The minority floor leader of Wyoming’s state House of Representatives filed election-finance complaints Wednesday against three gubernatorial candidates.
Though he is a lawmaker, Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, wrote in the complaints that he filed them as an individual voter.
“My interest is in seeing the law applied evenly and the integrity of our elections protected,” wrote Yin.
Two of the candidates featured in Yin’s complaints, Megan Degenfelder and Rebecca Bextel, called Yin's complaints frivolous.
The third, Brent Bien, said he’d review the numbers for possible duplicate entries of donations and in-kind contributions. He noted the law gives him 30 days to cure issues.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray told Cowboy State Daily that his office is reviewing the complaints filed by Yin, “according to Wyoming law.”
All three complaints say Degenfelder, Bien and Bextel posted contributions reporting that certain individuals donated to their campaigns more than the legal $2,500 limit for statewide races.
“Secretary Gray has said that election integrity is the core mission of his office,” noted Yin in a Wednesday evening statement to Cowboy State Daily. “Under the law, these complaints land on his desk first, and he decides whether they go to the Attorney General.
"Campaign finance limits are part of that mission, and I trust his office will act on these before Tuesday.”
Degenfelder
Degenfelder’s team says the complaint against her is “frivolous.”
Yin had identified a $5,000 overage from Ten Sleep man Ty Jenkins, and a $2,500 overage from Debbie Jenkins, which Degenfelder’s spokeswoman Charlotte Jones said came from a double reporting, not actual overpayments.
“The campaign's treasurer has notified the secretary of state of the clerical error, which requires deletion by the secretary's office,” said Jones.
Yin also identified two more $2,500 overages, each from Blake and Tiffany Gamble of Casper.
Those came from the Gambles donating to Degenfelder’s superintendent for public instruction campaign in December 2025, before she declared her run for governor, then donating again to her governor’s campaign after she declared in January.
Yin’s complaint points to state statute 22-1-102(a)(vii), which says an individual may give no more than $2,500 to a statewide candidate per election.
“Not per committee,” Yin added.
“The superintendent committee did not refund their gifts,” he wrote.
Jones indicated that team Degenfelder does not read the law the same way Yin does.
The statute’s exact wording says:
“Except as otherwise provided in this section, no individual other than the candidate, or the candidate's immediate family shall contribute directly or indirectly to any candidate for statewide political office, or to any candidate for statewide political office’s candidate's campaign committee, more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) per election.”
Bextel
Bextel also cast Yin’s complaint as frivolous, noting that one of the overages he identified is from her father, who falls under the exemption for family members.
“My dad – John Warren – doesn’t give a crap about Mike Yin!” said Bextel in a Thursday text message. “I love you, Dad!”
It is unsurprising that Yin would not have known John Warren, who gave Bextel $3,000 in the original report, is Bextel’s father. Her campaign committee’s original campaign finance filing listed him among the non-family individual donors.
In the other overage, Gore-Tex heiress Susan Gore gave Bextel $4,000 - $1,500 more than the legal limit.
Bextel said she’s issued a refund to Gore.
The refund did not show on Bextel’s filing as of Thursday, but she said her committee will be filing an amended report.
Yin said in his statement Bextel still has time to cure any issues before the Nov. 3 general election, but he asked Gray to send any issues with Degenfelder and Bien’s overages to the attorney general for review, since their Aug. 18 election is long past.
Degenfelder and Bien are not on the Nov. 3 election ballot. They took second and third, respectively, in their primary election bids for governor.
Sen. Eric Barlow won the GOP nomination, and heads to the general against Bextel, who is the Constitution Party nominee, and Ken Casner, the Democratic nominee.
Bien
Bien told Cowboy State Daily he’s spoken with Gray’s office about the complaint.
“We’ll verify and cross-reference duplicate entries with in-kind contributions and make corrections as required,” he said in a Thursday text message. “That’s likely where the discrepancies are.”
State law calls for a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for a first-time violation of the campaign limit, but it also gives candidates 30 days to cure “inaccuracies” from the time they become known.
Bien noted that cure period in his text.
Yin’s complaint also notes that Bien’s campaign account finished with a negative balance of $18,067.47.
“Whoever covered those bills, and in what amounts, belongs on the report,” says Yin’s complaint.
The complaint against Bien lists $11,170 in overages from eight different people, plus two more, possible overages that Yin said could be duplicates, totaling $760 from two different people.
“A refund now returns money to the donors and corrects the public record, but it cannot undo the advantage the committee carried into the primary over campaigns that kept every donor under $2,500,” says Yin’s complaint.
Bien finished third in the primary election, after Degenfelder. Centennial man Curt Blake finished a distant fourth.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
