Ex-Evansville mayor’s experiences show why good folks don’t get into politics

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It’s a given that most progressive candidates don’t fare well in Wyoming politics. 

But what happened during Candace Machado’s time as Evansville’s mayor shows that serving in office after overcoming the obstacles to win an election can be a nightmarish experience.

When she resigned last month, people on social media told her, “You signed up for this.”

“We signed up to serve the community, not to be the emotional punching bag for every adult who never learned effective boundaries, coping skills and emotional reasoning,” Machado told me a week after she left the nonpartisan office. 

Media attention has focused on the most controversial event of her tenure as mayor, the vitriolic response after she planted miniature Pride flags on the lawn of the Evansville Town Hall in June. She wanted to show the town’s support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Resident Jeremy Brown responded by drawing swastikas in chalk on the sidewalk to protest the Pride flags. Brown said at a council meeting that he did it as an act of free speech to register his complaint that having ideologies displayed on government buildings “brings division, hatred and just, basically, we don’t need that in our town.”

What Evansville doesn’t need are people who respond to a message of inclusion, love and respect for LGBTQ+ individuals with the symbol of a Nazi regime that persecuted and ultimately killed more than 6 million Jews and millions more based on their political beliefs, sexual orientation, and mental or physical disabilities.

Brown apologized if his swastikas “offended anyone.” He and a few supporters demanded Machado’s resignation at town council meetings, and Councilman Greg Flesvig even presented a letter of resignation for the mayor to sign. 

It’s a sad chapter in the history of Evansville.

The former mayor stressed to me that the Pride flag incident wasn’t the reason she resigned, but part of a long series of events in which — “behind the scenes” — she often felt demeaned and ignored by peers who didn’t want to rock the boat. 

“I don’t want my five years [in office] to be representative of one choice and one decision that I made,” Machado said. “There were a lot of choices and decisions I made that moved the town forward.”

Machado’s political career began when she ran for the Evansville Town Council in 2020 and won. Mayor Chad Edwards resigned in February 2024, and she said the town’s police chief and fire chief talked her into seeking the interim position. Machado, who didn’t see eye-to-eye with members on many issues, said she was surprised when the town council unanimously voted for her.

Machado has an impressive record, including completing her predecessor’s prime project, a $1 million park playground. She also helped secure a nearly $9 million grant from the Wyoming Business Council for the Mesa Natural Gas Solutions manufacturing plant in Evansville. It’s scheduled to be completed next summer.

Machado, a social worker for 18 years, is also proud that the council approved mental health and counseling services for first responders who have experienced trauma.

“I’m a pretty progressive person, and I had a lot of people who just wanted me to fit in a box,” she said. “They wanted me to conform and stick with the status quo, and don’t shine light on things that are bad for the community.”

Machado describes Wyoming’s political system as “broken.” I agree with her assessment: “If you don’t fall in line with how Wyoming politicians think and behave, you’re the bad guy,” she said. “You get quietly silenced; they shut you out. They’ll make it look good in public settings, but you get to know very quickly how you land with everything.”

Machado said she has supporters, but they can’t always be at meetings. “It’s a very lonely space to be in. At the end of the day, when things get tough and challenging, it’s just you and your family to pick up the pieces,” she related.

There were two reasons I interviewed Machado. I wanted to see what advice she would offer future candidates and if she feels people can make a positive impact on the state’s politics even if they don’t throw their hat in the ring.

“People have told me they’ve seen what I went through the last 21 months, and they want no part of it because they didn’t think they could do it,” she said.

Machado said this isn’t the end of her political career, and she’s leaving the door open to seeking another office in the future.

I’m glad Machado isn’t staying quiet. “I feel like I can do a lot of great work as an activist and an advocate in the community,” she said. “It’s what I’ve been doing for the past two decades.”

Machado hopes the Wyoming Freedom Caucus falls out of favor with voters and is amazed many candidates won’t even admit they’re members, but notes it makes it difficult for opponents to pin down their views in a campaign. “If you’re going to be honest with your constituents, at least tell them which party line you affiliate yourself with,” she said.

Even after her resignation, the ex-mayor still encourages people to get involved in the political arena as candidates. But Machado cautions that they need to go in with their eyes wide open.

“If people are going to run for office, they need to know how it’s going to impact them and their families,” she advised. “And they need to know what it’s going to be like when they’re in office.”

That doesn’t make it easy for people to recruit wary candidates in this ultra-red state, but she speaks the truth.