Who’s running? Boise area’s first library election since ‘harmful materials’ law
Libraries in Idaho have been a site for heated debate over what books minors should be able to access. Since July, a state law allows patrons to challenge and even sue libraries if they can prove a minor obtained “harmful materials.”
The debate is now on the ballot in two Ada County library districts. For the second time in two years, defenders of library collections face off against advocates of greater scrutiny over books available to children.
The election on Tuesday, May 20, will determine library trustees in two of the three Boise-area districts in Ada County: Meridian and the Ada County Free Library District. Two incumbents in the third district, Kuna, are unopposed and will therefore be retained without an election.
The new law has triggered dozens of book challenges — and two lawsuits contesting the law. In the Treasure Valley, 23 books were relocated this fall within the Eagle library, while requests to remove or relocate four books in Meridian were rebuffed in recent months.
How library elections work in Ada County
Library trustees in these independent districts, unlike those in city-run libraries like Eagle and Boise, are elected rather than appointed and can levy taxes on residents.
Trustees are responsible for determining the district’s budget, evaluating the library director, and establishing policies. Trustees serve either four-year or six-year terms, and voters cast votes for two trustees in elections every other year.
And despite political contention surrounding libraries — Idaho’s Republican lawmakers spent years trying to pass harmful materials legislation before the most recent, HB710, was signed last year — library trustees are nonpartisan seats.
In Meridian: Same fight, new dogs?
Two years ago, the last time library seats were up for grabs in Meridian, book restrictions were at center of the race. Two incumbents, Destinie Hart and Josh Cummings, faced challengers who said they wanted increased scrutiny over books accessible to minors.
One challenger, Xavier Torres, had helped to found a community group that sought to dissolve the library district altogether — a petition that failed just two months before the election.
Hart and Cummings handily held onto their seats, and the group, Concerned Citizens of Meridian, hasn’t appeared to rear its head since.
Now, another two key players in the 2023 effort to dissolve the district are running, this time against the board’s chair, Jeff Kohler, and newcomer Garrett Castle.
Phil Reynolds and Mike Hon were core members of Concerned Citizens of Meridian. Reynolds helped to found the group, and Hon often testified on its behalf. But their current stance on book restrictions — and the role of that issue in this year’s race — is somewhat less clear than it was two years ago.
Though the 2024 harmful-materials law has caused turmoil at some libraries, that hasn’t exactly been the case in Meridian. At a board meeting in February, dozens of patrons appeared, largely supportive of protecting the library’s collection. And no library legislation was voted on this session, suggesting that the Legislature’s appetite to crack down on controversial books might have been sated.
Where Meridian candidates stand on restricting books
In candidates’ responses to the Idaho Statesman, only Hon identified “protect(ing) children from harmful content” as an aim of his campaign.
Hon, who has made unsuccessful bids for Meridian mayor and City Council and the Idaho House of Representatives, has a background in electrical engineering, business and real estate. He told the Statesman that in addition to advocating for age-appropriate materials for children, he valued fiscal responsibility and adherence to state law.
Hon said he believed the core issue of this race is “unaccountable use of taxpayer funds and a heavy bias in the collection policy towards delivering inappropriate content to children in the district.”
Reynolds went a different route, telling the Statesman he supported access to “diverse materials” in libraries and stood “firmly against censorship.”
“Libraries should offer a broad range of perspectives, trusting families to make choices for themselves while preserving access for everyone,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds, a formerly elected member of the Santa Clara Republican Party Central Committee in San Jose, California, also said he was running on “progressive values.” But as recently as Tuesday, April 29, Reynolds re-posted a Substack article on Facebook that described “porn” and “sex clubs for kids” as “Just a few of the things your kids can learn to enjoy at the Meridian Library!”
Reynolds did not respond to follow-up questions from the Statesman.
Incumbent Kohler joined the board in 2019 and has served as chair since June 2024. Kohler works in asset management for a development company and told the Statesman that his campaign focuses on continuing the library district’s work, including the Cherry Lane branch renovation. Kohler noted that in his time on the board, the district has opened three new branches, including the Pinnacle branch last fall.
Kohler said he believes that patrons largely support allowing parents to choose what books their children can access in libraries. “There’s a book for everybody at the library,” Kohler said. “The job of the library is to help people find the book that is right for them.”
Asked about the harmful materials legislation, Kohler said, “We follow the law, and we will continue to follow the law.”
This is Castle’s first campaign for a public office. Castle works in finance and accounting and has been involved in education-focused initiatives with Boise nonprofit Reclaim Idaho. He is also a district chair for the Ada County Democrats, who have offered to endorse him, though he said he has not officially accepted the endorsement because the race is nonpartisan.
