An $11 million levy, former friends and a conservative Realtor. Who won in Boise?
Boise voters returned two City Council incumbents to office by large margins, fending off challengers from both the right and the left. They also approved an $11 million levy to buy land for recreation and environmental protection.
Donors poured tens of thousands of dollars into one Boise City Council race where two progressive former allies faced off against a local conservative. The incumbent, Jimmy Hallyburton, defeated his former friend and Council Member Lisa Sánchez as well as Lynn Bradescu, a conservative real estate agent.
Bradescu, who previously organized against Mayor Lauren McLean’s priorities, posed a challenge from the right to District 6 incumbent Hallyburton, a council member first elected in 2019 who loves bicycles. The third candidate, Sánchez, is a progressive former council member who faced multiple complaints while in office.
“I did not expect to win this big,” Hallyburton said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “The community really showed up to help me win this race and to help me stand by the work I’ve done.”
Tuesday’s unofficial count showed Hallyburton with 70.7%, Bradescu with 22.1%, and Sánchez with 7.2% of the vote.
The part-time, four-year terms paid $28,000 a year as of December 2024, with raises on the way.
As of Nov. 4, both Hallyburton and Bradescu had raised over $30,000 according to online campaign finance records. However, Hallyburton’s totals are more up-to-date: He submitted his October monthly report, which includes donations from the past month, on Monday. The report is not due until Nov. 10.
Bradescu ran on the idea that the city isn’t listening to its residents. She pointed to the council’s approval of Interfaith Sanctuary’s new location on State Street and its 2023 approval of a zoning code that aims to increase density, among other things. In interviews, she has complained about apartments and what she calls “an apartment mentality” where people call the landlord for everything and don’t buy a house.
“I want to thank everyone who put their heart and soul into this campaign. While the results aren’t what we hoped for, I’m proud of what we accomplished,” Bradescu said in a statement Wednesday morning. “I’ll keep fighting for fiscal sanity, attainable housing and a city that hears every resident—whether from the dais or the doorstep.”
Hallyburton touted his record on the council and said he wants to continue working on projects like the pathways master plan, which is a blueprint for 112 miles of pathways in every neighborhood.
In a candidate forum in late October, he acknowledged a mistake he said he made while on the council: authorizing a $650,000 investigation into potential racism in the Boise Police Department after a former captain’s white supremacist ties came to light.
The investigation, which drew criticism from the Boise police union, revealed no widespread racism in the department.
“Looking back on it, we could have gone about it in a different way,” Hallyburton said. “We could have worked with our police officers. We could have done a better job to build trust. We could have done an internal investigation. I’ve admitted that to our Police Department as well, and I said that I’m sorry.”
Sánchez said she wants to stand up for Idaho’s Latino and immigrant communities. She previously told the Statesman that it’s important to have a renter’s voice on the council and that she strongly believes she is the first low-income person to serve on the council. Sánchez owns a business, Palote Power Consulting, but when Sánchez left the council in 2023, the council was her primary source of income.
She has faced numerous complaints in the past, including about her campaign finances. She relinquished her Boise City Council seat in 2023 when she inadvertently moved out of her district. She sued to get her seat back, but the Idaho Supreme Court rejected her arguments in June. Sánchez throughout her campaign blamed the city for what happened.
District 6 runs from West Downtown to Horseshoe Bend Road near State Highway 55. It’s bounded by the Boise River and runs all the way into the Foothills.
Voters happy with city’s direction, second incumbent says
Elsewhere in Boise, voters went to the polls to decide whether District 2 incumbent Colin Nash, who was first elected in 2023 after he was appointed to fill a vacancy, should keep his seat against two challengers.
Nash faced Derek James Smith and Josh Ellstrom. Nash won with 69.2% of the vote, Ellstrom with 13.7% and Smith with 17.2%.
Nash said the results showed that Boise voters are happy with the direction the city is headed.
“The results are consistent with what our campaign expected, but we’re still nevertheless surprised and happy with what we feel like is an endorsement of a safe and liveable city for Boise,” Nash said by phone. “We’re not going to be able to make everybody happy, but we can be incredibly engaged in our districts and do our best to represent their interests at City Hall.”
Smith said that as a Republican running in Boise, he didn’t know if there was a path to victory. He said he was happy with the campaign he ran.
“I learned a lot and I think for the most part the city is going to continue in the same direction,” Smith said by phone. “I would just like to be a part of the new ideas that crop up and stay involved.”
District 2 is bounded by Five Mile Road to the west, Franklin Road to the south, and the Interstate-184 Connector to the east. It extends most of the way up to Chinden Boulevard to the north.
Open-space levy approved by 4 of every 5 votes
Property owners would see just under $10 more on their tax bill for every $100,000 of property value under the open-space levy, according to a memo from Mayor Lauren McLean’s office. The tax increase would be used to acquire and preserve land.
The levy passed with 80.7% of the vote. Over 37,000 Boiseans voted for the levy, with just under 9,000 voters opposed, according to unofficial results.
“We’re very excited with the results of the levy,” Nash said. “ We feel like it’s an endorsement of the work we’ve been doing to preserve open space across the city.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM.
