RIVERTON- Three Wyoming gubernatorial candidates for the Republican nomination took the debate stage against each other late Thursday, for the last time before next Tuesday’s primary election.
State Sen. and former House Speaker Eric Barlow emphasized pragmatic policy approaches and referenced his nearly 14 years in the Legislature and careers as a rancher and veterinarian.
Retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien said he entered this race due to Gov. Mark Gordon’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. He voiced enthusiasm, referenced his military career and called for auditing “everything” in state government.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder pointed to her work as the state’s schools chief, and voiced ambitions for Wyoming to lead the nation by litigating, empowering industries at which the state already excels and negotiating strongly with other states. She cast her connection with both President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman as an edge that will help Wyoming advance its own agenda.
What If We Got Another COVID?
In response to a question about how she’d respond to another COVID-like phenomenon, Degenfelder said Wyoming should never shut down private businesses or schools.
“I spent time living in Communist China,” she said, reflecting on earning her master’s degree at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “During the COVID pandemic that’s what it started to feel like.”
In an earlier interview this week, Degenfelder compared her time in China to confronting a lion.
Bien said, “I am standing here right now because of the actions the current governor took in 2020.”
He said he’d never shut down the state the way Gordon did.
“Without our freedom, we have nothing,” said Bien. “I’ve witnessed the end state of tyranny in multiple theaters.”
In 2020 Barlow was, as now, in the state Legislature. He reflected on how difficult it was to get good information as the pandemic unfolded.
He also pointed to a bill he championed into law in 2021, limiting state and county public health officers’ authority to shutter the state to 10 days, and shifting that authority to elected officials after that timeframe.
“Because I understood what I was hearing: frustration,” said Barlow. “People needed to be held accountable. You hold your elected officials accountable, and I ran the bill to make that happen on behalf of all Wyoming citizens.”
About Water
Bien answered a question about states’ renegotiation of the Colorado River compact, saying “I’m tired of these other states stepping all over us.”
He said Wyoming should rebuff outside influence, and let “particularly the coastal states” solve their own problems. He listed desalination as an example.
“I will fight for that all the way through,” said Bien.
Degenfelder said Wyoming needs a strong negotiator. Because the federal government has issued temporary guidelines in this area, Wyoming needs a relationship with the federal government, she said.
Degenfelder has been endorsed by both Hageman and Trump.
She also said Wyoming should invest in its failing water infrastructure.
Barlow said the state should protect its “lifeblood” by putting more resources toward scientific and legal advantages.
That’s also been the message of the Wyoming Attorney General’s office, which urged the Legislature this session to equip it to negotiate the compact.
Barlow said he wants Wyoming to build a coalition with the upper basin states and take a strong enough lead in this area to repel the federal government.
“I do not want top-down,” he said. “I do not want the federal government deciding this on our behalf; so we need to have the resources and the people.”
Wyoming Freedom Caucus
A shortened, lightning-round segment opened with the prompt, “Wyoming Freedom Caucus.”
That’s a controversial group of Republicans in the state House of Representatives. Its proponents call it the true voice of the political right, while its detractors say it over-relies on national influence and brings sloppy legislation.
“I’m not interested in labels. I’m interested in results,” said Degenfelder.
Bien said he aligns with the Wyoming Republican platform, and will align with the Freedom Caucus as long as it does too.
Barlow, whom the caucus doesn’t favor, gave a joking, “Who?” in response to the prompt.
University Of Wyoming Funding
Bien said of the University of Wyoming, the state needs “to audit the whole thing.”
“Make sure this money’s being spent statutorily and we’re getting the best bang for the buck,” he said.
Many House lawmakers led an effort this year to cut $40 million from UW’s state budget. That effort did not clear the Senate.
Barlow called UW valuable for the future of Wyoming.
Degenfelder said she’s a “proud graduate” and believes the school needs to be “a strong land-grant university” and focus on affordability.
Dark Money
Wyoming’s Turn, which is a Wyoming PAC targeting Barlow with attack ads, has spent at least $1.4 million this election cycle. An issues group registered in Delaware has been attacking him as well.