Castle said he became involved with the library when the petition to dissolve it first circulated, and he helped with Hart’s successful bid for the trustee seat in 2023. He said his experience door-knocking for that campaign and now his has affirmed that “the government shouldn’t be in the business of deciding what you or your family reads.”
He said his experience in accounting would help him steward taxpayer dollars if elected.
Castle has teamed up with Kohler for the race.
The two seats on the ballot are Kohler’s, whose six-year term is expiring; and Josi Christensen’s. Christensen is not running for re-election.
4 candidates vie for Ada Community Library seats
In the Ada County Free Library District, home of the Ada Community Library, four candidates will compete for two seats. Carol Mills, the board’s chairman, has opted not to run for re-election. A second seat is held by Suzette Moore, an interim trustee as of April 15, who seeks election.
The district, which encompasses unincorporated Ada County, Star, and parts of Boise, Meridian and Eagle, has not seen any book challenges since the harmful materials law went into effect, according to Trustee Mary Anne Saunders. But several candidates still identify protecting children or, conversely, safeguarding access to books, as key issues of their campaigns.
Six names will appear on the ballot. Two have suspended their campaigns too late to be removed from the ballot. One, Lori Billaud, told the Statesman in an email that she has suspended her campaign because of family health issues. The other, Sabrina Napolitano, told the Statesman that she has also withdrawn, citing “too many people vying for two spots.” Billaud and Napolitano put their support behind Moore and her running mate, Rachel Moorhouse.
Moore and Moorhouse are substitute teachers in the West Ada School District who are running to “keep libraries safe for children and teens,” according to a statement Moore sent to the Statesman. “We believe that taxpayers, which include the parents, are the owners of our libraries,” she said.
Their campaign website says parents are “the rightful and legal decision-makers of what library materials their children can access at the library, and we will not, as the library, interfere with that relationship.”
Steven Ricks, a trustee elected to serve on the board until 2027, is treasurer for Moore and Moorhouse’s campaign.
Moore joined the board in April after Melodie Huttash resigned before her term was scheduled to expire. Huttash did not immediately respond to an email from the Statesman.
Also paired up for the race are Johnathon Baldauf and Travis Worwood. They are running to “protect our libraries” and to “continue to nurture the Ada Free Library District’s connection with the people of Ada County,” according to Baldauf’s campaign website.
Baldauf is a criminal-defense and family-law attorney who ran for Ada County prosecutor in November and lost. He told the Statesman that he spent hours in libraries as a kid and wants “to make sure that the current generation has access to the resources I had so they can learn to better communicate and be able to think critically.”
Worwood is a physician’s assistant who previously worked as a social worker, according to his campaign website. He told the Statesman he was encouraged by librarians in the district to run.
“I want children to be safe in the library and the library to be a comfortable, welcoming space for everyone,” he said. “I will never use my personal cultural or religious values to remove material from the library that another member of the community would benefit from.”
Kuna: No contest
The Kuna Library District’s two available seats will not appear on the ballot, because the race is uncontested, according to a spokesperson for the Ada County Clerk’s Office. Trustees Joan Gidney and Marie Leavitt will retain their seats.
Learn more at candidate forums
The Idaho League of Women Voters is hosting candidate forums for the two contested races ahead of Election Day. In these forums, candidates can introduce themselves and answer questions from the public, said Jean Henscheid, the league’s co-president.
The first forum, for the Ada Community Library took place Wednesday evening in Star, with Baldauf and Worwood attending. Henscheid told the Statesman that Moore and Moorhouse decided shortly before the forum not to participate because it was not “in their campaign plans.” Napolitano did not attend.
The Meridian Library District forum will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, at the library’s Cherry Lane Branch at 1326 W. Cherry Lane in Meridian. Henscheid said Reynolds, Kohler and Castle planned to participate.
The forums will be recorded and posted to the League’s website, she said.
How to vote
Early voting opens on Monday, May 5 and runs until Friday, May 16. For early voting, voters can go to any of following sites from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Ada County Elections Office: 400 N. Benjamin Lane in Boise.
- Boise City Hall: 150 N. Capitol Boulevard in Boise.
- Eagle Public Library: 100 N. Siterman Way in Eagle.
- Garden City City Hall: 6015 N. Glenwood St. in Garden City.
- Meridian City Hall: 33 E. Broadway Avenue in Meridian.
- Library! at Bown Crossing: 2153 E. Riverwalk Drive in Boise.
- Star City Hall: 10769 W. State St. in Boise.
On Election Day, voters must go to their assigned precinct, which you can find at the Ada County Elections website.
The window for preregistration has closed, but voters can still register in person on Election Day. Voting hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 9:16 AM.
