Centrist Independent Voter endorses Eric Barlow in Wyoming’s August 18 Republican primary for governor.
Barlow faces state Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine officer Brent Bien and Curt Blake.
Degenfelder’s campaign has been built heavily around President Trump’s endorsement and her alignment with his political movement. Trump endorsed her before she formally entered the race and has since reiterated that endorsement.
Barlow offers a more traditional governing conservatism.
He is a veterinarian, rancher and Marine veteran who has served in the Wyoming Legislature since 2013, including as speaker of the House. His campaign emphasizes health care, water, public lands, education, economic opportunity and the survival of Wyoming’s smaller communities.
His discussion of energy is particularly sensible. Barlow supports Wyoming’s traditional energy industries while recognizing opportunities in nuclear power and other sources. His statement that “every electron matters” reflects an openness to competing sources of energy rather than an attempt to protect one technology from competition.
He has also made protection of public lands a central issue. Rather than treating every federal rule as an ideological confrontation, he argues that Wyoming must have a meaningful seat at the table in decisions involving access, conservation and resource development.
Barlow’s governing temperament may be his strongest qualification. He emphasizes listening, civil treatment of opponents and concentration on practical work rather than political theater. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus and other ideological conservatives have attacked him as insufficiently conservative, while a Constitution Party candidacy was organized partly as an “insurance policy” against his winning the Republican nomination.
Centrist Independent Voter does not regard rejection by an ideological faction as proof of centrism. But in this case it reinforces a legislative record showing that Barlow is willing to work through institutions rather than treat compromise as betrayal.
Important Reservations
Our reservations are substantial.
Barlow supported a near-total abortion prohibition and a ban on medication abortion in 2023. [Centrist Independent Voter strongly disagrees with those votes.] The fact that some legislators subsequently attacked him for not being sufficiently anti-abortion does not make his own record moderate.
His fiscal proposals also remain less detailed than we would prefer. Wyoming’s dependence on mineral revenues creates long-term risks that cannot be addressed through general promises to reduce government or diversify the economy.
Most importantly, we have not found a clear statement from Barlow addressing the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, Trump’s attempts to overturn it or the proper limits of presidential power. We recommend voters keep looking for answers on this question before they vote.
The Choice
Despite those reservations, Barlow appears to offer the best combination of experience, seriousness, respect for institutions and willingness to govern the whole state rather than one ideological faction.
Centrist Independent Voter endorses Eric Barlow in the Republican primary for governor of Wyoming.