Cowboy State Politics

For most races in Wyoming, the Primary Election is it.  In years past, that's the case for Wyoming Governor's mansion also.  But not this year.  Rebecca Bextel is mounting a third-party challenge to Eric Barlow.  While she was in Sheridan for a few campaign events, I sat down with her during today's edition of Cowboy State Politics Live. It's been a while since I played an episode of the Live program on the podcast, so I thought today I would play the whole thing for you.  Ken and I also discussed the Star Plunge in Thermopolis and why that's turned into a giant mess. Who could have foreseen that the government getting involved in business would turn out that way? Also, we spent some time at the top of the show going over Cyrus Western, Eric Barlow and Mark Gordon's completely disingenuous praise for the EPA's recent ruling.

While we shouldn't ever forget September 11th and what happened to our country, in many ways, September 12 is just as important.  We did something that hadn't been done in a long time--we came together.  Don't let anyone tell you that right now we are more divided than we have ever been.  It's not true. 10 months before Sept 11, we didn't know who the President was going to be. That wasn't official until Dec 12, 2000. We didn't have social media at that time but for months George W. Bush went through derangement syndrome before it was a thing.  Amid all of that, we still came together. Harriet and Chuck are not attending the General Election PBS debates.  Why should they? Debates are always about risks and rewards for candidates.  There's a lot of risk and zero reward where PBS is concerned.  And they're probably going to win anyway.  But of course, the Wyoming media isn't explaining those reasons for you--they just (unknowingly) printed a page and a half of reasons why both candidates should and did said no.

Replay of Cowboy State Politics Live September 9.  Agent 29 is back! NOW, the Democrats are complaining about PAC's they can't control.  Liz Storer set up a PAC to defend liberal Teton County politicians.  Kangaroo Mike Gireau says it's "distortive." Whatever that means.  Are we now at AGI with AI?  That's a terrifying prospect. And lots more.

Eric Barlow has a history of supporting medicaid expansion.  He said so in the PBS debate before the election.  But he also argued for it on the floor of the House in 2021.  It's not "Flat-out false" as he claims. The 50% reduction in residential property taxes will be on the November ballot. There's a ton of misinformation about it.  When you look at the numbers, if county commissioners just stopped wasting taxpayer money it wouldn't be a big deal.  Residential property taxes only account for a small portion of overall revenues.  In Sheridan, the commishes could have build two ugly flower pots for what the property tax reduction would amount to.

Barlow's campaign spokeswoman, Rebekah Fitzgerald leads an organization, Wyoming FREE, that is backed by former Barack Obama Administration and campaign officials. Since 2023, Wyoming FREE has taken over $600,000 from an organization called Article IV.  That group is run by a list of former Obama officials.  That Barlow chose to Fitzgerald to speak on his behalf, it tells you everything you need to know about him. 

"It's just flat-out false." That's how Barlow responds to any criticism of his record.  He has a really long history of supporting medicaid expansion. He's in favor of moving away from fossil fuels.  At least, that's what he told CONGRESS. And, he has opposed bans on sanctuary cities--for years.  His response to all of it is that it's false.  His extensive legislative record doesn't lie.

Sheridan County Deputy Attorney Clint Beaver and Sheridan County Deputy Clerk Kim Hein insisted that no pictures could be taken or anything recorded at the hand-county audit held today 8/29. Beaver hilariously tried to claim that one section of the Constitution allowed him to violate another one.

We have a long history of political opportunism--a lot of politicians have at least a little bit. Though he doesn't hold a candle to some of the biggest opportunists in history, Reid Rasner wins the award this year. After his campaign of trying to stick like glue to President Trump he has no thrown in with the liberal Wyoming Republicans. Also, because of SF113, each county has to conduct a hand count audit of 5% of the votes in the election.  There's a right way to do it--full transparency. After all, that is the whole purpose behind it!

