Wyoming’s Freedom Caucus lost its state House majority after 13 incumbents were defeated in August Republican primaries, as an investigation found that donor networks, business groups and political action committees spent heavily to back less-conservative GOP candidates and defeat Trump-endorsed and Freedom Caucus-aligned contenders.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Wyoming’s Republican primaries dramatically reshaped the politics of one of America’s most reliably conservative states, stripping the state House Freedom Caucus of its majority after a network of political organizations, donors and business interests spent heavily to defeat its candidates.
Thirteen incumbent Freedom Caucus members lost their House races in the August primary, while four additional candidates aligned with the caucus were defeated in state Senate contests, according to WyoFile.
A Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found that the successful effort involved a mixture of Republican donors opposed to the caucus, pro-business organizations, newly organized political action committees and other groups that sought to move the state GOP away from the populist-conservative direction embraced by the Freedom Caucus.
Among the highest-profile casualties was Wyoming House Speaker Chip Neiman, a prominent Freedom Caucus member who sought a state Senate seat but lost to longtime Republican state Sen. Ogden Driskill.
The gubernatorial primary produced another major result when Eric Barlow defeated Trump-backed candidate Megan Degenfelder after receiving financial and organizational support from donors and groups opposed to the Freedom Caucus.
Neiman said the campaign against conservatives was far more organized than he initially realized.
“Their whole focus was to undo and to do away with the Freedom Caucus and the conservatives,” Neiman told the DCNF. “I mean, an unbelievable amount of organization dollars are tied into the media, Wayne Hughes [of] Cowboy State Daily, major donors and supporters of this whole thing … It just blew me away as they were relaying this information of the length and the depth and the spider web of connections that just happened and we saw the results of it. But it’s been over time. They really created an incredible machine to do away with the Freedom Caucus and stop conservatives from keeping Wyoming or taking Wyoming in a conservative direction.”
One of the organizations at the center of the effort was the Wyoming Donor Alliance, which describes itself as nonpartisan.
Documents obtained by the DCNF showed the organization developed a coalition strategy titled “Break the Wyoming Freedom Caucus Majority.”
The plan sought to regain control of the state House from the Freedom Caucus and stated a goal of “preventing the spread of extreme Freedom Caucus policies nationwide.”
The organization outlined plans to raise $839,500 for candidate recruitment, voter targeting and efforts supporting or opposing candidates.
It also planned what it described as an “unprecedented independent expenditure campaign” before the primaries.
The strategy included recruiting candidates capable of challenging Freedom Caucus incumbents and turning out Republican voters the organization did not consider “far-right.”
The Wyoming Donor Alliance defended its involvement, saying its donors were concerned about the direction of the caucus.
“The Wyoming Donor Alliance is an alliance of donors from across Wyoming who are committed to strengthening voter education, turning out voters, and increasing political accountability,” the group told the DCNF. “In recent years, our alliance has grown increasingly concerned by the destructive impact Freedom Caucus members were having on our communities and the future of our state. From unconstitutional cuts to education funding and threats to public lands, to the lack of compassion in the face of rural health clinics shuttering and the loss of OB-GYNs and others needed to support infant and maternal health, the Freedom Caucus has created more problems than solutions.”
Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian-leaning organization focused heavily on business and economic policy, also entered the primaries against several Freedom Caucus-aligned candidates.
AFP endorsed Driskill against Neiman.
Driskill, who has served in the state Senate since 2011 and describes himself as a “Reagan conservative,” campaigned as a pro-business Republican and accused the Freedom Caucus of opposing economic development.
“The Freedom Caucus has been very anti-business across the board,” Driskill said, according to Cowboy State Daily. “Doesn’t matter if it’s bringing rodeo to Wyoming; if it’s supporting rare earths up in our district. You know, the Business Council, across the board — they fought data centers.”
AFP-Wyoming told the DCNF that Neiman and other caucus members had moved too far toward populism and opposed legislation the organization viewed as important.
A spokesperson said AFP does not endorse or oppose candidates because of caucus affiliation and noted that the organization has previously supported Freedom Caucus members.
AFP spent approximately $286,000 during the Wyoming primaries and backed candidates outside the Freedom Caucus, according to reporting on campaign spending.
Its endorsed candidates included state Sen. Evie Brennan, state Rep. J.R. Riggins and three other Republicans seeking legislative seats.
Jessica Crowder, another candidate backed by AFP, defeated Freedom Caucus incumbent Ann Lucas.
Riggins defeated Neil Jeske, who was considered aligned with the Freedom Caucus. The pro-Freedom Caucus PAC Make Liberty Win had spent money opposing Riggins during the race.
Democratic state Rep. Liz Storer also personally contributed money to Republicans running against Freedom Caucus candidates.
Storer, president and CEO of the George B. Storer Foundation, donated a combined $5,500 to several candidates, including Republican state Rep. Doug Moore, who defeated Freedom Caucus member John Bear, according to WyoFile.
Bear had emphasized aggressive property-tax reductions, restrictions on funding for surgeries involving transgender-identifying minors and anti-abortion legislation.
Moore, a political newcomer, concentrated more heavily on fiscal issues and placed less emphasis on conservative social policy during the campaign.
Storer also contributed personally to Republican secretary of state candidate Robert Short, who defeated Freedom Caucus-aligned state Rep. Rachel Williams.
New political action committees played an additional role.
Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming, an issues-based PAC established in March, spent more than $95,000 opposing Freedom Caucus-aligned candidates, according to WyoFile.
The organization published its 2026 Republican Primary Voter Guide in July, endorsing Barlow for governor, Short for secretary of state and three House candidates challenging Freedom Caucus incumbents.
