Gov. Little selects Bellevue mayor to fill vacant Idaho House seat for upcoming session
Gov. Brad Little appointed Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns to the House District 26 seat on Thursday, filling the vacancy left when former Rep. Muffy Davis resigned to serve on the Blaine County Board of Commissioners.
Burns, a Democrat and Twin Falls native, was elected to the Bellevue City Council before voters chose him as their mayor in 2018. He was reelected to the position in 2020 and will now complete Davis’ term, which concludes at the end of 2022.
House District 26 sits just north of Twin Falls in south-central Idaho. The district includes Bellevue, Ketchum and Hailey, the county seat of Blaine County in the Wood River Valley.
“I look forward to bringing my perspective and ideas to all of the issues we’ll be addressing in the upcoming legislative session,” Burns, a real estate agent, said in a statement announcing his appointment. “I hope to help advance smart, well-crafted policy to better our state for future generations by making critical investments in infrastructure and public education, as well as finding real solutions to provide meaningful property tax relief — all of which are my top priorities and where our focus should be in 2022.”
Burns already acted as a substitute for Davis and Rep. Sally Toone several times during the most recent legislative session. He intends to officially run for the seat in the upcoming election, according to the Idaho Democratic Party.
Burns was one of three candidates submitted to the governor’s office to fill the vacancy by a party legislative committee, which was tasked with making recommendations. When a legislative seat is vacated midterm, the political party of the lawmaker who resigned submits names to the governor for consideration.
“I’m thrilled Gov. Little chose Ned as my successor,” Davis said in the news release. “Ned is well prepared to jump into the role and hit the ground running to best represent the constituents of District 26.”
