In North Idaho, she’s taking on an incumbent she says ‘doesn’t respond’ to voters
During her time in the Idaho House, Rep. Lori McCann tried repeatedly to meet with Sen. Dan Foreman, the Republican senator from her district. Over and over, she said, she was rebuffed.
“I have asked him over the last several sessions if he would find the time to meet with myself and the other representative in the district so that we could work together as a team and try to come with good, strong legislation for District 6,” McCann, of Lewiston, told the Idaho Statesman. “I got the same answer: ‘I don’t have time for that.’ ”
She heard similar complaints from her constituents, she said. So she decided to run for Foreman’s seat to give voters “a clear different option.”
It’s the only legislative race in the state in which a representative is challenging a senator for his seat — with a chance of success, their fundraising totals suggest.
With the Republican primary election coming Tuesday, McCann has out-raised Foreman by a large margin: about $75,000 for her, compared with his $16,000. Over half of the contributions to McCann’s campaign came from individuals, and about 80% of the contributions came from in-state, including from groups such as Idaho Power, Snake River Sugar Beet Growers and the Idaho Forest Group.
In a state with little reliable polling data available, money raised is often the best indicator of candidates’ strength.
In recent months, McCann and a team of supporters, including many public school teachers, have knocked on hundreds of doors, arguing that McCann is the candidate who most supports public education, including the state’s flagship public university, which is located in her district.
Reached by phone, Foreman declined to be interviewed.
Foreman served in the Idaho Senate from 2016 to 2018, and has served again since 2022. A U.S. Air Force veteran and retired Moscow police officer, according to his Legislature biography, he has made headlines for angry outbursts during interactions with constituents.
In 2024, he left a candidate forum early after yelling at a Democratic House candidate who said she thought racism was a problem in Idaho, telling her to “go back where you came from,” according to witnesses. She is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe.
In 2018, he referred to Latah County, which he represents, as a “cesspool of liberalism,” particularly the area around the University of Idaho, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported at the time. That year, he voted against the university’s budget, saying the school has “a left-wing, exceedingly liberal agenda,” The Spokesman-Review reported.
McCann referenced those comments in an interview with the Statesman. A former Lewis-Clark State College professor, she called advocating for public education her “No. 1 issue.”
Foreman “believes that higher ed basically should be defunded,” she said. “I definitely believe that even though the Constitution doesn’t directly say we should support higher ed, it talks about having an educated population. So, we definitely do not agree.”
“He says that Moscow and the University of Idaho is the ‘cesspool of liberalism,’ ” she added. “I believe it is an area that is an opportunity for people to grow and to learn and to understand.”
Legislative District 6 covers Nez Perce and Latah counties. Its residents include Republicans in rural communities, Democrats in Moscow, and religious conservatives connected with Christ Church.
