Early primary voting in Wyoming has commenced.
The big race, but certainly not the only one, is the Republican race for the U.S. House of Representatives. In that context, it's hard to get over this spectacle here.
That race, as viewers can see, pits incumbent Liz Cheney against challengers Anthony Bouchard, Robyn Balinskey, Denton Knapp and Harriet Hageman. Having said that, it's well known that the race is really between Hageman and Cheney.
The Democratic race features Lynette Gray Bull against Meghan R. Jensen and Steve Helling. Gray Bull was the Democratic candidate last time and almost certainly will be again.
Casey Hardison is running as a doomed independent.
Here's the other races.
- Governor's Race.
Republicans for the Governor's Office.
Mark Gordon: Gordon is the incumbent. He's going to get the nomination, and he's going to win the General Election.
Harold Bjork. Who Bjork isn't really clear, but he's started a Facebook and internet campaign for Governor.
Brent Bien: A challenger from the right.
Bien in this race, like Knapp is the Congressional race, is a retired military officer. Knapp was in the Army and retired as a colonel, Bien was a Marine Corps aviator.
I have nothing against the military at all, but I'm really baffled by the concept that people who were in government service so long that they could retire from it know anything about how regular businesses operate. I note that as Knapp and Bien both are basically in the position of having known the government as their primary employer while coming in and claiming that they're going to reign in the government.
Rex Rammell: Rammell is a perennial and unelectable candidate who ran last time and will again. His views can be characterized as being on the fringe right/libertarian side. His signs have a more fossil fuel theme to them, which raises the question of how the State of Wyoming could conceivably do anything more than it current is to promote fossil fuels.
Democrats for the Governor's Office.
Rex Wilde: Wilde previously ran for the Senate as a Democrat and has no chance.
Theresa Livingston: Livingston previously ran for the State Senate and stands no chance.
- Secretary of State
Republicans for Secretary of State.
Dan Dockstader. He's a longstanding member of the Legislature who stands a good chance due to that service.
Tara Nethercott: Also a member of the Legislature. Nethercott has not been in the legislature long, but she was the subject of misogynistic attacks last session, which she weathered well. She also stands a good chance.
Chuck Gray: Also a member of the legislature who has been frequently in the news due to his far right populist positions. Gray clearly has his sights set on higher office and probably views this as a stepping stone. His earlier attempt to replace Cheney drew little support.
Mark Armstrong: Former candidate for the U.S. Senate. His run for Senate drew very little support, and his run for Secretary of State will fail.
Democrats for Secretary of State
Pathetically, none.
State Auditor
Kriti Racines. She's the incumbent and the only one running. She's effectively won the race at this point, absent something bizarre occurring.
- Superintendent of Public Instruction
This race is also newsworthy as the incumbent, Brian Schroeder, is generally regarded as the least bad of the three names that were submitted to Governor Gordon when the prior occupant stood down.
Brian Schroeder. Schroeder is the presumptive nominee.
Megan Degenfelder. She has an education background but who has been working in the petroleum industry, announced for Superintendent of Public Education.
She was once employed as the department's Chief Policy Officer.
Thomas Kelly: Kelly was one of the three finalists who was not chosen for this office by Governor Gordon.
Jennifer Zerba: Zerba announced late. She's from Casper and is an education professional, which is all I know about her.
Robert J. White. White is from Rock Springs, which is all I know about him.
Democrats for Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Sergio Maldonado: Maldonado is a longtime figure in Fremont County politics and is, I believe, also an enrolled member of one of the Wind River tribes.
July 7, 2022
In a major shakeup in the Secretary of State race, Dan Dockstader has dropped out and endorsed Tara Nethercott.
Nethercott received a warm endorsement from Dockstader. She's the only one of the three candidates who isn't maintaining the 2020 election was stolen.
Dockstader indicated he had been in contact with Nethercott before dropping out, and to some extent his decision has the appearance of a very sober analysis of the seriousness of this race, and the risk that their two campaigns would give the race to Gray. Armstrong is such an outsider that he has no real chance.
