Eric Barlow secured the Republican nomination on August 18 with 44.8 percent of the vote. Now, voters who believe the Republican nominee’s legislative record does not reflect the conservative principles they expect from Wyoming’s dominant political party will have another choice on November 3.
Rebecca Bextel has officially launched her general election campaign as the Constitution Party’s nominee for governor, presenting herself as the constitutional conservative alternative to Barlow. Speaking to supporters following the primary, Bextel made it clear that her campaign is not intended to be symbolic. “I’m here to win this,” Bextel said. “I’m not here to waste time. I’m not here to get name recognition or prove a point.”
Bextel said she had hoped the Republican primary would produce a nominee whom Wyoming’s constitutional conservatives could support. When that did not happen, she decided it was time to step forward. “I didn’t want to do this,” Bextel said. “I was hoping that Brent or Megan would squeak it out, but this is the last stand.”
Her campaign is built around a direct argument: Winning the Republican nomination does not automatically make a candidate conservative.
Bextel sharply criticized Barlow’s legislative record, pointing to his past positions on abortion-related legislation, immigration enforcement, property tax reform, government spending, and economic-development programs. She also accused him of supporting policies that expand government while benefiting politically connected interests.
Some of those individual votes are already being disputed by Barlow’s campaign, which argues that its opponents have taken portions of his record out of context. That debate will now move beyond the Republican primary and into the general election, where voters will have the opportunity to examine the records and positions of both candidates for themselves.
For Bextel, the central issue is larger than any one vote. She argues that Barlow’s overall record is more closely aligned with establishment and Democratic priorities than with the limited-government principles regularly promoted by the Republican Party.
“He’s against property tax reform,” Bextel told supporters. “He’s against stopping illegal immigration. He’s for corporate handouts for the well-connected.”
Bextel also criticized the influence of the Wyoming Business Council, affordable-housing programs she believes are vulnerable to abuse, and a growing state government structure filled with unelected boards, commissions, and administrative positions. “We have 90 boards and commissions,” she said. “These people have too much power. They’re unelected.” She pointed to the size of Wyoming government as another indication that the state has drifted away from its conservative identity. “The largest employer is the State of Wyoming,” Bextel said. “We’ve got real problems in this state.”
Bextel enters the race as Republicans continue debating what happened in the August primary. Conservative candidates suffered major losses across Wyoming, dramatically reducing the number of lawmakers aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus in both the House and Senate.
That shift raises questions about the direction of the next Legislature, including the future of property tax relief, education spending, Medicaid expansion, government growth, and other issues that have divided Wyoming Republicans.
Bextel said that if elected, she would use the governor’s veto authority to hold the line against legislation that expands government or moves Wyoming further away from conservative principles. “If nothing else, I’m here to veto bills, to try to hold the line until we can pull ourselves together and win it again in two years,” she said.
Although she is running under the Constitution Party banner, Bextel said she is not seeking to destroy the Republican Party. She described herself as a lifelong Republican who believes the party has failed to enforce its own principles or provide voters with a meaningful choice. “I’m not anti-Republican Party,” Bextel said. “I practically have Republican on my birth certificate.”
She said the problem is not the party’s stated platform, but the growing distance between that platform and the records of some candidates who run under the Republican label.
“We only had a choice between Democrat or Republican, and half of the Republicans are Democrats. The Constitution Party is now forcing the Republican Party to do its job, and now people have another choice.”
Bextel said she hopes the Republican Party can eventually be rebuilt, but she is unwilling to remain silent or support a nominee simply because he won the primary. “I don’t feel like I have to just toe the party line. If something’s not working, then I don’t have to keep going.”
Her campaign faces the challenge of mounting a statewide general election effort in a compressed period. Bextel acknowledged that she will need both financial support and a strong grassroots organization to compete against the Republican nominee.
She pointed to her previous statewide organizing efforts, including traveling approximately 10,000 miles in six weeks while campaigning for Wyoming Republican Party chair. She also said her five-year-old vehicle now has roughly 220,000 miles because of the number of political events she has attended across Wyoming. “I’m a grassroots person. I can’t even tell you how many doors I’ve knocked on.”
Bextel pledged that she would not be outworked and said she is prepared for the personal and political attacks that will likely accompany her candidacy. “I’m not scared to step out of line.”
That may be the defining choice placed before Wyoming voters this November.
Barlow won the Republican nomination. Bextel is asking voters to decide whether the party label is enough—or whether Wyoming needs a governor whose record and platform reflect the constitutional conservative principles many Republican voters believed they were supporting in the first place.
On November 3, Wyoming conservatives will not be limited to accepting the outcome of the Republican primary. The Constitution Party has nominated Rebecca Bextel, and she intends to give them another choice.