The Teton County woman who gained notoriety for passing out donation checks on the floor of the Wyoming House chambers is running for the Wyoming Constitution Party’s nomination to become governor.
Rebecca Bextel made the announcement on Wednesday morning, the party chair confirmed.
If she wins the nomination, she’ll face the winners of the Republican and Democratic primary elections, as well as the Libertarian Party nominee in the Nov. 2 general election.
The primary election for each major party to choose its nominee is Aug. 18, and the Republican race is shaping up to be a three-way contest between former House Speaker, current state Sen. Eric Barlow, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, and retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien.
Bextel’s tagline is, “An insurance policy against Eric Barlow.”
Wyoming Constitution Party Chair Joshua Shimkus discussed that in a Wednesday interview.
“The Constitution Party’s internal data reflects that Megan Degenfelder and Brent Bien are trying to garner the same vote,” said Shimkus.
Degenfelder and Bien both have endorsements and support Freedom Caucus-aligned figures.
“And we believe that they’re going to spoil for each other and hand the nomination to Eric Barlow,” said Shimkus.
Barlow did not immediately respond to a Wednesday morning voicemail request for comment.
CheckGate
Bextel grabbed headlines starting Feb. 11 because she handed out checks on the floor of the state House of Representatives to at least four representatives two days prior, after the body had adjourned for the day. She was handing out donations on behalf of a man she characterized as a friend, Teton County conservative philanthropist Don Grasso.
There was at the time no law or rule against the simple act, though a House investigation and law enforcement investigation both followed, to probe for bribery.
House Minority Floor Leader Mike Yin, D-Jackson, raised the issue Feb. 11 and urged delegates to vote against introducing House Bill 141, a bill that Bextel had championed, due to what he called bad “optics.”
The bill, which sought to ban housing mitigation fees statewide, cleared the House and died in the Senate after senators discussed at length the CheckGate controversy connected to it.
Teton County, where Bextel lives, has an extensive and complicated housing mitigation fee scheme that a Jackson-area couple challenged last year as unconstitutional. Begrudgingly, the couple dropped their case when the county insisted that it had overcharged them, and issued them a refund.
As of last month, Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak told Cowboy State Daily his investigation into the CheckGate matter was still ongoing. Kozak did not immediately respond to a Wednesday morning voicemail request for an update.
The Teton County GOP, of which Bextel was still a leader at the time, condemned the act of passing checks on the House floor days after the incident became public.
House-appointed investigators unanimously cleared their peers in the House of bribery and misconduct, though they urged additional signage and other protective steps going forward.
House leadership also declined to take action against Yin and Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie. Provenza had made the incident public after shooting a photograph of Bextel handing over what appears to be a check to a lawmaker from Rock Springs.
Prior, Joseph Kibler sought the Constitution nomination for governor, but he dropped out of the race in April.
Party Bid
Shimkus said the Republican and Constitution party platforms are similar, but he believes the Constitution party puts more emphasis on the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and seeks more of a constitutional republic.
Those amendments safeguard individual rights and states’ sovereignty.
“Our platform is conservative,” said Shimkus. “But there’s a nuance there (between the parties), and I think for the vast majority of conservatives, the nuance is less important than what her win could prove to mean down the road.”
Shimukus said he approached Bextel about running, and she decided to do so May 5.
Bextel did not immediately return a Wednesday morning voicemail request for comment.
“Like many of you, I know Megan Degenfelder or Brent Bien would make an excellent Governor!” says her campaign website. “I sincerely hope one of them beats out Eric Barlow for the Republican nomination, but unfortunately, history is not on the side of us conservatives.”
In 2018, the conservative philanthropist Foster Friess and now-U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman both challenged Mark Gordon for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Gordon, the more moderate of the three, won the nomination and is concluding his second term as governor. Bien finished a distant second to Gordon in 2022.
Bextel on her website said Wyoming’s Republican primary “tends to favor the Democrat among the candidates.”
Bextel’s website references a fraught topic in Wyoming: that some are encouraging their own to register as Republicans and vote in the GOP primary election.
The last day to change one’s party before the legal deadline is Wednesday.
Wyoming Democratic Party leadership, however, discourages against the practice.
“My run for Governor as the Constitution Party candidate aims to allow conservatives two lanes for the same race, just like the Democrats,” says Bextel’s site.
Shimkus said Bextel changed her party affiliation Tuesday, and resigned from Teton County GOP leadership, where she'd been a state committeewoman.
The Teton County Clerk's Office confirmed her party change to Cowboy State Daily.
The Constitution Party convention is set for June 19-20 in Cheyenne.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
