Wyoming Constitution Party gains major-party status as Bextel gets 16% of vote

Wyoming Constitution Party gains major-party status as Bextel gets 16% of vote

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Rebecca Bextel didn’t win the governor’s mansion Tuesday night, but she delivered something arguably more valuable to her party: 16% of the vote, or 31,438 ballots, enough to vault the Wyoming Constitution Party into major-party status for the first time since 2016, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office reported by WyoFile.

Under Wyoming law, a minor party earns major status when its candidate for governor, secretary of state, or U.S. House captures at least 10% of the total vote in the general election. Bextel cleared that bar easily, joining the Republican and Democratic parties as one of only three organizations now empowered to nominate candidates through the primary election process rather than through party conventions. It’s a structural shift that gives the Constitution Party a permanent seat at the table in Wyoming politics—at least until the next election cycle tests whether they can hold it.

Wyoming Constitution Party gains major-party status as Bextel gets 16% of vote
Photo: newsfromthestates.com

How a Third-Party Run Reshaped the Electoral Map

Republican Gov.-elect Eric Barlow won the race, but Bextel’s 31,438 votes came within striking distance of the 31,224 votes U.S. Rep.-elect Chuck Gray—a co-founder of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus—won in the primary election, Cowboy State Daily reported. Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Ken Casner managed 14% of the vote despite campaign finance reports showing he raised and spent zero dollars.

The former GOP member announced in May she would run as a third-party candidate if Republican voters nominated Gillette Sen. Eric Barlow in the primary, and after losing a bid for Wyoming Republican Party chairman earlier in the year, she found herself at the center of the “Checkgate” controversy that rocked the 2026 legislative session—an episode involving her handing out campaign checks to lawmakers on the House floor. Constitution Party Chairman Josh Shimkus told WyoFile he recruited Bextel in the months after Checkgate, seeing a potential ally for his vision, and joked in May that he was “very interested in obtaining ‘Bextel bucks,’ as the press put it.”

Rebecca Bextel for Wyoming Governor 2026, Constitution Party @TheTalkShopUSA.com ☆SEPTEMBER☆

“Thank you to everyone who cast their vote for me yesterday,” Bextel said in a statement to WyoFile. “Nine weeks ago, I entered this race to fulfill a promise I made to the people of Wyoming: to give them a choice in this gubernatorial election. While the results were not what I had hoped for, it is clear that there are many misinformed voters still out there who blindly voted for an R, which is what the Democrats were counting on to get their guy in there!”

Bextel amended her campaign finance filings on Oct. 29 to report more than $362,000 in donations from the Wyoming Constitution Party, up from the roughly $89,000 she had originally reported, WyoFile reported. Cowboy State Daily notes the party itself estimates the figure closer to $300,000, and that Bextel leaves the race with a war chest of about $400,000 remaining. Political parties in Wyoming aren’t required to file full campaign finance reports until Nov. 13, and the secretary of state’s office is currently reviewing complaints filed by Jackson Democratic Rep. Mike Yin regarding contributions to several gubernatorial campaigns allegedly exceeding legal individual limits.

Not a Freedom Caucus Landing Pad

Despite Bextel’s alignment with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, Shimkus pushed back against the idea that major-party status makes the Constitution Party a refuge for the hard-right faction. “I wouldn’t say we are a Freedom Caucus party,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “I think that is not where the party is heading.” He described the Constitution Party as similar to the Republicans but with greater emphasis on diffusing government power and championing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

The distinction matters because House Speaker Pro Tem Jeremy Haroldson, the only Freedom Caucus member in House leadership to survive the primary, told Cowboy State Daily the caucus has no plans to defect. “No, not that I’m aware of at all,” Haroldson said. “I think there are people who are frustrated with the GOP in Wyoming, but I don’t believe that shifting into the Constitution Party is going to be the answer long-term.”

Déjà Vu All Over Again: The 2014 Precedent

This isn’t Wyoming’s first rodeo with third-party elevation. In 2014, both Constitution and Libertarian party candidates running for secretary of state earned the necessary 10% to gain major status, WyoFile reported. But that legitimacy proved fleeting—both parties dropped back to minor status following the 2016 election cycle when they failed to replicate the performance. No minor-party candidate has ever won a statewide elected office in Wyoming, making Bextel’s 16% a notable but still losing effort.

Wyoming’s election results remain unofficial until the state canvassing board certifies them next week. If the numbers hold, the Constitution Party will spend the next two years building infrastructure—Shimkus told Cowboy State Daily the goal is to convert those roughly 31,000 Bextel voters into registered party members—while preparing for 2028. Bextel herself struck a defiant note, telling Cowboy State Daily she also questions the voting machines and concluding with a bleak vision of the state’s future, though she didn’t respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time.

Three parties will head into the next primary season, and the Constitution Party finally has the ballot access that comes with being a major player in the Cowboy State.

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