Wyoming is poised to recognize a new major party after Rebecca Bextel, a Constitution Party candidate for governor, secured approximately 16% of the vote, according to the secretary of state’s unofficial results in Tuesday’s general election.
A minor party in Wyoming 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.
The Constitution party will now join the Republican and Democratic parties with major status. That means it will nominate candidates through the primary election process rather than through party conventions.
“Thank you to everyone who cast their vote for me yesterday,” Bextel said in a statement to WyoFile. “Nine weeks ago, I entered this race to fulfill a promise I made to the people of Wyoming: to give them a choice in this gubernatorial election. While the results were not what I had hoped for, it is clear that there are many misinformed voters still out there who blindly voted for an R, which is what the Democrats were counting on to get their guy in there!”
No minor-party candidate has ever won a statewide elected office in Wyoming, but at least once before they’ve been able to garner the requisite support to upgrade to major-party status.
That happened in 2014 when Constitution and Libertarian party candidates running for secretary of state earned the necessary votes. The status, however, was short-lived for both parties. Each dropped back down to minor status following the 2016 election cycle.
This year, Shawn Johnson of Casper ran as a Libertarian candidate for congress, while three Constitution Party candidates also sought higher office including Rebecca Bextel of Jackson for governor, Tamara Trujillo of Cheyenne for secretary of state and Jeff Haggit of Mountain View for U.S. House. Only Bextel received the requisite 10% vote for major-party status, according to the unofficial results.
Bextel and Trujillo are both former GOP members, while Johnson and Haggit have previously run for office with their current party affiliation.
Haggit has served as chairman of the Wyoming Constitution Party and is currently vice chairman.
Johnson served on the Casper City Council, a nonpartisan body, from 2014 to 2022 and was the city’s vice mayor in 2019.
From 2023 to 2024, Trujillo, a Republican at the time, represented Cheyenne’s House District 44.
In May, Bextel announced she would run as a third-party candidate for governor if Republican voters nominated Gillette Sen. Eric Barlow in the primary election. Before that, Bextel unsuccessfully ran for chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party on her fundraising chops. She was also at the center of the Checkgate controversy that dominated the 2026 legislative session which involved her handing out campaign checks to lawmakers on the House floor.
Constitution Party Chairman Josh Shimkus previously told WyoFile he didn’t know Bextel before Checkgate, but recruited her in the months afterwards when he saw a potential ally for his vision for his party.
“I was very interested in obtaining ‘Bextel bucks,’ as the press put it,” Shimkus said in May.
Political parties in Wyoming are not required to file campaign finance reports until Nov. 13. Meantime, Bextel amended her campaign finance filings on Oct. 29 to report more than $362,000 in donations from the Wyoming Constitution Party.
In her original filings, Bextel reported raising a total of approximately $89,000. Soon after, Jackson Democratic Rep. Mike Yin filed a complaint against Bextel and other candidates regarding contributions to several gubernatorial campaigns allegedly exceeding the legal limit an individual can give to a statewide candidate per election. The secretary of state’s office is currently reviewing such complaints.
Bextel did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time.
Wyoming’s election results are considered unofficial until they are certified by the state canvassing board next week.