Wyoming Liberalism which is always disguised as being a "traditional Republican," always misleads you into thinking it's something good. The 69th Legislature is going to bring with it numerous policies that have been out of reach for the left for a long time: medicaid expansion, weed legalization, abortion access, open primaries and a host of other terrible ideas. Of course, all of it will be dressed up to look like it's reasonable.  But with the same old suspects in charge, the result will be the biggest shot of liberalism Wyoming has seen in a long time. It's like liver and onions--it looks bad, smells bad, and leaves a really bad taste in your mouth.

Tuesday's election ushered in a group of people who believe in bigger government, more government spending, probably higher taxes and a move away from legacy industries in favor of subsidized wind and solar. Most of them rejected the Republican Party Platform as extreme or a purity test. At the same time, they'll spout the "Code of the West" all day long. Ironically, the platform has more to do with our state's motto than the candidates have with the R they used to get elected. Tuesday's election was decisive for more and bigger government that has nothing to do with the platform or the code of the west.

The Democrats are admitting that they work with liberal Republicans. Mike Yin wants them to unite with the Democrats to get a liberal speaker--so it's not a "Freedom Caucus speaker." Really what he's done is show that the two groups are essentially of the same ideology.  Yin preposterously calls parties "a fiction." Except, that it is the party majorities in the legislature who choose their nominee for speaker. It's just more of pay no attention to what the other hand is doing.

This election is tremendously more expensive than any others we have had. My house received 91 different mailers (give or take a few that hit the trash). Politicians raised and spent ridiculous amounts of money. That combined with PAC spending, makes your vote very valuable. The question is how valuable? They way the math works out, each vote is worth as much as a dinner out. The question is do we think it is.

The Cowboy State Daily reported on 8/12 that Eric Barlow recieved $6,500 in PAC donations. That's not even remotely true. The real number is over $220,000.00.  Most of it came from one organizations Civil Leadership PAC. Earlier this year, nearly every media source in the state was begging Democrats to switch to the Republican Party. For all of their efforts, it only resulted in a little over 2,000 party changes. That may be enough to flip some districts.

Ogden Driskill made a shocking statement in his Newcastle debate with Chip Neiman. He said that we should have an abortion exception if the baby "isn't going to be a good one." Driskill has debated the issue of abortion numerous times in the legislature and knows how delicate of a topic that is. For him to make such a flippant remark is astounding. Right before he said that, he claimed to be pro-life.   Youtube video of debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOfrZwKLLQs 

Marilyn Connolly claims to be conservative and has been a Republican for a long time. But her votes don't line up with that at all. Often, Connolly voted right along side the Democrats on many of the same bills she lists in a recent advertisement.   A recent spending analysis on HB0001 reveals who the big spenders in the House of Representatives are.  The top 10 might surprise you. A hint: it's BILLIONS with a B. Spending Analysis: https://www.openrangerecord.com/files/afp/HouseAmendmentSpending.pdf  SCGOP Legislative Debate: https://youtube.com/live/r_P1P48ogKw?feature=share   

Eric Barlow has a terrible record when it comes to illegal immigration. He has consistently voted against bills that would ban sanctuary cities and bills that would restrict your money going to illegal aliens. But it was the Cow Pie's defense of Barlow's record that caught my eye. Why would Barlow all the sudden vote to restrict tax money going to aliens?  The answer, he really didn't.

The biggest spenders in the last session are the same people that AFP is claiming are small government folks. Julie Jarvis voted to spend over $1.244 BILLION. That's BILLION with a B. Marilyn Connolly voted for $1.241 BILLION. While the conservatives averaged $28.5 MILLION. Million with a M and not a B. Spending isn't AFP's only problem.  Its biggest one is hypocrisy--especially their state director Tyler Lindholm.

Laurie Bratten sat down in the studio to discuss her re-election campaign for House District 51. One of her main focuses has been on codifying transparency in government.  While you can go online and see Wyoming's checkbook, that's not in law.  The next administration could do away with it. Also, Bratten wants to make sure you have access to the budgets and audits of your government.  It was a wide ranging discussion. Also, video has surfaced of American's for Prosperity's state director Tyler Lindholm's thoughts on covid.  It turns out, he's not nearly as conservative as he lets on.

