Despite being in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus together, neither Rep. Ken Pendergraft nor Rep. Jeremy Haroldson were shocked Thursday to find they're endorsing different candidates in the Wyoming governor’s race.
Pendergraft, a Republican of Sheridan, announced Thursday morning that he’s endorsing Brent Bien, a retired Marine Corps Colonel who has been leading a ballot initiative to cut residential property taxes by 50%.
Haroldson, a Republican of Wheatland, has endorsed one of Bien’s main opponents: Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder.
Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, is also running for the GOP nomination.
House Majority Floor Leader Scott Heiner, R-Green River, endorsed Degenfelder at the same time as Haroldson, along with House Majority Whip Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie.
Heiner is a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus along with Haroldson and Pendergraft. Andrew aligns often with the caucus but told Cowboy State Daily he is not a member.
The primary election is Aug. 18.
The Race To Conservatism
Pendergraft said he’s not surprised at Freedom Caucus members endorsing different gubernatorial candidates.
“It’s a silly rumor that we all vote as a bloc and we take our directions from above,” he said. “Yeah, a couple of (my fellow members) came out – Scott and Jeremy came out and endorsed Megan. I think that’s a horrible mistake. I don’t see Megan as particularly conservative, and I’ve been pretty vocal about that.”
He pointed to Degenfelder’s votes on the State Land Board, saying she often votes similarly to Gov. Mark Gordon, who is generally considered a moderate.
She’s approved state leasing for wind energy projects, for example, said Pendergraft. “I watch the votes and see that (Secretary of State Chuck Gray) is usually the only one voicing my particular perspective.”
Pendergraft said he doesn’t oppose wind energy, but opposes subsidies for it.
Degenfelder voted last April to approve two controversial wind projects – not for subsidies, but for lease agreements on state lands.
Degenfelder at first emphasized that her vote was meant to balance the rights of private property owners who have approved their shares of the project. After a public outcry from other locals, however, she changed course and voted to start a process that may halt one of the major projects.
As for Bien, Pendergraft said he’s known Bien for several years and the pair have had long conversations.
“He’s a bit of a maverick,” said Pendergraft. “I believe he’s by far the best choice. He’s definitely the most conservative.”
He also theorized that Degenfelder is using the superintendent’s position as a “springboard” to higher office, and said he hasn’t been impressed with her work in the Wyoming Department of Education.
He said Haroldson and Heiner break more moderately on some issues than he does. For example, said Pendergraft, Haroldson was pushing to fund “two or three” teams in a new state wildland firefighter program this year, while Pendergraft pushed for one.
Haroldson rebutted that Thursday, saying he was “OK with two” but never indicated he wanted three teams.
That bill ended by funding two teams.
Pendergraft was arguably the most frugal budget hawk during the Joint Appropriations Committee’s January budget-planning marathon. But he backed budget increases in some key areas, like increasing funding for a home-care program for disabled people.
Electable
Like Pendergraft, Haroldson was unsurprised at the fork in endorsements and emphasized that Freedom Caucus members aren’t clones of one another.
“The beauty . . . about all of this is we all have the ability to endorse whoever we want to endorse, and support whoever we want to support,” he said.
Haroldson diverged from Pendergraft and other Freedom Caucus members in key areas this year on the Joint Appropriations Committee: he pushed to give money to the University of Wyoming’s athletics department to compete in the new name, image, and likeness marketplace; and while he supported the proposed (ultimately unsuccessful) defunding of the Wyoming Business Council, he urged members to build severance packages for its employees.
Haroldson said he had an in-depth discussion about the governor’s race with a number of Freedom Caucus members and told them he disagrees with their direction.
“My whole deal is this: I think at this point, we need to find a candidate that has Wyoming’s best interest in mind, and who’s electable,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with Brent Bien and his policy and his stances, but I don’t see him having the ability, the finances, nor the option to be elected.”
The fact that President Donald Trump has endorsed Degenfelder is a non-factor for Haroldson, he said.
Haroldson noted that Degenfelder won a statewide race for her current post, in 2022. She has a voting record.
“Honestly I don’t 100% support her voting record, and I’ve told her as much,” he said, reiterating that Degenfelder has the backing to run a statewide race.
Bien challenged Gordon four years ago in the Republican primary election and finished a distant second.
“We saw four years ago with Bien, he didn’t have that (backing),” said Haroldson, adding, “I haven’t seen him take the appropriate steps the last four years to be able to change that outcome.”