Emily Madden, one of the group’s co-founders, later said 29 of its 34 endorsed candidates won, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
The spending did not all favor the anti-Freedom Caucus side.
Make Liberty Win, a Virginia-based PAC backing the Freedom Caucus, spent nearly $550,000 on Wyoming races.
Despite that investment, the group suffered an 87% failure rate among the contests it targeted, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Another significant participant was the Civil Leadership PAC.
Wayne Hughes Jr., the billionaire owner of Cowboy State Daily, contributed $15,000 to the organization, which spent approximately $200,000 supporting Republican candidates outside the Freedom Caucus, according to Transparency USA.
The PAC spent about $168,000 supporting Barlow’s gubernatorial campaign and another $19,000 backing Short.
More than $4,000 also went toward supporting Republican state Rep. Steve Harshman in his campaign for superintendent of public instruction.
Harshman won the Republican primary over state Rep. Tom Kelly, who had Freedom Caucus backing.
Hughes has also given $516,000 to Wyoming Hope PAC since 2020, representing the largest portion of that organization’s funding, according to Wyoming News.
Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming, Cowboy State Daily and Storer did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
The gubernatorial contest has become a particular focus for conservatives questioning whether Barlow represents the ideological direction of Wyoming Republican voters.
Neiman argued that Barlow’s legislative record placed him outside the conservative wing of the party.
“Eric Barlow is not a conservative,” Neiman told the DCNF. “His voting record does not show that … He’s the establishment candidate, that’s just the facts. [There’s] video of him testifying before Congress in the opposition to our legacy industries, coal and gas. I don’t know how you can be conservative and be fighting against the very things that give us national security, and to be portraying yourself as a conservative in that respect, I think, is impossible with that kind of a record.”
Doug Gerard of Evidence Based Wyoming reported that Barlow had previously been affiliated with the Powder River Basin Resource Council, an organization characterized in the report as opposed to coal, oil and gas development.
Gerard also reported that Barlow voted with the majority of Democrats approximately 90% of the time in 2013 and ranked as the sixth-most-liberal Republican in the state House that year.
Barlow voted to increase taxes on the oil and gas industry, sponsored a 2014 amendment to accept Obamacare funding in Wyoming and supported changing the legal definition of marriage, according to Gerard’s analysis.
“Eric Barlow’s campaign presents him as a mainstream conservative Republican. His legislative record tells a more complex story,” Gerard wrote. “He is a substantive legislator with deep expertise in healthcare, genuine engagement with energy policy, and credible Second Amendment credentials. However, his overall voting pattern—particularly his fiscal scores, composite political rankings, and extraordinary defection record—places him firmly in the liberal wing of the Wyoming Republican Party.”
Barlow’s campaign did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
His voting record on abortion has also drawn scrutiny.
Barlow opposed legislation that would have prohibited abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat, although he supported other bills restricting abortion.
His campaign received more than $1,000 from Rene Hinkle, a plaintiff in lawsuits challenging Wyoming’s abortion ban, according to Cowboy State Daily.
A Barlow campaign spokeswoman said the contribution and others reflected “what [Barlow] stands for. Which is respectful leadership. And he has a record on that.”
“Eric’s record on life in particular, pro-life legislation, is long,” the spokesperson said. “So I don’t think that a donation reflects anything about his policy. It more reflects his leadership style. Which is a respectful leadership style.”
Barlow emphasized property-tax relief during his gubernatorial campaign, although Gerard identified three previous instances in which Barlow voted against property-tax relief measures that failed by substantial margins.
He also opposed a 2019 proposal that would have provided property-tax exemptions to seniors.
Barlow raised more than $1.7 million in contributions, according to Transparency USA.
His support included more than $168,000 from the Civil Leadership PAC, $40,000 from Conpac Contractors, $5,000 from the Credit Union PAC, $5,000 from Lawyers Active in Wyoming PAC and $1,000 from the Union Pacific Corporation Fund for Effective Government.
Barlow also faced substantial spending on the opposing side.
Wyoming’s Turn PAC, a federal committee aligned with Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman’s Senate campaign, spent approximately $1.45 million opposing Barlow and supporting Degenfelder, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Hageman won her own Senate primary in August.
The battle over Wyoming’s Republican Party is particularly notable because of the state’s overwhelming support for President Donald Trump.
Trump carried Wyoming in 2024 with 72.3% of the vote compared with 26.1% for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The state had also demonstrated its willingness to punish prominent Republicans who broke sharply with Trump.
In 2022, former Rep. Liz Cheney lost her Republican primary to Hageman by approximately 30 points after joining the House Jan. 6 Select Committee and voting to impeach Trump in January 2021.
Cheney subsequently campaigned for Democratic candidates, including Harris.
The August 2026 results reveal a different dynamic.
Rather than Democrats winning power directly in one of the country’s most Republican states, the decisive battle occurred inside the Republican primary, where competing conservative, populist, libertarian and business-oriented factions fought over which candidates would carry the GOP label.
For the Freedom Caucus, the result was a major reversal. Its House majority disappeared after a coordinated and heavily financed primary campaign defeated numerous incumbents and replaced them with Republicans who are generally less aligned with the caucus.
For the organizations that helped engineer those victories, the outcome represented a successful attempt to change the direction of Wyoming’s Republican government without changing the party controlling it.
The deeper political question now confronting Wyoming is whether the August results represent a temporary backlash against the Freedom Caucus or a longer-term realignment of Republican politics in a state that remains overwhelmingly supportive of Trump at the presidential level.
Original article
Comments