Jim Corkery is running for the Wyoming Senate in District 27 in Casper.  I sat down with him at David Street Station in Casper.  He's a pro-life catholic in a race with 2 Redocats: Kevin Helling and Macia Neumiller.  Corkery and I talked about the importance of being pro-life, his stance on business and lots more.

Myca Sturtevant is running for House District 29.  She claims to be a Republican but is campaigning on government run healthcare and so-called affordable housing.  Not exactly Republican ideas. Also, she says that even though she's running as a Republican, she's not going to follow the GOP platform. What's even more revealing is she says she is an advocate for small government while advocating for big government programs.  Just another Redcoat claiming to be be something she's not.

The Wyoming GOP lawsuit against the state is absolutely correct.  The government does NOT get to dictate who can speak and who has to keep quiet. Every other private organization can endorse candidates and spend money on their behalf but not political parties.  However, just because a political party can doesn't mean they should always endorse candidates.  There is a fine line, but that should be up to them not the state.  Other governments do that, not this one.

Karen Weber is running to replace Scott Smith in House District 5. She says her main focus is on supporting agriculture in this state.  Right now, as a measure of GDP, agriculture ranks below the media.  That wasn't always the case. Weber says that if we decrease the size of government and get it out of monkeying with private business, our ag producers will do much better.  

Fresh off of the Superintendent of Public Instruction debate, Tom Kelly joined me in the studio.  I had a couple of questions I wanted to follow up on.  I asked him if it is possible to evaluate teacher performance--which came up in the debate.  His answer surprised me. Also we were able to dive a little deeper into recalibration and his thoughts on local control.

In an effort to avoid what it actually means to be a Republican, candidates are trying to brand themselves as some other type of Republican. It leaves the rest of us to ask, "Why not just be a Republican?" There's the "Common Sense Republicans," "Real Republicans" and now, "Rational Republicans." It's funny, these are the same folks asking you to reject labels and focus on issues. Then why don't they?

Chad Auer is one of the people running for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  He was one of Gordon's policy advisors on education, after being a teacher for a while.  This past Tuesday, I moderated the WYGOP Superintendent of Public Instruction debate in Upton--there were more than a couple of questions I asked during the debate that needed more discussion.

Sheriff Richard Mack is the founder of the Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association.  He is also the first person to sue the federal government over Clinton's Brady Bill.  He's the the author of several books including his latest The Democrat Murder of America.   He joined me on the program to discuss the importance of the Sheriff and how to know if your candidate is the right guy for the job.

The Wyoming Realtors PAC has issued their 2026 endorsements.  It's a who's who of Democrats masquerading as Republicans. The average score of adhering to the Republican Party Platform from their honorees is 15% and they only vote with the Republican majority 17.2%--sure sounds like a bunch of conservatives to me. It looks like Ogden Driskill's "Become a Peacemaker" pledge didn't take. Not only is he making it up as he goes along on social media, he's letting his pal Tyler Lindholm and Americans for Prosperity do most of his dirty work for him in the Senate District 1 race.  I spoke with Speaker Chip Neiman about it.

Being Independence Day we should have guessed that a Redcoat would post a video. J.D. WIlliams posted a video in which he tried to explain why the Democrats vote with Republicans and not the other way around.  Interesting though, there are a bunch of Republicans that the Democrats DON'T vote with.  Why?  The answer is easier than you might think....maybe it's because the values of the Democrats line up with the values of J.D. and his pals.   J.D.'s Video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1c4uZEXoaP/ 

A young volunteer with Americans for Prosperity (AFP) mistakenly knocked on my door this morning. He obviously didn't expect all the questions I was going to ask him--turns out he didn't even really know anything about the candidate he was supporting. Also, this morning on the live program I interviewed CJ Young who is running to be Wyoming's next Secretary of State.  

Earl Collier is running for the House of Representatives in House District 3.  That seat is currently held by Rep Abby Angelos who is running for the Wyoming Senate.  Collier is a GIS specialist and a surveyor.  We talked about why being a father and a busy business owner why he decided to do this.  We also spoke about the oil and gas industry, sage grouse and why government regulations--both state and federal--are hampering Wyoming's extractive mineral industries.  