A Wyoming’s Turn flier asserted this week that Barlow sponsored legislation to raise gas and diesel tax. It cited the 2020 House Bill 63.
Barlow voiced surprise at the claim in a Thursday-morning interview on Cowboy State Daily’s Morning Show With Jake, saying he had not done that.
The flier’s claim is false, legislative records show.
The 2020 House Bill 63 had proposed a fuel tax hike, but it was sponsored by the Revenue Committee, of which Barlow was not a member. He voted no on that bill Feb. 12, 2020.
Barlow fielded a question about “dark money” by saying, “if they can’t put their name on it, you don’t know where it came from – that’s not dark money, that’s black money.”
Wyoming’s Turn PAC lists contributions from the Women For Responsible Government PAC, which hadn’t disclosed its own donors as of Thursday.
Degenfelder also fielded the dark money prompt with indignation, saying the group attacking her has spent millions helping Democratic candidates.
The Keep Wyoming Working PAC, which has spent $228,534, lists its lone contributor is the Washington DC-based Government That Works PAC. That group’s funding has filtered to multiple Democratic candidates across the nation.
Barlow and Degenfelder both deny involvement with PACs attacking the other.
Bien, who hasn’t been as much of a target, said he’s “absolutely opposed” to dark money.
All three candidates cast themselves as staunchly pro-Second Amendment. Barlow pointed to legislation he championed helping non-violent felons to restore their gun rights.
Degenfelder urged Wyoming to be vigilant in this area.
Bien said he would have signed the 2026 Second Amendment Protection Act, “without a doubt.”
All 23 Wyoming sheriffs opposed that bill, saying it would bring more local harms from federal agents by making local law enforcement officers hesitant to communicate or work with them at all.
Proponents, conversely, pointed to high-profile and violent street clashes involving immigration enforcers this year, and the Second Amendment generally.
Gordon vetoed the bill.
Grizzly Bears, Data Centers
Bien and Degenfelder both urged removing grizzly bears from threatened status on the endangered species list.
Barlow said Wyoming should be managing its own grizzly population and is getting much closer to that goal.
Regarding data centers, Bien said he’d like to push for constitutional protections to guard “everyone’s data out here.”
Barlow said Wyoming should work to protect water, electrical rates; and give communities good information on the impacts of data centers. But if they’re using Wyoming coal and natural gas, he added, “that’s not a bad thing.”
Degenfelder again urged strong negotiation.
“We say you’re not going to take from the water supply. You’re not going to increase electrical rates. You’re going to help us fund trade schools,” she said, “and you’re going to be welcomed by the community.”
In a prompt about the Wyoming Business Council, Barlow called it an important partner with local governments and private business that helps to diversify the economy.
Degenfelder said, “government doesn’t create jobs. The private sector does.” But, she continued, there is a role for economic development, and that institution should focus on infrastructure and return on investment.
Bien said the Wyoming Business Council “needs a serious rudder steer” to return to its mission, or it should be defunded.
Your Political Hero
Bien said his political hero is President Theodore Roosevelt.
Degenfelder pointed to Wyoming’s current federal delegation Sens. John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman, the late Gov. Stan Hathaway, and said she sees Vice President JD Vance as “ushering in the next generation of conservative leaders.”
Barlow said he admires as political heroism the partnership between the late Sen. Al Simpson and his wife, Ann Simpson, who died July 31.
And, Your Attorney General
Degenfelder said she wants “bulldogs” in every agency and an attorney general who will lead Wyoming, produce legal filings quickly and have “amicus briefs on my desk the next morning” for key issues.
“We’re not going to be the 10th state in the country to sign onto a lawsuit,” she said. “We’re going to lead.”
She said that’s especially important in a time of “lawfare” and “activist judges” nationally.
Bien said Wyoming will be pleased with his pick for attorney general; and cast the man as having an exemplary personality, and being constitutionally driven and liberty-minded.
Barlow said he wants an attorney general of high integrity and broad legal acumen who is interested in “not just suing people, but negotiating. Getting to meaningful outcomes.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
