There has been a lot of disinformation and confusion regarding the Bylaws of the Wyoming Republican Party that were adopted at the 2026 State Convention. As one of the co-chairs of the State Bylaws Committee, and chair of the Sheridan County Bylaws Committee, I’d like to clarify what occurred.
First of all, each County elects a Bylaws Committee that meets before each County Convention. That means there are 23 groups working across the state to review and modify the State Party Bylaws. The changes each of these committees suggest are presented to the Delegates at their County Conventions for approval. Some of the Conventions have over 100 Republican Delegates, varying in number by county population. What comes to the State Convention are recommendations that have been approved by the elected Delegates of Republican voters of the 23 Counties.
At the State Convention, the Bylaws Committee meets the two days preceding the Convention. Each County has one Delegate and one Alternate on the Committee. The State Party Bylaws are reviewed, Article by Article, Section by Section, with the suggested changes that came from each County Convention. In 2026, the Bylaws Committee met for 17 hours over two days to create the final product that was presented to the Convention body. Then, the Delegates at the State Convention, over 300 voting members, have the opportunity to discuss the changes, modifying items they disagree with, approving those with which they agree.
This is a long way of saying that the State Party Bylaws are a grassroots effort, coming from the Republicans in each County and being reviewed and approved by the elected Delegates at the State Convention. They are in no manner a “top-down” dictate by a “select group.”
The 2026 Bylaws have been accused of allowing the Party to have a “purity test” to determine who is a Republican and to “kick people out of the Party” those who don’t meet that test. You may look carefully, but you will not find that in the Bylaws. What you will find is an item that has been present for eight years which states that the Party will not support candidates who don’t agree with 80% of the Party Platform. I don’t think 80% counts as “purity” except in regards to cheap moonshine. No one seemed to have an issue with that statement over the past eight years, which makes you wonder why the sudden interest.
As for kicking people out of the party, as much as some of us would love to do that, nowhere can that be found in the Bylaws.
What did change in the Bylaws were administrative issues that will allow the Party to function without reliance upon the unconstitutional Wyoming Statute in Title 22. The Wyoming Republican Party is a private organization that is governed by its Bylaws and Robert’s Rules of Order. We are not a subset of the State, yet we are told by the State when to have meetings, what our order of business must be, who is represented at the meetings, how many and what party officers there will be, when and how we will notify our members, etc.
Can you imagine the State dictating how the Elks Club, the Rotary, or the American Legion run their organizations? Better still, there is a distinction in Title 22 between “major” political parties and “minor” political parties. The Libertarian, Constitution, and soon-to-be Democratic Parties don’t have to follow any rules because they are “minor” parties with under 10% of the voting population. It’s little wonder such behavior by a State was ruled unconstitutional in 1989 and several times since then.
There are two states which still regulate the activities for the Republican Party: North Dakota and Wyoming. The Wyoming State Legislature has had years to fix the problem with Title 22, yet they keep kicking the can down the road. This must stop, and it will. The changes to the State Party Bylaws, which can only be made every two years at a Convention, were done in preparation for Party independence from the State.
As to the people complaining about the Bylaws changes, well, they are either misinformed or have an ulterior motive. The current system favors elected incumbents and people who claim to be “republicans” but are not. Those folks don’t like the changes, for good reason. For years they’ve claimed to be “Conservative Republicans,” yet their voting records show that they are not.
We are entering the age of candidate transparency to the voters. The Wyoming Republican Party intends to lead that transparency and to take control of its destiny to make Wyoming #1.
Tod Windsor
State Committeeman
Sheridan County