Rep Abby Angelos is running for the Wyoming Senate in Senate District 23.  Her opponent in that race is Dwayne Dillinger.  He's one of the "republican" candidates in Campbell County that refused to show up at the Republican Party debate. I spoke with Abby on Thursday during the live program.  

A semi-anonymous group, BecomePeacemakers.org, is asking candidates to sign their "Love your enemies" pledge. Most of the people who have signed it are the very people have said some really nasty things about their political opponents.  Perhaps it wasn't the intent of the pledge but the real question is how it will be used--and that is a typical Redcoat tactic.   David Hill Joins the program to talk about his race for HD50.  The audio is a little choppy in the beginning but you can follow it once I had David call in to the program.

Steve Friess is running for the U.S. House along with 9 other candidates. He joined me in the studio for an hour a few days ago. It was a wide ranging discussion that covered everything from the Save America Act, the Convention of States, guns, so-called affordable housing and exactly who he is. I pressed him on the central claim of most of his campaign material--that he helped author executive orders for the Trump Administration.  The first question I asked him was what has he done in Wyoming politics. It's a great interview that lasted longer than it was supposed to.

Just like the 8th grade delinquent that tries to forge his own report card, Eric Barlow has created his own Republican Party Platform Scorecard.  It appears to show he follows the platform 100% of the time--until you actually read it.  What it does say is that on 83 out of 5,815 bills he's followed the platform. When you look at his actual voting record it's, not surprisingly, the opposite of what he's claiming. There's numerous votes against the platform.  But he's asking you to believe the opposite.

It's not that the media and Redcoats disagree, they do, but it's that they can't understand conservatives.  It is psychologically impossible for them to get it; because they've never lived in a time when government wasn't involved in the economy. Wyoming's economic statistics are shockingly dismal--far below the national average.  Why? The number one industry and employer in the state is government and not business. It's almost like I am teaching a class on conservatism.

Carlin Jones is running for the Wyoming House of Representatives in House District 28. He's a rancher from Otto, WY. House 28 covers parts of Big Horn, Fremont, Hot Springs and Park Counties. We had a wide ranging discussion about schools, spending, guns, data centers and more.

During a recent forum, gubernatorial candidate Eric Barlow couldn't give a straight answer to a clear question about abortion.  He said he's in favor of one exception. But other than that he's totally pro-life.  His voting record doesn't show that either. Link to The Open Range Record Article about his record: https://www.openrangerecord.com/news/d9236f31-fae6-4775-864e-7f8f589068a7  Anonymous "news" pages are cropping up.  I had a back and forth with one of them that yielded hilarious results.

Nick Ellis is one of the founders of "Christian Halls."  It's an alternative to our university system complete with all the accreditation that any other undergraduate or grad school would have.  Before our pervasive university system existed, if someone was interested in a craft, they'd go find someone who was good at it and apprentice under them. For thousands of years we educated our children like this.  The question is can we return to this method of education.

We have always been wary of new businesses or technology that we don't understand.  Just because we don't get it doesn't automatically make it bad. Data centers are in this category.  They're cropping up all over the place.  The businesses we should be wary of are the ones propped up by government.  If any business is playing by the same rules as anyone else, we shouldn't go running to government to stop it.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray had a contentious interview with Claire McFarland on the Cow Pie's morning show. It followed the release of a poll the Gray campaign released the day before. As with just about every poll, it contained message testing that McFarland and the liberals she talked to considered offensive. The interview turned into more of Gray questioning the "reporting" of McFarland and the Cowboy State Daily more generally.

With this many candidates in the race, it's hard to figure out where they're all at.  The easiest way to figure that out is just to look at how well known they all are. All of them fall into one of three groups: everyone knows them, some people have heard of them and the third, who the heck is that? There's some clear front-runners but the rest of them have a race on their hands.  

