Lauren McLean announces reelection bid. What’s her message to voters?
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Elections 2023 in Ada & Canyon counties
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With eight months left to go before the November mayoral election, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean has launched her campaign for reelection.
First elected in 2019, McLean’s tenure has spanned the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, she told news outlets that she planned to seek reelection, but since then has not been publicly campaigning.
“Just over three years ago, I had the incredible honor of being sworn in,” McLean said in a video on Twitter announcing her campaign. “And I knew at that moment that we had steep challenges ahead. Little did any of us know that we had the challenges ahead that we’ve all experienced together.”
During her three years in office, McLean has focused on moving the city toward carbon neutrality, and has touted her efforts to build more affordable housing and improve public transportation. In August, she attended the signing of the CHIPS Act in Washington, D.C., after which Micron announced a $15 billion investment in Boise to build a new manufacturing plant.
Internally, recent months have brought turmoil around policing, with the requested resignation of former Police Chief Ryan Lee, the firing of police oversight director Jesus Jara, and the recent resignation of the oversight office’s investigators.
After months of negotiation, the city also came to an agreement with the Boise Police Department’s union, negotiating 13% raises for the department’s rank-and-file.
“Each and every one of us deserves a city where we feel safe, where we feel as though we are welcome and we belong,” McLean said in her video.
Challengers expected
McLean is likely to face challengers for her seat. Already, a former police chief, Mike Masterson, told the Idaho Statesman he is considering a run, in part because of his dissatisfaction with the mayor’s handling of the police department.
McLean’s administration has also concentrated on housing issues, as rents in Boise during the COVID-19 pandemic climbed sky-high. After years of study, the city is nearing the completion of an overhaul of its zoning code, which could bring big changes to what kinds of developments are allowed across the city.
“In these three years, it has been an incredible honor to ... (make sure) that Boise is a city where we all have a place that we can afford to live, where we have jobs that pay us living wages, where our kids and ultimately our grandkids have trees and parks and libraries that they can walk to,” she said in the video.
The November election will also bring City Council districts to every corner of Boise, ensuring that new residents will be elected to the council, and auguring that council members may have to run against each other.
McLean is in the process of appointing two council members to fill vacancies on the six-seat council.
“You should expect to see me soon at your door, in your mailbox, by phone and by text,” McLean said.
The election will be on Nov. 7.
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 5:23 PM.
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