Dockstander is a long serving politician and is President of the Senate. Nethercott is a lawyer, like the current occupant of the position, Buchanan. The office itself deals with a lot of day to day business matters, but it also deals with elections, and across the United States, Secretary of State positions have been targeted by Trump loyalist who claim the election was stolen. There's a real fear that this move is intentional and part of an effort to nullify elections in the future. Gray, who is a Wharten School of Business graduate, like Trump, but who has had a career in radio since graduating that institution, working in a family owned radio station, has participated in the stolen election myth by becoming involved in the Arizona circus over the same thing, something that has nothing to do with Wyoming at all. Given all of this, the race is now taking on an outsized importance.
July 11, 2022
Congressman Cheney's new advertisement puts in sharp focus the Constitutional issue that has become the center of her campaign.
July 16, 2022
Poll results show Hageman with a commanding lead over Cheney. Well-placed rumor mill information holds the same thing.
July 23, 2022
Rex Rammell, who has no chance whatsoever of being elected Governor, announced that Dr. Taylor Haynes, a previously failed gubernatorial candidate, shall act as his senior advisor if he's elected, which he won't be.
July 24, 2022
A poll found Governor Gordon to be tied with the Governor of Vermont for most popular governor in the United States.
July 27, 2022
Texas Senator Ted Cruz endorsed Harriet Hageman.
In his endorsement, he referred to her as "Constitution loving", which is ironic in that the Wyoming election, as Cruz well knows, is principally over whether Donald Trump should have been given a second minority vote Presidency via coup, based on the lie that he won the election, and facilitated by urging the Vice President to exceed his authority. Cruz, who barely hung on to his seat in his last election, has embraced Trump heavily as well, and is probably contemplating another run for the Oval Office himself should Trump not do so.
Candidate for Secretary of State Chuck Grey is taking a similar approach to that election and is sponsoring a viewing of the discredited 2,000 Mules in Douglas.
All of which gets into a couple of recent posts regarding this election that we posted the other day.
July 28, 2022
PBS will broadcast a debate of the gubernatorial candidates tonight, at 7:00 p.m. The debate is being hosted by Casper College.
July 28, 2022
I forgot it was on, and haven't viewed it yet, but this race is basically over already. Gordon will win.
The highlight of the news on the debate was gadfly candidate Rex Rammell's claim that Brent Bien, recently retired Marine Corps officer, should drop out of the race as Rammell apparently thinks he doesn't qualify as a resident. Bien maintains that he maintained his Wyoming residency the entire time he was in the Marine Corps, which he would be legally entitled to do. That resulted in a Rammell spokesman stating:
It’s rich that Rex Rammell talks about being a westerner. Brent was born and raised in Wyoming and served his country honorably. While Brent was serving our country and protecting freedom, Rex Rammell was poaching elk and carpetbagging his way into Wyoming. He made it clear tonight that he has disdain for our military and service to the country.
I don't support Bien, but I am glad to see somebody take a shot at Rammell's past, which I don't fully recall. Rammell came here from Idaho. He later told the Trib that he's concerned that he and Bien are going to split the vote, which need not be a concern of his as he has no chance of winning whatsoever. Neither does Bien.
Cont:
Since I posted this morning, I listened to and viewed the debate while doing my regular morning routine. For the most part, I found it really unremarkable, as their positions are all much more aligned than not. A big difference was that for many questions two challenging Gordon acknowledged a problem as a problem, without offering any solutions, and Gordon tended to note what he had done, which was often sponsoring a group to study it. Nobody was really willing to deal with any existential problems that will impact the state no matter what, although Gordon did a better job of creeping up on answer those questions.
Rammell did a good job of not appearing too far off in the stratosphere until the end, when he dove off on his arresting Federal officers promises, which is downright goofy and illegal. He also tried to camouflage that he's not originally from Wyoming which lead, at the end, to his attack on Bien whom he claims, wrongfully, to be in eligible to run as he was out of the state in the Marine Corps. Attacking a veteran for his service is really foolish, to say the least.
Rammell also lashed himself to Taylor Haynes, who is originally not from here either, which was odd. So you have two figures who are not from here attacking somebody who is, but who served in the Marine Corps. For that matter, he attacked Gordon for being born in New York, which is truly basically an accident of birth as Gordon is a Wyomingite.
No matter anyhow, Gordon has already won this race.
August 3, 2022
Former Wyoming Secretary of State has filed charges with the Federal Government against Chuck Gray allegeing that loans that Gray reported as self funding were not the same. This pertains to his run for House of Representatives, which he abandoned when it drew little support and which Harriet Hageman effectively put an end to.
