Hageman would not have.

Hageman took 65% of the GOP votes in the primary, which is not only stunning, it's mysterious.  Sam Mead seemed to be a good candidate, but he took 28%, well below expectation.

Hageman took 70% of the vote in the general election for House two years ago, riding on a Trump endorsement and the sudden outbreak of far right hatred of Liz Cheney.  A disadvantage that Cheney had which is often missed is not only that she stood up for what was right, but she had been a plurality candidate in her first run for the House, like Gray, and she was a carpetbagger, like Gray.  Indeed, I was very much opposed to her early on and only came to respect her as she grew into her office in her last two terms.  Be that as it may, she was an import branded by the GOP as a Wyomingite and only got in as the vote was split between two other good candidates originally.

Again, note the similarities to Gray there.

Anyhow, Hageman has been a horrible Congressman, supporting anti public lands positions in the GOP while being anti science.  That she did so well is really hard to explain.

She's facing James Byrd in the general.election.

Byrd is a Democrat from a Democratic family, but his platform reads like that of a Republican.  In his campaign website he states:

James Byrd is a native son of Wyoming, a man who has spent his life working on the front lines of our state. With a distinguished career spanning business leadership and public service, James brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing our families. His platform is built on the core values of transparency, economic resilience, and the unwavering protection of Wyoming’s unique heritage.

James has proven his ability to deliver results under pressure. He is running for the United States Senate to act as a fierce advocate for our energy independence, rural education, and veteran support services. His vision for the future is as bold as the Wyoming landscape itself, focused on creating a legacy of prosperity for generations to come. Join James in fighting for the heart and soul of Wyoming.

Any Republican could have stated the same thing on his website.

Not only that, but Byrd has strong Wyoming credentials.  Hageman is a fourth generation Wyomingite, but Byrd is a fifth generation son of the state, which is phenomenal.  He was a geophysicist who worked for the Compagnie Générale de Géophysique and British Petroleum Amoco before going into high tech in the 1980s.  He served in the legislature up until 2018.

Operating against him is that he's a Democrat. That shouldn't matter, but in Wyoming it will. . . or perhaps we might say might.  Hageman can't take him on, really, on anything else in regard to his declared positions which means that Hageman will resort to ignoring him at first, and then accuse him of being from the far left, which he isn't.  As a last ditch fall back she'll claim that electing Byrd will help flip the Senate to the Democrats which would be betraying the Dear Leader.

Hageman is going to have to handle her disdain for public lands and science.  Byrd will have to handle the Democrats general positions on social issues.  He'd be well advised to surprise Hageman by saying he's opposed to abortion (I don't know that he is) and to transgenderism (and I don't know his position on that).  That might upset some true hardcore Democrats but it would leave Hageman floundering on inflation, disdain of public lands, an illegal war in the Middle East and that she's genuinely not likeable.

That should give Republicans a reason to cross over and vote for him frankly. And some will.  Hageman, as noted, drew 70% of the vote in the last election, when pro Trumpism and anti Cheneyism were at peak levels.  Now that Wyomingites have returned to conventional conservatism Hageman will not do as well.  But overcoming her simply being a Republican will be hard to do.

In other races, former Democratic U.S. Representative Mary Peltola  of Alaska will advance to the general election for U.S. Senate in Alaska in that state's unique election system.  She'll facie incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan and two other candidates, one of whom might be another Dan Sullivan.

Alaska's system is unique in that it uses ranked choices.  So, you can vote for your favorite and second favorite.  If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters that ranked that candidate first have their vote counted for their next choice.  Peltola has a really good chance of winning.

Her campaign is using the catchphrase The fight for "Fish, Family, Freedom" which is a really good one.  I wish some Wyoming candidate stood for that.  Chuck Gray's, as far as we can tell, is "drill baby drill but oppose any industry which it seems that Wyomingites might be against while kissing Donald Trump's ass."  Hageman's comes across as "Shut up, I"m smarter than you and a Republican".

