Idaho GOP wants Republican politicians to agree to its party platform. Do they?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Over 80 candidates, including incumbents, signed the party platform wholesale.
- Several GOP figures, including Gov., take exception to parts of the platform.
- About 40 candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, declined to sign.
When primary elections loom, the Idaho Republican Party asks GOP candidates to publicly affirm whether they support the party’s platform — a 20-page document outlining the party’s stance on issues ranging from abortion to the importance of parental choice in education.
Though some have resisted this practice, calling it a “purity test” or “tribunal,” it aims to show voters “who supports Republican values,” Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon wrote in 2024.
Candidates who respond have the option to sign on to the platform wholesale, or list the parts of the document with which they disagree.
Most of Idaho’s elected officials identify as Republicans, but their responses to this party demand are a revealing window into areas of division within GOP ranks.
Here’s what we learned:
Over 80 candidates, including incumbents, signed off on the party platform wholesale. They included Attorney General Raúl Labrador, Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield, Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and most Republican state lawmakers.
But not all were so enthusiastically on-board. Several candidates, including Gov. Brad Little, took exception to the party’s rigid pro-life stance, which goes beyond current state law to oppose abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
In her statement of opposition to the party’s platform on that issue, Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, wrote: “Those who experience rape and incest are also victims.”
If the mother who was raped is under 16, “I do not believe it is the government’s decision to force a child to carry a child,” she wrote. “This must be a decision that a family comes to. I do not believe that the government should force this on someone.”
Even as they challenged the party’s position on abortion, candidates worked to emphasize their pro-life credentials. Rep. Brent Crane, of Nampa, said he supports allowing abortion in the case of rape or incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk. He noted his objection to the party’s stance, but wrote: “I have sponsored or co-sponsored more anti-abortion legislation than any other current member of the Idaho House or Senate.”
Intra-party division over local governance, electing senators
Ehardt also challenged what she said was a common misunderstanding about the party’s desire to keep government as local as possible.
“Colleagues continue to misunderstand this in purporting to advocate for the city or local governments being preeminent. This is not the intent of our founders,” she wrote. “The people created the state, the state created the federal government, and the state created the counties and cities. It’s about the ‘state.’ ”
Ehardt’s opponent, Connor Cook, signed on to the party platform but with what appeared to be reservations about the entire exercise.
“I reserve the right to have my own autonomous thought. To make decisions based on what’s good for the common man. To make decisions based on my (conscience),” he wrote. “I strive to uphold conservative and Republican values, but I will not forsake the solvency of my state in this pursuit.”
Several respondents, including Little, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch and Senate Pro Tem Kelly Anthon, R-Declo, rejected a call to repeal the 17th Amendment, which allows for the direct election of senators by voters rather than the state Legislature.
Others, including U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, challenged a call in the platform to return to using a gold and silver standard for U.S. currency.
In her written response — by far the longest submitted by any candidate, Ehardt noted that her top priority when weighing policy decisions is “the Lord’s Law,” followed by the U.S. Constitution, the Idaho Constitution and then the Republican Party platform.
Rep. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth, took a similar position.
“The only way I would deviate from any provision of the platform, according to how I read it, is if it conflicts with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Idaho, or the Word of God,” he wrote. “Furthermore, abortion is murder. Jesus Christ is Lord.”
About 40 candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, and several other sitting state lawmakers, didn’t sign off on the pledge at all.