The charges are revealing as they deal with Gray's reported income, which is blisteringly low. This points towards family money, of course, but as very little is publicly known about Gray's personal life, including such matters, they give a rare view of the same.
Of course, this tends to be the case with nearly all Wyoming candidates. Assumptions are widely made, but realities are rarely known.
Thomas Kelly dropped out of the Superintendant of Education race in support of Brian Schroeder.
Kelly had been one of the three finalist for hte position which resultedin the choice of Schroeder, with Schroeder widely regarded as the least extreme of the three candidates forwarded to the Governor's office for selection of the position.
August 4, 2022
In an election event in Casper on August 3, Harriet Hageman called the 2020 Presidential election "rigged". Anthony Bouchard said it was stolen.
Hageman has avoided making such a statement up until now, having previously stated she didn't know who won the election. The fact that she would now do so, in spite of being ahead in the polls, is interesting in that it might tend to indicate that she feels she needs to draw closer to die hard Trumpites. It has been noted in recent weeks that Democrats are clearly joining the GOP to vote against her and GOP membership is climbing, in part due to that, but possibly also in part due to independents who are joining for the same reason. This might be part of a calculation to draw whatever votes are going to Bouchard away from him and to also encourage the Trump diehards to come to the polls.
Her statement does have a distinction with Bouchards as she's left an out to claim systemic rigging, i.e., allowing for widespread mail-in voting during COVID, etc., rather than outright fraud. I've noticed in recent weeks some Republicans who want to remain loyal to Trump have been using this as an out as they know there wasn't theft, but can convince themselves that the measure to allow voting during COVID were somehow improper. This is the angle that Victor David Hanson took early on, claiming that Americans had always gone to the polls in person on election day, something that hasn't been true in many places for years. Some of these individuals hold that there's something existentially wrong with not having in person voting on a single day.
Interestingly, that ignores the fact that older Republicans had long participated in mail-in voting and Trump's own efforts to discourage it probably took away from his overall vote tally. The real overall question is, in the 21st Century, if the evolution of technology and patterns of living make a system of requiring everyone to go to a polling station on a single day obsolete.
August 5, 2022
Former perennial Idaho candidate Rex Rammell, and now perennial Wyoming canidate, has announced that he's going to sue the Secretary of State for failing to take up his charges that Bien does not meet the legal residence requirements.
Neither Rammell or Bien are going to win, so this is just a bizarre sideshow, but it's helping make Rammell, who has some really extreme ideas, look pretty bad.
In Arizona, Trumpite candidates won the GOP primary contest for the Governor and Secretary of State position.
August 6, 2022
Donald Trump endorsed Chuck Gray for Secretary of State, Brian Schroeder for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Curt Meier for Treasurer.
It's a surprise that Trump has gone down into the Wyoming political weeds this deep at all. Having said that, given that he has, Gray, who is campaigning on the imperiled election fable and who is a fellow Wharton graduate, isn't a surprise. Indeed, at one time there was some thought that Trump might endorse Gray for Congress.
Schroeder is more of a surprise, but he is from the far right.
Meier is the incumbent Treasurer, so this is a real surprise. He doesn't need Trump's endorsement, and the fact that it was made will undoubtedly cause a few to vote against him.
A debate among the Democratic candidates took place last night, which I only learned of today.
I haven't viewed this yet, but apparently candidate Steve Helling nearly universally took Republican positions during the debate, which makes his candidacy odd to say the least, giving it the appearance of one by a Republican who didn't feel he could compete in the GOP primary.
August 7, 2022
WyoFile, the Trib reports, has revealed that a host of Wyoming candidates and political figures took PPP money in spite of their generally anti Federal Government positions. This includes Frank Eathorne, Robin Belinskey, Rex Rammell and Anthong Bouchard or their businesses. There were more, but these were the ones for statewide offices that were notable due to their positions.
Harriet Hageman was not among them, but the WyoFile went deeper and noted that members of her family had. A spokesman reacted accusing WyoFile of "journalistic malpractice".
PPP money was in the form of loans, but generally they were loans that were subject to be forgiven and were more often than not.
August 8, 2022
Cynthia Lummis endorsed Hageman, Nethercott and Dergenfelder in an article in the Cowboy State Daily. The stated basis of her endorsement is that all three were "home grown".
