A flood of political endorsements for some Wyoming statewide candidates is surging after the end of the state’s lawmaking session this month.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who are running as Republicans for governor and U.S. House respectively, both started announcing endorsements as the legislative session ended.
U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Harriet Hageman landed endorsements earlier this year by both sitting U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and outgoing Sen. Cynthia Lummis for her bid to win the seat Lummis is leaving.
The strategy of amassing endorsements is a smarter one at the start of the campaign season, but it’s generally not the most valuable strategy in a candidate’s arsenal, two longtime Wyoming politicos told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
“You know, in the campaign world, it seems like only 10% of what you do makes any difference — you just don’t know which 10% it is,” said Tim Stubson, who served in the Wyoming House for nine years and ascended to two leadership positions as speaker pro tempore and majority whip.
Endorsements are more effective in a campaign’s earlier stages, which is where Wyoming sits now, he said.
“Not sure if they move the numbers much, but they certainly — at least — send a message that you’re a real candidate, and you’re in it for the long haul,” he said. “In that way they’re helpful.”
But often by August when the primary election in many cases decides who gets the coveted Republican nomination in a statewide race, “nobody remembers who endorsed who,” Stubson said.
He added a caveat: a candidate who manages to hold all his or her endorsements until the very end of the race and “broadcast” them all at once may spark a sense of momentum.
The Liz Factor
If he were running for office today, Stubson said he'd aim for endorsements from people currently holding public office, he added.
Endorsements can also hurt a campaign, he said.
“I think it’s really hard to tell whether they make a difference or they do any good or not,” said Stubson. “Especially in today’s environment. You can have, maybe, some Freedom Caucus legislators endorse you — it does help you with a certain part of the electorate but it also harms you.”
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is a group of Republican state House legislators who embrace socially-conservative policymaking, and this year pushed for numerous budget reductions.
The group is outspoken and often garners controversy. The metrics of its public favor this year are unknown: it won control of the House in 2024, but has not won control of the state Senate.
“I’m glad I’m not the one out there making these decisions right now,” said Stubson.
Stubson said the bigger necessities of a campaign that large, rather, are money and name recognition.
“That’s the easy track,” he said, adding that the harder track is pounding doors and coordinating mailers and other messaging.
When Stubson ran in a crowded 2016 GOP U.S. House primary election that included Leland Christensen and Liz Cheney, he said that Cheney “had all of the above: money beyond what the rest of us could raise. She also had name recognition straight out of the gate.”
She hadn’t been in the state that long, a fact Stubson and Christensen amplified.
But she’d learned from her own “unforced errors” two years prior when she’d lost the U.S. Senate race to Sen. Mike Enzi, Stubson recalled.
Second Tier
Rob Wallace, who served as assistant secretary to the U.S. Interior during the first Trump administration and years prior fought multiple campaigns as a staffer for the late U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily he’s always considered endorsements a “second tier” part of the campaign.
A win “still comes down, in my opinion, to the caliber of the candidate, the caliber of the message, and the caliber of the campaign itself,” said Wallace in a Tuesday phone interview.
Wallace, who finished a close second to Barbara Cubin in the GOP primary election in 1994, said candidates do well to “read the room,” and they can do that by monitoring the legislative session.
And this year, “there’s a lot of churn in what happened with the Legislature,” he said.
For example, Wallace added, “the Barlow resolution on public lands, maybe two years ago that wouldn’t have had a chance of passing. A month ago it passed overwhelmingly.”
That was a reference to Gillette-based state Sen. Eric Barlow’s Senate Joint Resolution 9 urging Congress to protect Wyomingites’ access to public lands and allow responsible development.
Barlow is also running for the GOP nomination to become governor.
The issue of public lands access mobilized Wyoming residents across the political spectrum last year as U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, proposed a selloff plan that many, from hunters to hikers, considered overkill.
That’s just one of Wyoming’s political lodestars this year, said Wallace.
“Public lands, health care, energy, what you do in a library or how you treat county sheriffs — they’ve got to become part of the conversation in Wyoming, and I think some of that’s going to spill over into the races that are starting,” he said.
Still Tough To Pigeonhole
No one vying for statewide office has landed a broader endorsement spectrum than Degenfelder, who is running for the Republican nomination in the governor’s race.
On March 12, she announced endorsements by three Republican members of state House leadership: Majority Floor Leader Scott Heiner of Green River, Speaker Pro Tempore Jeremy Haroldson of Wheatland, and House Majority Whip Ocean Andrew of Laramie.
Heiner and Haroldson are publicly-listed members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which aimed this year for numerous state budget reductions. While the group does not list Andrew as a member, he often votes in alignment with its members.
Then Degenfelder swung the other direction, announcing three endorsements Monday from Wyoming's old-guard end of the Republican spectrum.
Those are former state House Speaker and Senate President Eli Bebout, of Riverton — who was the first person to hold both those positions in the Wyoming Legislature; former state GOP Chair and National Committeeman Diemer True, who was a state Senate president and chair of the Independent Petroleum Association of America; and former House Speaker Bruce Hinchey, who also served as the president of the Wyoming Petroleum Association.
All three have backgrounds in the oil industry, in which Degenfelder also has served as a top executive.
“She’ll make a great governor because I know she’ll look out for everyone — not just oil and gas but ranchers, mining industry. She loves Wyoming,” Hinchey told Cowboy State Daily.
