Checkgate’s Rebecca Bextel launches ‘insurance policy’ bid for Wyoming governor

Rebecca Bextel, the Teton County conservative activist at the center of the Checkgate controversy that dominated the 2026 legislative session, announced Wednesday she will run for governor. 

Bextel, however, will not run as a Republican. Instead, she will seek the Constitution Party’s nomination at its June convention, according to her campaign website. 

If Bextel receives the minor party’s nomination, her name will appear on the general election ballot in November. As a minor party in Wyoming, the Constitution Party does not participate in the primary election. 

Bextel’s website gives one specific reason for why she’s seeking the nomination.

“An insurance policy against Eric Barlow,” it states. 

Gillette Republican Sen. Eric Barlow, a rancher and former speaker of the House, is running for governor against Cody’s Brent Bien, a retired Marine Corps colonel, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder. 

President Donald Trump preemptively endorsed Degenfelder the day before she announced her campaign in January. Later that month, Bextel hosted a fundraiser for Degenfelder, according to the Jackson Hole News&Guide. 

Since then, Wyoming Freedom Caucus lawmakers, who align with the right flank of the Wyoming Republican Party, have split in their endorsements between Bien and Degenfelder. Barlow, meanwhile, is considered the more moderate candidate of the three. 

In Wyoming’s last two primary elections with an open gubernatorial seat, the more moderate Republicans — Matt Mead in 2010 and Mark Gordon in 2018 — triumphed over candidates who were widely seen as more conservative. Bextel noted that history on her campaign website.

“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 nomination, but unfortunately, history is not on the side of us conservatives,” according to her website. 

Whoever wins the primary election in August will move forward to the general election. But in Republican-dominated Wyoming, most elections are decided in the primary. 

If Bien or Degenfelder prevail in August, Bextel says she will drop out. Bextel will stay in the race, her website says, if Barlow is victorious — setting up a November match between at least the two candidates. The one Democratic candidate to announce plans to run for governor is Gabriel Green, who identifies as a “DINO,” or Democrat in name only. 

“This is a bit confusing,” Barlow wrote WyoFile in a statement. “Ms Bextel lost the race for state GOP chair, gave a check to one of my opponents in this race, and is now running against both of us for Governor?”

“That’s her right, and she can make her case to the voters,” he wrote. “I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always done: traveling the state, listening to Wyoming people, and earning the nomination from republican voters.”

Bextel did not return WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time. 

“I think that Rebecca Bextel’s gubernatorial candidacy demonstrates that Wyoming politics is less about labels and more about principles,” Constitution Party Chairman Joshua Shimkus told WyoFile. 

Shimkus said he didn’t know Bextel before the Checkgate scandal. 

“The news outlets that covered it, I think they did a fair job,” Shimkus said, but “the entire cycle appeared to be political theater.” 

In Bextel, Shimkus said he sees a potential ally in his vision to make the Constitution Party a major political party in Wyoming. 

“I was very interested in obtaining ‘Bextel bucks,’ as the press put it,” he said. 

After the two crossed paths at a Wyoming Stockmen for Liberty event, Shimkus said he floated Bextel the idea of running for governor two weeks ago. 

“We discussed strategy, and how this might be a vehicle for all conservatives in the state of Wyoming,” he said. 

From here, Bextel’s nomination will be determined by Constitution Party members at its convention in Cheyenne on June 19 and 20. 

So far, Shimkus said, Bextel is expected to seek the nomination unopposed. 

Checkgate

On the 2026 budget session’s first day, Bextel walked onto the House floor and hand-delivered checks from a Teton County donor to four representatives after lawmakers had adjourned for the night. While Wyoming law does not bar check-passing at the Capitol, the controversy, which came to be known as Checkgate, spurred new legislative rules, an executive order by the governor, a House Special Investigative Committee and a Laramie County Sheriff’s Office criminal investigation. Lawmakers determined the checks did not constitute bribery, but voted unanimously to adopt a report that admonished Bextel’s conduct. The criminal investigation is ongoing. 

Bextel and the lawmakers she gave checks to on the House floor maintain they did nothing wrong.

Bextel’s background

In 2025, Bextel unsuccessfully sought the chairmanship of the Wyoming Republican Party — a campaign in which she largely ran on her fundraising prowess. Teton County Chairwoman Kat Rueckert confirmed to WyoFile that Bextel has resigned from her position as the county GOP’s state committeewoman. 

Originally from Alabama, Bextel lives in Jackson with her husband and their four daughters, according to her website. She and her husband, Jonathan, own and operate Mountain Business Center, which offers real estate and registered agent services, among other things. 

Bextel has been an active member of the Republican Party, serving as precinct committee person, state committee woman and an alternate delegate to the 2020 and 2024 Republican National Conventions. 

“I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors, helped elect strong conservatives, and worked alongside many good Republicans who love Wyoming. I am grateful for the experience,” Bextel wrote on her website. “However, over time I realized the system itself often rewards compromise over conviction.”

That’s what inspired her decision to join the Constitution Party, Bextel wrote.  

“This is not about abandoning conservative principles. It is about returning to them,” she wrote. “The Constitution Party gives Wyoming voters a clear, unapologetic voice for limited government, constitutional fidelity, energy dominance, pro-life values, and parental rights — without the backroom deals and watered-down compromises that have become too common.”

On her website, Bextel points to previous primary elections in Wyoming where the Republican nominee won in a crowded race with less than 50% of the vote. 

“On August 18th, if history repeats itself, I stand ready to defend all conservatives — regardless of labels,” Bextel says on her website.