Barlow posts strong showing and broad reach in governor race

Why are some Republicans wanting to eat their own?

State Sen. Eric Barlow of Gillette handily won the Republican nomination for governor in the party primary election Aug. 18.

Handily won, but not enough for some GOP partisans.

Here are the vote totals. Barlow topped the Republican ballot with 58,746 votes. Megan Degenfelder polled 38,746 and Brent Bien 30,850 as the 1-2-3 finishers.

Barlow won with roughly 44% of the primary vote.

That easily moves Barlow along as the Republican standardbearer in the November General Election. No question.

But not good enough for some disgruntled Republicans. They parse the numbers to complain that Barlow didn’t get a majority of Republican voters in the primary. That isn’t a requirement of Wyoming election law, by the way, and it’s a particularly far reach in a race with three candidates who have significant followings.

But it doesn’t stop some in Republican ranks from suggesting that Democrat crossovers accounted for Barlow’s edge. One Republican poster even went so far as to say “we may as well vote for the Democrat” in November. Talk about a sore loser.

Barlow will face general election opposition from Democrat primary winner Kenneth Casner and a longtime Republican Party worker from Jackson, Rebecca Bextel, who carries the nomination of the Constitution Party. Bextel has been vocal that Barlow is not Republican enough. Her campaign website carries a thinly veiled slap at Barlow without mentioning his name, simply the statement that “having an ‘R’ by your name doesn’t mean you stand for Republican values.”

In October of 2025 when he was an early announced candidate 11 months ahead of the primary, Barlow was already a target of some on the Far Right. Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams of Cody dissed Barlow and said, “Come 2026, the people will elect a true conservative for governor.”

I think they are well on their way. One who doesn’t need labels and who believes people want limited government delivered in a respectful way within the state’s means. His name is Eric Barlow.

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