My name is Rebecca Bextel, and I am seeking the Constitution Party’s nomination for Governor.
Like many of you, I know Megan Degenfelder or Brent Bien would make an excellent Governor! I sincerely hope one of them beats out Eric Barlow for the Republican nomination, but unfortunately, history is not on the side of us conservatives.
It’s time to get strategic in the upcoming election!
Historically, Wyoming’s Republican primary tends to favor the Democrat among the candidates. This leads to a two-term Governor that represents the values of less than a third of the Republican voters in Wyoming.
In 2018, Governor Gordon became the Republican nominee, despite winning only 33.4% of the Republican vote. He went on to serve two terms.
In 2010, Governor Matt Mead won the Republican nomination with only 28.7% of the Republican vote. He also went on to serve two terms.
In 2002, a Democrat was elected Governor of Wyoming.
This happened for a few reasons, although technically neither candidate in the general election was a true Republican.
Previously, Representative Eli Bebout switched to the Republican party after winning his House seat as a Democrat. He did this strategically in order to get elected as Speaker of the House. With the new “R” by his name, he ran for Governor against Democrat candidate, Dave Freudenthal.
Freudenthal became the 2002 Democratic nominee with only 19,732 votes. He than ran against “Republican” Bebout, who won his primary with 44,417 votes, or 48.98% of the Republican party. In other words, twice as many voters chose Bebout over Fruedenthal in the primary.
Then in the 2002 general election, Fruedenthal was elected as our new Governor of Wyoming, after barely beating Bebout by less than 4,000 votes. Governor Fruedenthal went on to serve two terms as a Democrat.
The reality is that the Democrats are highly favored in our state’s elections, because they have two lanes for getting to the Governor’s office.
My candidacy cannot take away votes from any of the Republican primary candidates. This is because the Constitution Party does not participate in the primary election.
Instead, the Constitution Party holds a state convention on June 18th & 19th to nominate their candidates. These candidates automatically appear on the November ballot during the general election.
In the past, once conservatives learn the results of the Republican primary, it is too late to nominate someone else because the filing period ends May 28th.
On August 18th, if history repeats itself, I stand ready to defend all conservatives- regardless of labels. I will then campaign as hard as I can until November 2nd to prevent our state from having a radical Democratic candidate elected to the Governor’s office.
We already know that the Democrats are encouraging their voters to register as Republicans to sway our elections.
My run for Governor as the Constitution Party candidate aims to allow conservatives two lanes for the same race, just like the Democrats.