Degenfelder in January landed an endorsement from President Donald Trump before she’d officially decided to run. It was a plot twist from her 2022 run for schools superintendent, when Trump endorsed her opponent and she won anyway.
Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily she believes she secured endorsements across different Republican factions because, “I think conservatives know a strong leader when they see one. These folks all know that’s what I am.”
She said she’s grateful for the endorsements, believes the names backing her ticket believe in “protecting conservative values in our state,” but that ultimately the voters carry “the ultimate endorsement.”
The Silent But Many
Barlow, who is also a rancher and a veterinarian, took a phone interview Tuesday while sorting his yak herd into different sections of pre-bought, pregnant, and yearling yaks.
It’s time for their “next life phases,” he said, an echo of his farewell address to the state Senate last week.
Barlow’s campaign so far has not emphasized endorsements, though he did highlight a letter numerous businesses and entities sent him Monday to thank him for fielding Senate Joint Resolution 9.
“The people of Wyoming showed up in support of this resolution,” says the letter, which Barlow provided to Cowboy State Daily. “Hunters, 4-H kids, teachers, business leaders, county officials, outfitters and many others voiced their support. Thank you for listening!”
Barlow voiced pride in another vote of confidence: he said a man from another state called him to say, “We’re thinking about moving to Wyoming because of the Stem Cell Freedom Act.”
Barlow this session successfully championed a medical freedom act, with some safeguards, freeing stem cell therapies from FDA constraints.
The prospect that his work has inspired a business owner to relocate to Wyoming encouraged Barlow, he said, adding that recognition of good policy is an endorsement of its own.
Like Degenfelder, Barlow said the ultimate endorsement is the voters’ approval at the primary election Aug. 18, and that’s his chief goal.
He said he fields many calls, texts, and emails from people requesting yard signs and offering donations or support as well.
Barlow and U.S. House candidate Bo Biteman, who is president of the Wyoming Senate, shouldered a timeline quirk their opponents didn’t face: both had to focus on the legislative session, not campaigning, for about five weeks.
Barlow’s campaign fell mostly silent.
Biteman didn’t start his bid for the House at all until the session was finished.
On the one hand, a session brings publicity and attention to a candidate’s policy maneuvers. On the other hand, lawmaking during the rushed budget session in election years is a significant undertaking.
Barlow said he doesn’t view the session’s interjection as a disadvantage. It was always just part of the deal.
This session brought an even harsher chill to the prospect of campaigning, since the “CheckGate” controversy of an activist passing out campaign donations on the state House floor.
“And the Senate took a strong stand (against that behavior) and I respected that,” said Barlow. “I always knew I had a role in the legislative branch, and I was not going to be as active campaigning while fulfilling my role for Senate District 23.”
A session also provides chances to exercise good habits, he said: “listening, learning, and doing the work.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien did not return a voicemail request for comment by publication
Joseph Kibler, who ran initially as a GOP candidate but now seeks the nomination of the Constitution Party, said his campaign has been more grassroots-style focused on real conversations and town halls.
He’s working on a few key endorsements, and said he’s hearing from people who are ready for a change.
“People are reaching out to me across the state, quite frankly across the political spectrum, letting me know, ‘Joseph, you’re our guy,’” said Kibler. “They’re really, really tired of the two-party politics and sort of this chokehold they have on us.”
Freedom Caucus Aligned
In a text-message response to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment, Gray touted his seven endorsements: all current and former state legislators and all more aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus than the old guard of Bebout’s days.
Key among those is state House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett.
Neiman told Cowboy State Daily he endorsed Gray because he considers the secretary a “fighter” and a true conservative.
“I think Chuck will do a great job,” said Neiman. “To me he’s proven that, since I’ve known him. He’s always been consistently conservative and I think his voting record speaks volumes in that.”
Gray’s other endorsements are from Republican Reps. Tony Locke (Casper), Ann Lucas (Cheyenne), Tomi Strock (Douglas), and Ken Pendergraft (Sheridan); state Sen. Laura Pearson, R-Kemmerer; and former representative and current candidate Mark Jennings, a Republican from Sheridan.
Gray said he’ll be releasing three more names of endorsing representatives this week and more the following week.
“I’m deeply honored to have the support of such strong conservative leaders from across Wyoming,” said Gray, who called the backing “a powerful sign that the America First movement is coming together behind our campaign.”
Gray claimed that his opponents “simply talk,” yet “I have a proven record of getting things done.”
He pointed to his work to pass a proof-of-citizenship law for registering to vote as well as other election reform and pro-life efforts.
Crowded
The field of candidates vying for the GOP nomination in that U.S. House race is getting crowded.
But none of the candidates in that race have secured a Trump endorsement.
Wyoming’s U.S. House seat is held currently by Hageman, who announced Dec. 23 she’s running for the upper chamber, after Lummis said Dec. 19 she’s not seeking a second six-year term.
Casper businessman Reid Rasner has been campaigning actively and marking his stance on various issues with short videos via social media.
Former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow announced her run for the nomination Jan. 13.
Two Casper-based military veterans, David Giralt and Kevin Christensen, have also announced bids for the GOP nomination in recent days.
And Biteman declared his candidacy one day after the session ended, and after helping to steward a two-year budget into place for Wyoming as state Senate President.
He passed the Wyoming Energy Dominance fund into law this year. That’s a portion of Wyoming severance taxes reinvested into the energy sector – excluding wind and solar projects – in what Biteman has called an effort to combat green-energy compacts between private sector investors that have bottlenecked the traditional energy sector.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
