May 29, 2026 is the last day to declare a candidacy in one of the two "major parties".
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.
Open letter to the Joint Corporations Committee
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:
Wyoming lawmakers unmoved by Gray’s calls to reexamine electoral maps
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.
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.
More new names on the Republican side here.
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.