Her relationship with Cheney is undoubtedly strained since January 6, but it appears to at least a degree it stretches back further than that. Cheney may have been contemplating running for Senate again, when Enzi stepped down, but Lummis' announcement for that office frustrated that.
It's also interesting in that Lummis didn't go full Trump in her announcement and didn't come out backing the far right candidates save for Hageman.
August 9, 2022
The volume of mailings, and now Facebook and Twitter ads, in this election is at the truly oppressive level.
Aug 9, cont.
There was a recent Secretary of State candidate's debate, which I only learned about after the fact via the net. I have not watched it. The YouTube video of it is below.
August 11, 2022
The Trib ran an article on this date on campaign donations and the various candidates.
Perhaps the most remarkable figures were for Secretary of State, where Chuch Gray has raised $528,000 to Nethercott's $333,000. Of that, $500,000 of Gray's money was donated by his father and $10,000 from himself, meaning he's really raised $18,000. Nethercott loaned her campaign $95,000.
August 12, 2022
A new poll puts Cheney 29 points behind Hageman.
The Atlantic published an article on Cheney calling her "The Republican From The State of Reality", referring to her positions in regard to the insurrection.
August 14, 2022
The Trib declined to endorse a candidate for the House GOP race in its final edition prior to the election. Frankly, I'm stunned.
And disappointed. On a major race such as this, I'd have thought that the state's largest newspaper would wish to do so. Perhaps it felt that attacks on the Press by Trump would only aid Hageman.
Hageman ran a long op ed in the paper, which was also surprising. The op ed disclaimed that the race is about the insurrection but rather takes the position that since the insurrection Cheney has been so diverted by her efforts to keep Donald Trump from regaining power she's been ignoring the state. That is, quite frankly, baloney, and would presume that Cheney could single-handedly stop measures coming through a Democratic controlled House.
Hageman of course knows this, and should the House remain Democratic, of which there's a growing possibility, she'll be less effective than Cheney in the same category as she'll have been elected as a January 11 fableist.
The same edition has an article about Wyoming needing to elect candidates who don't live in a fantasy world. This is, quite frankly, a problem that's been growing in the state for some time, but which is particularly pronounced now.
Lenhart: Republicans must not nominate fantasy world candidates
It also republished its on line op eds from yesterday, all of which we already linked in, but will do so here again.
In one of the constant stream of internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) rants on this topic, a highly right wing friend of mine who has been posting anti Cheney stuff for quite some time, drew a reply from another Republican friend of mine who termed Hageman a "stalking horse", without naming her by name.
I hadn't quite thought of Hageman in exactly those terms before, but that title is pretty applicable, it seems to me.
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Indeed, Hagaeman herself has a difficult time describing, even in her Trib essay, exactly how she's different from Cheney in her views, other than being a repetitious voice of Trumpites regarding Cheney.
A stalking horse, of course, is simply a vehicle for somebody else. Hagaeman's motivations in this race are really a mystery to me to some degree, quite frankly, as I at one time vaguely knew her. She was once a Cheney fan and supporter, and it's pretty hard not to agree with Cheney that this is an example of "tragic opportunism".
In regard to that, it's interesting to note in her essay she accuses Cheney of having Presidential ambitions. Well, who in Congress doesn't? But does it make sense for a former friend of Cheney's to come out swinging at her in this fashion and complain that she has ambitions for higher office?
As I've mentioned before, when I vaguely knew Hageman years ago, indeed decades ago, I mostly did because I was friends with some of her circle of friends, and those individuals were left leaning. It's not as if you can't have friends outside of your own political views, but my assumption was that she must be left leaning as well. At least one of those friends of hers was in the paper just the other day supporting one of the abortion plaintiffs in Teton County and has had a very left-wing legal career, something she could afford to have due to her personal circumstances.
Maybe Hageman was always far right and just kept it to herself, or maybe I just didn't know her well enough to know what they were. She was quiet back in those days, or at least my perception of her at the time was such. Her father was a very far right wing legislature from Wyoming's wheat belt, which ought to cause concern to Wyomingites who live outside of it in and of itself.
I'm sure that Hageman doesn't think of herself as a stalking horse, but then live stalking horses just think of themselves as horses, I'm sure.
"Elk don't know how many legs horses got".
I fear that a lot of Wyoming voters are not more well-informed that elk are in regard to stalking horses. Many don't seem to be.
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