From Pickup Truck to Governor’s Race: Degenfelder Launches Campaign in Casper

The original story by Dan Cepeda for Oil City News.

Standing in the back of a well-worn ’90s Ford pickup, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder officially jumped into Wyoming’s 2026 governor’s race Tuesday night – delivering her first campaign speech to a packed modern barn full of friends, family and supporters in Casper.

The kickoff event was hosted by longtime Casper business owners Blake and Tiffany Gamble, who go way back with Degenfelder – all the way to Natrona County High School.

“I was student body vice president, and of course, Megan was the president,” Tiffany Gamble told the crowd. “I’m pretty sure she even said back then that she was going to be governor someday.”

After an introduction by her husband, Bryan Dugas, an anesthesiologist, Degenfelder took the makeshift stage and opened by thanking her hometown and family. She also paused to acknowledge her mother, who passed away about a year ago.

“I can truly think of no better place than my hometown of Casper to host our very first event as we launch my campaign for governor of the great state of Wyoming,” she said.

Degenfelder leaned heavily into her Wyoming roots, recounting how her family arrived by wagon from the East Coast in the late 1800s, eventually settling in Torrington and Casper to ranch.

“They built that ranch from half a section to over 8,000 acres,” she said. “That’s what makes us Wyomingites – tough as nails, willing to take risks, and never apologizing for wanting more for our families.”

She also highlighted President Donald Trump’s endorsement, which came earlier this month via a Truth Social post, and used much of her speech to frame Wyoming as under threat from national political forces.

Degenfelder criticized what she called “coastal elites and celebrities” pushing climate policies that, she said, don’t affect their own lifestyles but endanger Wyoming’s energy economy. She blasted “radical activists” over gender identity issues in schools and women’s sports, defended ICE agents amid national controversy following deadly enforcement actions in Minneapolis, and took aim at New York City’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani, labeling him a socialist “who literally hates everything we stand for in America.”

“I see what’s happening across the country, and I’m not just going to sit back,” she told the crowd. “I will protect our conservative values and our way of life. Our rights and our freedom come from God, not the government — and they cannot be taken away.”

Her campaign platform, she said, will focus on familiar conservative priorities: pro-life policies, gun rights, energy and mineral development, tourism, the digital economy and education. She promised to promote “American patriotism in our classrooms,” cited her own experience surviving cancer, and said improving access to healthcare would be a top priority. She also pledged greater transparency in state government.

Degenfelder is currently one of five candidates vying for the governor’s office in 2026. The field also includes state Sen. Eric Barlow, businessman Joseph Kibler, retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien and Sheridan resident Gabriel Green.

Elected state superintendent in 2022, Degenfelder previously spent about a decade working in Wyoming’s coal, gas and oil industries. According to WyoFile, she holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from the University of Wyoming and a master’s degree in economics from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

As superintendent, she has been a vocal supporter of legislation limiting transgender students’ participation in sports and bathroom use, backed charter schools and a publicly funded private-school voucher program, supported dismantling the US Department of Education, and opposed the Biden administration’s summer school lunch initiative.

Tuesday night’s barnyard-style rally made one thing clear: Degenfelder is running hard on her roots, her record and a message aimed squarely at Wyoming conservatives – starting from the back of a pickup in the town where it all began.