Are there really moderates when it comes to politics?  In reality, no.  There clearly aren't any in the legislature.  When you look at the voting data, our legislators are solidly on the left or the right.  The reason why many adopt the "moderate" name is if they were honest and admitted to being on the left, few people in Wyoming would vote for them.  There's also a question of "purity tests." That's as ridiculous as claiming to be a moderate. Also, after my interview with Jimmy Skovgard, he went to Hot Springs County.  Maybe someone should have told him I have operatives everywhere.

For a long time, liberal Republicans and Democrats in Wyoming have been trying to water down our primary system to make it easier for liberals to get elected.  In 2021, the Senate Corporations Committee discussed the idea.  That was pretty much a non-starter.  Now the same individuals--Nancy Case--is trying to water down efforts at eliminating crossover voting.  Of course, the Wyoming media, who did write an article about Friday's Corporations meeting, conveniently glossed over it.

Jillian Balow is the twice elected former Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction. She took a job working for Glen Younkin's administration in Virginia for a time and has since moved back to Wyoming.  Now she's trying her hand at the U.S. House of Representatives.  Balow joined me on Cowboy State Politics Live to discuss her candidacy.

Moran ranch owner Frank Chapman is running for Congress.  He's lived in Teton County since 2011 operating the Heart 6 Ranch.  He's a lawyer and a hunting guide.  A political newcomer to Wyoming politics, Chapman says he's the right candidate because of his experience fighting the federal government.  He sat down in the studio with me on Wednesday.

Christine and I are off on another one of our adventures.  We've crossed the southern border--something about shopping and the Texas Rangers. On Friday's edition of Cowboy State Politics Live, I interviewed Rep Bill Allemand.  He just recently announced his re-election campaign.  The Supreme Court lifted the injunction on Wyoming's ESA bill.  And a lot more.  See you when we get back!!

Kevin Christensen is running for the United States House of Representatives.  He is among the 10 other people who have declared their candidacy for that office.  He spent 27 years in the military and a time as BLM director for NE Wyoming. One of the topics we focused on was the Buffalo RMP which was implemented when he was one of the heads of that agency.  I pressed him on what those BLM policies meant for Wyoming energy producers.  It's a great wide ranging discussion.

Rebecca Bextel announced Wednesday that she is seeking a nomination for Governor from the Constitution Party.  It sets up an interesting electoral scenario.  Historically, Wyoming has elected very liberal people to the Governor's mansion.  For 36 years, basically, the Democrats controlled the governor's office.  Since 2011 the Democrat party has struggled to gain voters and now is on the verge of not even being a major political party. With the nomination, Bextel would appear on the General Election ballot bypassing the primary contest.  I interviewed Rebecca this morning to make her announcement.

Friday, I interviewed Fremont HD55 Representative Joel Guggenmos about his re-election campaign.  There had been some rumblings about him living for a brief period outside of his district.  He and his wife had their rent increased 600% and so they moved. For a few months, the Guggenmoses lived in a camper a short distance outside of his district. When they found a home they could afford, Joel and his wife moved back.  Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese told the Cow Pie that he sold his home, bought a different one and then moved back.  This, of course, blew up on social media.  Saturday morning, Guggenmos issued a statement clarifying that has never owned a house.  The Cow Pie, for their part, added an editor's note to their original article...at the bottom, where few people will ever see it. I spoke with Joel early this morning to get an update.  Also included in this episode is the original interview I did with him on Cowboy State Politics Live.  

Kari Drost, Chairwoman of the Weston County Republican Party joined me to discuss Weston County's commissioners choosing not to follow statute and select someone to fill the vacancy of County Clerk.  While technically the commishes have 3 more days to comply with statute, Tuesday they tried to do the exact same thing as Sheridan county in 2022.

"In a room full of RINOs, it's better to be a bear."  Rep John Bear announces his re-election campaign.  If successful, this will be his 4th term in the Wyoming House.  During our discussion, I asked him about some of the bigger issues he and the Freedom Caucus have faced.  I pressed him on the issues that he's specifically going to do.  We also discussed some of the criticism he's faced from the other side of the aisle.