If she decides to run for governor of Wyoming, Megan Degenfelder has President Donald Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement,” the president wrote Friday in a post to social media platform Truth Social.
“RUN MEGAN, RUN!” Trump wrote in a post about Degenfelder, Wyoming's Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Degenfelder, a first-term superintendent with prior experience in that office and in the oil and gas sector, told Cowboy State Daily on Dec. 23 that she is “strongly considering” a run for governor.
Trump wrote that many of his strongest supporters and friends have been calling him and telling him “how great ‘MAGA’ Megan Degenfelder is.”
Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that she is “incredibly humbled” by the offer of an endorsement and may have more news about her political decision “soon.”
“I’ve always been the strongest supporter of President Trump and the America-first agenda,” she said in a phone interview, moments after leaving a Purple Star military support celebration at Cheyenne-based Arp Elementary School.
“When my president calls on me to serve my state and country, I’ll step up,” she said. "I think I’ll have more to say about that soon.”
Degenfelder said she was also pleased by the notion that Wyomingites have been calling Trump to recommend her, as Trump wrote in his statement.
That people who know her in Wyoming “believe in me to that extent, it’s an honor, and I will just continue to serve my state as strongly as possible,” she said.
The Shakeup
Degenfelder’s “strongly considering” comments of last month followed a political shakeup U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis sparked Dec. 19 by announcing she’s not running for reelection.
In turn, U.S. House Rep. Harriet Hageman announced a bid for Lummis’ seat.
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray then announced a run for Hageman’s seat after weeks of running image-style advertisements naming no specific office.
So, too, did Casper businessman Reid Rasner who, like Gray, touts a “MAGA” platform.
One person not in December’s shakeup was state Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, who is the former state House of Representatives speaker and who has been running a governor’s race since last August.
Barlow in a text message response to Cowboy State Daily's request for comment said Trump's announcement doesn't change his strategy.
"My focus continues to be what I have been doing," he wrote, "traveling across the state, meeting and hearing from the people of Wyoming about what matters to them."
Joseph Kibler, an independent candidate, and Brent Bien, a Republican who ran against Gov. Mark Gordon and others in the 2022 primary election, have both announced their candidacy as well.
Without You In 2022
Degenfelder in 2022 was the only Wyoming statewide candidate who lacked a Trump endorsement to beat a candidate who had it, when she defeated Brian Schroeder for the Republican primary election nomination and ultimately her seat.
In Wyoming, the primary election has more impact for statewide races since all five statewide, elected executive positions are held by Republican incumbents; all three Congressional seats also belong to Republicans.
The state Legislature and local partisan governments across Wyoming hold Republican supermajorities as well.
Trump asserted in his statement that Degenfelder will work tirelessly to champion Wyoming values, promote farmers and ranchers, grow the economy, cut taxes and regulations, unleash domestic trade and energy dominance, help secure the border, “Stop Migrant Crime,” ensure law and order, support the military, veterans and law enforcement; safeguard elections — and “Protect our always under siege Second Amendment.”
Trump’s own approach to the Second Amendment is complicated.
In his first term he banned bump stocks after a mass shooting, with a rule the U.S. Supreme Court later deemed unlawful.
In his second term, he’s defending the National Firearms Act in court. But he’s also suing the Virgin Islands for not honoring citizens’ right to carry firearms.
Trump won Wyoming with 67.5% of the vote in 2016; 70% in 2020; and 71.6% in 2024.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
