The overall nastiness and mean tones will be among the main things remembered about the 2026 primary election campaigns in Wyoming.
Bearing the brunt of most of that nastiness were two Republican winners, Chuck Gray for U.S. House and Eric Barlow for governor. The two men could not be more different and are light years apart when it comes to their politics.
But record spending was involved, with millions of dollars being spent to smear the two men.
The famous saying, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” is often attributed to Mark Twain. Not true. The sentiment goes back much further, to 18th-century writer Jonathan Swift.
In 2026, that philosophy is alive and well, based on the mean-spirited campaigning we just experienced here in Wyoming.
Kudos To Both
Whew!
You have to hand it to Gray and Barlow for enduring a nonstop onslaught of mailers, TV ads and social media attacks while maintaining their poise and finishing in front at the finish line in August.
Gray survived an ABC campaign (Anybody But Chuck) as he won with 25.4 percent of the vote. He was the front-runner from the start, and most political observers, including this one, thought his solid base would stay with him.
It did.
What did not happen was a surge by second place Steve Friess or fourth place Jillian Balow. Friess finished second with 20.4 percent, while newcomer Kevin Christensen finished third with 17.6 percent.
Christensen’s surge may have partly come from Gray wisely proclaiming that it was a two-man race between him and the Casper military veteran.
Friess had claimed it was a two-man race between him and Gray, which was true. But Gray was savvy enough to play up Christensen, which thousands of voters wanted to believe. It is easy to believe that boost took ABC votes that might have gone to Friess and handed them to Christensen.
This caught many people by surprise, including me. I thought Friess had the momentum to overtake Gray, but, alas for him, thousands of votes that could have gone to him went to Christensen instead.
The withdrawal by Frank Chapman resulted in more than 2,000 votes that apparently were cast by people who were so badly misinformed that they did not realize their candidate had pulled out.
Gray beat Friess by 6,168 votes. If you add the votes that went to Chapman and perhaps some of the votes that, at the end, went to Christensen, it shows how difficult it was for Friess to catch Gray in such a crowded race.
Gray’s main nemesis was fellow Casperite Reid Rasner, who spent heavily in his effort to win the race. Rasner ended up fifth with about 8.8 percent of the vote. He was behind most of the nastiness thrown at Gray. It was ugly.
In the end, the diminutive Gray stood pretty tall.
Barlow Stayed The Course
Eric Barlow ran a very personal campaign. He may have shaken the hands of 30,000 voters during his seven trips around the state while campaigning.
He also put to rest two negative trends for people like him. We had not nominated a person with facial hair for governor for more than a half-century, and no former speaker of the House or president of the Senate had won the gubernatorial primary during that time.
Barlow broke both of those streaks. He won the Republican primary with 58,820 votes, or 45.1 percent, well ahead of Megan Degenfelder and Brent Bien.
Into The Sunset
Two of our most prominent politicians are riding into the sunset after this year’s election.
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis has devoted her entire adult life to service in Wyoming, from serving in the Legislature in her 20s, to being state treasurer, plus serving both in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.
She deserves a rest, and I predict she will spend a lot of time with her grandkids at her Star Valley farm.
Gov. Mark Gordon wraps up a distinguished career as our governor and a former state treasurer.
I could see him landing some kind of federal position or even working with the Federal Reserve Bank, where he has a lot of experience.
We thank both of these folks. Wyoming is a better place for their good works.
Another Greg Johnson
And finally, I owe Greg Johnson an apology.
During our recent election quiz, I gave our managing editor, Greg Johnson, kudos for acing the quiz. It was not him!
Another Greg Johnson from Colorado scored that perfect entry.
Congrats, Greg!
Bill can be reached at Bill@CowboyStateDaily.com
