Based on last Tuesday’s elections, Wyoming now is on the verge of one of the great boom times in its history.
After running one of the most masterful campaigns in Wyoming election history, Eric Barlow is poised to lead this economic renaissance as our new governor.
Just look what has happened.
That pesky Freedom Caucus, whose members were often focused on cutting things like the Wyoming Business Council and programs at the University of Wyoming, was neutered by the results. All of its leaders and the majority of its members were defeated.
Barlow will have a very willing partner in the Legislature to carry out his ideas to improve prosperity in the Cowboy State.
He also has two new members on the State Boards in Secretary of State Robert Short and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Harshman. Again, from this vantage point, Barlow and those two, alone, constitute the votes the new governor will need to push through positive programs. State Treasurer Curt Meier and State Auditor Kristi Racines should fit right in, too. This will be a very cohesive group.
Barlow is a skilled politician, having served as Speaker of the House and then navigating an amazing campaign. He sees a bright future for Wyoming and believes that with proper stewardship, just about anything is possible if it is good for the state.
To me, anyone who can endure months and months of relentless criticism, as he did, including more than a million dollars in negative advertising, has the moxie to get the job done.
I see a real golden age ahead for Wyoming. The next ten years, with our focus on energy development and nuclear power, could equal the most recent previous golden age from 2002 to 2012.
Some Questions
In the wake of those intense campaigns that just finished, will we see some kind of campaign to derail the general election campaign for U. S. House primary winner, Chuck Gray?
This was the most expensive campaign in Wyoming history, probably topping $12 million. A huge amount of that money was spent AGAINST Gray, and yet he held on and won.
From Day One, it was obvious he had a nucleus of supporters, and that group of voters propelled him to the win in the primary against a couple of surprise candidates.
Steve Friess came in late and scored 20 percent of the vote but had to spend nearly $3 million to do it.
Kevin Christensen proved that an outstanding candidate can gain serious traction without spending a boatload of money. He finished third with 17 percent of the vote, spending about $50,000.
Meanwhile, fifth-place finisher Reid Rasner spent more than $2 million, with a bulk of that blasting Gray.
If a competitor emerges as a write-in or ballot candidate, will we see these folks spend even more money to knock off Gray in the general election campaign? It is a long shot but there are powerful forces around the state anxious to keep Gray from fulfilling his destiny.
There was a huge “ABC – Anybody But Chuck” movement during the primary. Those strong feelings are not just going to go away, I will predict.
Stay tuned. This could get very, very interesting.
Sally Ann Wins Quiz
Long-time journalist Sally Ann Shurmur of Glenrock is still at the top of her game. She is the winner of our 2026 election quiz.
Like a whole bunch of people, she correctly guessed all seven races. But she just about nailed the tie-breaker question, which pushed her to the top.
She correctly picked Eric Barlow for governor, Harriet Hageman for U.S. senator, Chuck Gray for U.S. representative, Robert Short for secretary of state, Curt Meier for state treasurer, Steve Harshman for state superintendent of public instruction, and Ogden Driskill for state senator of District One.
The ultimate tie-breaker was to guess how many votes Harriet Hageman would receive in her U.S. Senate race. The correct answer was 83,789. Sally Ann guessed 79,726.
Bob Ryan also got all seven races right and came very close with a guess of 78,432.
Others who scored all seven questions right were Eric Molvar and Cowboy State Daily Managing Editor Greg Johnson. Eric guessed low and Greg guessed high on Hageman’s total. Hustace Scott and Brandon Rosty also got all seven right but were farther off on the tie-breaker.
By far, the most-missed race was the U.S. representative race, with about three-fourths of the entrants guessing Steve Friess would top the field in the U.S. House race.
One of my coffee-table books will be sent to Sally. Good going!
Sally had a long and distinguished career at the Casper Star-Tribune, and she obviously still knows her Wyoming politics.
Bill can be reached at Bill@CowboyStateDaily.com
