What would it take for a third-party candidate to win Wyoming’s race for governor?

No minor party candidate has ever won a statewide elected office in Wyoming. 

Voters have exclusively elected Republicans and Democrats to the state’s top positions for the last 136 years. Though third-party candidates have frequently qualified for the general election in recent decades, one has yet to either capture a statewide race, or garner the requisite support to upgrade to major-party status. 

Constitution Party Chairman Joshua Shimkus says this year is different. 

“We’ve gone from relative obscurity to entering a political dialogue realistically,” Shimkus told WyoFile. “Our goal is to become a legitimate party. The first big step of that is becoming a major party.” 

There are six Constitution Party candidates on Wyoming’s general election ballot this year — the most high-profile being gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Bextel, the Teton County conservative activist at the center of the Checkgate controversy that dominated the 2026 legislative session. 

When Bextel announced her run in May, she said she would only stay in the race if Republican voters nominated Gillette Sen. Eric Barlow in the primary election. Hard-right Republicans saw Barlow as too moderate to represent Wyoming’s conservative movement. Barlow nevertheless triumphed, beating out GOP candidates backed by President Donald Trump and the Wyoming Republican Party. Bextel will now challenge Barlow in the general election alongside Democratic candidate Kenneth Casner. 

Meanwhile, Tamara Trujillo, a former Republican lawmaker in Cheyenne, is running for secretary of state, while Jeffrey Haggit, of Mountain View, is running for Congress for the third time. The three other Constitution Party candidates are seeking seats in the Legislature. 

Shimkus said he didn’t know Bextel before the Checkgate controversy — she was perhaps best known until then for her opposition to affordable housing measures in Teton County — but recruited her in the months afterwards when he saw a potential ally in his vision for his party, as WyoFile previously reported. 

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

In Wyoming, a minor party can elevate to major-party status if one of its candidates for governor, secretary of state or U.S. House collects at least 10% of the total vote for that office in the general election. 

Shimkus said he’s confident that will happen this year. 

“We’ve been able to position the party in a way that we can have meaningful political conversation,” he said. “Part of that is recruiting Rebecca Bextel and Tammy Trujillo for office.”

“We’re going out to win,” Shimkus said. 

Third-party obstacles

Others say several obstacles remain in the way of a third-party candidate’s prospects this cycle. 

“All you have to do is look back. No third party or independent candidate has won a statewide office,” Jim King, a retired University of Wyoming professor, told WyoFile. 

The most successful third-party gubernatorial candidate in Wyoming history was the Populist Party’s Lewis C. Tidwell, who won 11.28% of the vote in 1894 — only four years after statehood. Tidwell’s success effectively spoiled the Democratic Party’s candidate’s shot for governor and helped the Republican Party win back the office. 

Sources: Wyoming State Archives and Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. Timeline by Ryan Dorgan/WyoFile

Wyoming’s political landscape, however, is now a much deeper shade of red. 

“If the Republicans and Democrats were more evenly matched, then a third-party candidacy may matter more,” said Ryan Williamson, an associate political science professor at UW. “But seeing how lopsided it is, it would be more difficult for a Constitutional candidate to be a spoiler and change the outcome.” 

King also pointed to Wyoming’s Republican supermajority and said in other states where independent or third-party candidates have won, it’s often “a situation where the two parties are at such war with each other,” a third type of candidate appeals to voters. 

Or, King said, it’s “usually someone who has already been successful politically.” 

A question of time

Timing is another huge obstacle, he said. 

While Bextel announced her tentative plans in May, she didn’t start campaigning in earnest until earlier this month — two months shy of the general election. Barlow, meanwhile, announced his run in August 2025 and has since set new fundraising records and carried out an extensive on-the-ground campaign across the state. 

Plus, running as a third-party candidate “immediately robs you of a lot of the tangible and intangible resources that are available to major party candidates,” Williamson said. 

One, he said, is “an existing political infrastructure,” such as political action committees related to a party, or association with other members of a party. Another is brand recognition, Williamson said. 

Running as a minor-party candidate, “people don’t really know what that brand represents as much,” he said. “People may not know as much about Eric Barlow, but they do know they’re a Republican and they’re going to show up and vote for the Republican. And that’s just kind of uniformly true throughout the United States, across different levels of government and points in time.” 

The pool of voters is another challenge, King said. 

Third-party candidates often have a more “narrow view of what government responsibilities should be, and most people do not subscribe to those positions,” he said. 

“Yes, people want smaller government, but they still want all the services they’re getting from government,” King said. “So a third-party candidate who typically is pushing the idea that they’re going to reduce government’s role is fighting an uphill battle. There just isn’t the size of a constituency out there for candidates like that.” 

The general election is Nov. 3. Early voting for most residents starts Oct. 6.