For tens of thousands of voters, Better Wyoming A+R was their source of information.
Anti-Freedom Caucus sentiment reached a fever pitch in Wyoming on Tuesday, when voters across the state rejected nearly two dozen of the group’s candidates.
Several political organizations recently began encouraging Wyomingites to “Vote against the Freedom Caucus.”
But the words “Freedom Caucus” never appeared on any ballot.
Furthermore, many Freedom Caucus-aligned legislators deny being part of the group, and the Freedom Caucus’ growing unpopularity discouraged candidates from openly affiliating with them.
How, then, did so many Wyoming voters know who to vote for (or against) if they wanted to reject the Freedom Caucus agenda?
For tens of thousands of voters, Better Wyoming Action + Research was their source of information.
“WHO IS THE FREEDOM CAUCUS?” + “BEXTEL BUCKS”
Better Wyoming A+R, or BWAR, has been working for years to educate voters about the Freedom Caucus.
In 2025, BWAR launched a page dedicated to identifying members of the group(opens in new tab), including those who vote in lockstep with the Freedom Caucus but deny being a formal part of it.
“After the Freedom Caucus won a majority in the House in 2024, people started really becoming aware of the group. But the question we’d always get asked was, ‘How do I find out if my legislator is in the Freedom Caucus?’” Better Wyoming A+R director Nate Martin said.
The page, “Who is the Freedom Caucus?(opens in new tab)” uses voting records, formal membership, and endorsements to identify sitting Freedom Caucus lawmakers.
After candidates filed for the 2026 primary election, the page used endorsements and affiliations to identify which new candidates were Freedom Caucus favorites.
“Who is the Freedom Caucus?” became a one-stop destination for voters looking for information. Many found the page thanks to a popular sports-themed social media video(opens in new tab) that received 1.2 million views across platforms in advance of the election.
Ultimately, according to the web page’s analytics, nearly 20,000 unique viewers visited the “Who is the Freedom Caucus?” page more than 23,000 times in recent months.
This is in addition to a separate Better Wyoming A+R page that launched after the “checkgate” scandal rocked the 2026 legislative session.
BWAR’s “Bextel Bucks” page(opens in new tab) identified which Freedom Caucus lawmakers received checks as part of the scandal, and which others were beneficiaries of Rebecca Bextel’s larger fundraising network.
The “Bextel Bucks” page received nearly 10,000 views from more than 8,500 unique visitors.
Nine of the 10 “checkgate” recipients lost their elections. Rebecca Bextel is running for Wyoming governor as the Constitution Party candidate.
GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY
Better Wyoming A+R is a grassroots organization with volunteers concentrated in six communities across the state.
BWAR volunteers mobilized after the 2026 legislative session to send handwritten postcards educating residents about votes their local Freedom Caucus lawmakers cast at the capitol this year.
Volunteers also took action over the summer to distribute flyers door-to-door promoting candidates running against Freedom Caucus incumbents.
In all, 185 BWAR volunteers sent more than 13,000 handwritten postcards in 2026 to voters in nine Freedom Caucus lawmakers’ districts. Another 59 volunteers distributed more than 1,800 flyers promoting three candidates who successfully replaced Freedom Caucus incumbents.
Martin said the combination of a savvy digital program and BWAR's year-round grassroots organizing led to success.
“We know that shallow slogans and attack mailers aren’t enough to move the needle in Wyoming,” he said. “You have to give people the information they need to really understand what’s going on, and who’s responsible for it. And then you need a small army of dedicated people who are willing to reach out to their neighbors about it.”