(Riverton, WY) – Three of the Republicans running for governor spent an hour at the Boys and Girls Club of Fremont County in Riverton on Thursday, fielding questions from students on careers, criticism, mental health and the biggest challenges facing the state, then turning the microphone around and asking the students what they would change.
State Senator Eric Barlow of Gillette, retired Marine colonel Brent Bien and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder all took part, five days ahead of the Aug. 18 primary that will likely decide the state’s next governor. Questions came from club members, several of them candidates for the club’s Youth of the Year program.
Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Eric Barlow listens to Brynn McCarthy as she asks a question Thursday in Riverton. h/t Carl Cote Wyoming governor candidate Megan Degenfelder participates in a Q and A session between Boys and Girls club members and gubernatorial candidates Thursday. h/t Carl Cote Brent Bien speaks at the Boys and Girls club roundtable event Thursday in Riverton. h/t Carl Cote Preston Blakley, right wearing blue, moderates the Boys and Girls club meeting with Wyoming gubernatorial condidates Thursday in Riverton. h/t Carl Cote
Asked by one of the students where the jobs are in Wyoming, the candidates pointed to the trades, healthcare, construction, engineering and mineral extraction, and to workforce shortages in nearly every industry in the state.
“The only limitations you guys have are the ones you put on yourselves,” Bien told the room.
Barlow framed the question differently. “I didn’t choose a job when I went to vet school,” he said. “I chose a life that would support what I wanted to do. It’s not about the job 9 to 5, it’s about the life you want to live.”
One student asked how the candidates handle the pressure and criticism that comes with running for statewide office.
“I didn’t know there was any criticism,” Barlow joked, before saying the harder part is what it does to a family. Getting into the public arena, he said, is a family decision. He also pulled out a flip phone to show the room, said he does not do anything on social media, and said he tries to treat people respectfully and hopes it comes back in kind.
Degenfelder had a similar answer with a different image. “You know where it’s the most windy? At the top of the mountain,” she said. She also used the buffalo as an example, an animal that turns and faces into a storm because that is the fastest way through it, and told students not to read the comments on social media. “There is a great deal you cannot control,” she said. “So control what you can.”
“We live in the greatest state in the country,” she said. “You belong here and you are valued here.”
Asked what the biggest issue facing Wyoming is today, Degenfelder said it comes down to whether young people stay. That means jobs, but also housing and healthcare and schools. “You could have the best job offer in the world, but if you can’t find somewhere to live it doesn’t matter,” she said.
Bien pointed to the economy and the size of government, saying a free market is what creates the jobs students will eventually fill, and that it should be allowed to do its work.
Barlow said the challenge is whether people are willing to have honest conversations about the problems in front of them, and to work together across different values and perspectives to solve them.
Students also asked how teenagers can make a difference in their communities right now, how the candidates manage stress, and what they were involved in at that age.
Then the candidates asked the students questions.
Degenfelder asked what they would change about the education system. Bien asked whether Wyoming offers what they want for the careers they are considering, and if not, what needs to change.
Several students said the state is short on hands-on experience. One student interested in business and accounting said Wyoming is lacking in internships and real-world exposure, and that being able to go into a workplace and try something would help students narrow down what they actually want to do. Another said the same about pre-job experience generally, describing a college course that delivered information without any sense of what the work is like day to day.
Barlow asked the students what office they would run for, if they ran for anything at all. Answers ranged from judge to city council to the state House. A couple of the students laughed while admitting they weren’t interested.
The primary for the Wyoming governor’s seat is Aug. 18.