As for the wildland firefighting teams, said Haroldson, he worked that issue during the interim and grew knowledgeable about the need for that program.
The droughts and frequent fires of his home district also informed his thinking, he said.
While Haroldson supported some controversial, proposed budget cuts this year, he said, “we need to be careful. Can we fix these issues we see? Absolutely. Can we fix them in a one, two-year period? If we try it, we break it.”
Heiner did not respond by publication to a Thursday afternoon voicemail.
Like A Crossover Voter
Bien did not return a Cowboy State Daily voicemail by publication, but his campaign outreach manager Cheryl Aguiar gave a Thursday phone interview.
Haroldson’s assessment reminds her of Wyoming Democrats who register as Republicans so they can sway the GOP primary election, she said.
The Wyoming political sphere is so saturated with Republicans, many districts don’t field Democratic candidates; and Democratic voters register as Republican so they have a say in their legislative or county-level representation.
Sometimes, Aguiar noted, Democrats vote as Republicans because they believe their own candidates aren’t electable, and they’d like to advance someone more electable to the general election.
“(They think) ‘I’m going to pick the person closest to my views that is a Republican, because they’re electable and it gives me some voice,’” she said. “That’s Jeremy. I don’t see the difference anymore. That’s my new analogy.”
Aguiar said Haroldson’s endorsement of Degenfelder amounts to “holding his nose” like a GOP-disguised Democrat.
She cast that as “disingenuous; hypocritical,” since Haroldson successfully sponsored a 2023 bill barring electors from changing their party affiliation after the candidates’ primary election filing period opens.
That deadline falls on May 13 this year.
Aguiar emphasized the populist flavor of Bien’s campaign.
“As far as Ken’s endorsement – all I’m going to say is, people come to us and they want to endorse Brent, right? We’re not asking for them,” she said. “We put a couple out – just people – and Ken was one of them.”
Legislators have the option to endorse Bien as individuals or as legislators, said Aguiar. She said Rep. Gary Brown, R-Cheyenne, is also issuing an endorsement for Bien, though she doesn’t know in which capacity.
Nope, Says Degenfelder
Degenfelder’s campaign manager Charlotte Jones responded to Cowboy State Daily’s voicemail inquiry via email Thursday, writing that Pendergraft’s claims “are simply detached from reality.”
“Megan Degenfelder is the true conservative candidate for Governor, with a record of public service to prove it - including protecting girls' sports, increasing school choice and fighting for property rights and our legacy industries, to name just a few examples,” wrote Jones. “It's no surprise she's been endorsed by President Trump, Congresswoman Hageman, and conservative leaders across Wyoming."
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican holding Wyoming’s at-large seat, endorsed Degenfelder March 25.
Degenfelder in 2022 defeated Trump-backed candidate and incumbent Superintendent Brian Schroeder to win her seat. She’s used her office so far to push for parental rights and against sexually-graphic materials in schools. In the wake of bombshell revelations that a Rock Springs couple did not know about their daughter’s social gender transition while some teachers worked to accommodate it, Degenfelder backed a bill requiring parental notification for major health changes.
That’s Your Money, Says Bien
Bien championed a ballot initiative to slash residential property taxes by 50%. That proposal is slated to reach voters in this year’s general election.
He grew up in Laramie and served in the Marines for 28 years, retiring to Wyoming in 2019 after finishing his military career as officer-in-charge of the U.S. Marine Corps base on Guam.
He was the first to declare his run for governor in this election cycle, launching the announcement in 2024. He told Cowboy State Daily at the time that he believes Wyoming has lacked principled, conservative leadership, and he wants the state to become more self-sufficient to create better individual liberties.
Ahead of this year’s legislative budget session, Bien said Wyoming shouldend residential property tax, end fuel tax, cut state sales tax by 1%, hand count paper ballots in elections, implement runoff elections and expand recall election options to county and state officials.
Wait And See
Two of the most powerful men in the state House are also Freedom Caucus members: House Appropriations Chair John Bear, R-Gillette, and House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett.
Bear did not return a late-day voicemail on whom he might endorse, by publication.
Neiman, who gave a phone interview while harrowing a field with a machine that’s been home-rigged to flatten molehills, said he isn’t making such commitments this early in this race.
“I work with Megan, and I haven’t had a sit-down visit with Brent Bien as far as where he’s at or anything – but I like Brent, he’s obviously a conservative guy,” he said. “And Megan has got some real great things that I think she’s done.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