Peltola booted back an effort by Kamala Harris to supporter her, which was wise, but also shows her political savvy.

In Florida DSA member Angie Nixon, who had just joined the DSA recently and then didn't campaign on its issues, defeated the much better-funded former national security official Alexander Vindman, for the Democratic Senatorial ticket reflecting a turn to the left in Florida, the state that Trump claims to be his home state.  She'll face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November in a special election for the final two years of former Senator Marco Rubio’s term.  Trump backed African American Republican Byron Donalds won the GOP nomination to succeed term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis.  He'll face former Republican turned Democrat David Jolly.  Other Florida races are difficult to gauge as the legislature redrew Florida's election map in an effort to wipe out their Democrats in the House of Representatives.  Suffice it to say, if the Democrats are in control in 2028, preventing this short of gerrymandering will be a priority for them.

On a really minor note, Stephanie Kessler, long associated with conservation efforts in the state and Fremont County, was elected to the Fremont County Commission.

And with this, which was focused on this week's' primaries, we'll end this edition and go on to a new one.

August 21, 2026

Addressing one of the WFC's favorite bogeymen:

No, Closet Democrats Didn't Nominate Republican Barlow For Gov., Politicos Say

It's really the WFC, which is a Dixiecrat group, that are not real Republicans.

An interesting one:

Libertarian Party Nominates Republican Cale Case And Democrat Karlee Provenza

And also Bob Ide, defeated WFC member.

There would seem to be very little in common between those three candidates, but apparently the Libertarians see otherwise.  Case and Ide are Republicans (Ide's a Dixiecrat), Provenza a well known Albany County Democrat.  

Apparently the law doesn't allow for a party to be nominated by two parties, although the fact that the Libertarians are a third party means they can pretty much do it and nothing will happen to them.  The names won't appear for both parties on the ballots, however and in Ide's case, unless he changes parties, it won't appear at all.

Anyhow, the law precluding that is likely unconstitutional.  I doubt anyone will challenge it right now, but it is.  This practice, fwiw, is not uncommon in some states and it used to be quite common in the US.

August 22, 2026.

Barlow reports that following his election to the Governor's office (yes, I know a Democrat is running, but he might as well not be) he visited with  Megan Degenfelder, received a “nice message and text” from Curt Blake, but has heard from Brenth Bien.

Figures, somehow.

Sometimes money doesn't work:

PAC That Spent $550K Helping Freedom Caucus Had 87% Failure Rate

On past crimes:

One Wyoming lawmaker with criminal history loses reelection bid. Another ekes out a victory.

Alleman's reelection is really a blight on his district.

Not too surprisingly, election post mortems are being written:

Rod Miller: Tuesday Night Massacre And Life In Post-Freedom Caucus Wyoming

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus can blame itself for its resounding defeat

In more ways than one:

Campaign Signs Are Classified As Trash By All Of Wyoming's Municipalities

In California, Progressive California state Sen. Aisha Wahab won a special election to serve the remainder of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s term in the US Congress.  She defeated a centrist AIPAC backed Democrat.

This is a developing story in the upcoming 2027 general election.  A lot of people are really sick of unquestioned US support for Israel and a major backlash to it is forming.

August 23, 2026

Lien asked for a recount which was held yesterday, confirming that she lost.

August 24, 2026

Albany County went for Harriet Hageman, but not Chuck Gray

In all races other than the Republican primary for U.S. House, Albany County tracked the state vote. Moderate Republican candidates won by greater margins in Albany County.

FWIW Teton County overwhelmingly voted for Christensen.

And this concludes this primary results edition.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 20th Edition. Primary Voting Commences Edition. Vote like your future and that of your state depends on it, because it does, part four.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Check Gate, Chuck Gray, Eric Barlow, Kevin Christensen, Politics, Robert Short, Samuel Mead, Steve Friess, Steve Harshman, Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus