Before you vote Tuesday, read Idaho Statesman’s endorsements in key state legislative races

The Idaho Statesman editorial board spent the past several weeks interviewing candidates in several races, including U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Idaho state Legislature, Ada County Commission and Ada County Highway District.

In all, we’ve conducted more than 20 interview sessions with 40 candidates in 21 races. Most of those interviews were recorded and are attached to each endorsement so that readers can watch the interviews themselves and come to their own conclusions.

The following is a breakdown of endorsements in the state legislative races, with links to each full endorsement editorial.

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Idaho Legislature

The Idaho Statesman editorial board has interviewed candidates in state legislative districts 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 22. Here’s a breakdown of what races we’ve made endorsements in:

• Greg Chaney, District 10: Incumbent Republican Rep. Greg Chaney gets our endorsement over a very strong challenge from Democrat Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• Jeff Agenbroad, District 13: Incumbent Republican Sen. Jeff Agenbroad gets the nod over a challenge from Democrat Melissa Sue Robinson. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• Cindy Currie, District 14: Longtime incumbent Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, is facing a challenge from independent candidate Cindy Currie in a race that features a competition between more tax cuts and more funding for education. Read our full endorsement by clicking here.
  
  
• Ellen Spencer, District 14: Independent challenger Ellen Spencer is a viable alternative to Sen. C. Scott Grow, who has pushed to make the citizen initiative process in Idaho nearly impossible. Read our endorsement here.

• Shelley Brock, District 14: Democratic challenger Shelley Brock proved she knows a lot more than just one issue as she seeks to unseat Rep. Gayann DeMordaunt, who declined to interview with the editorial board. Read our endorsement here.

• Fred Martin, District 15: Incumbent Republican Sen. Fred Martin deserves reelection despite a very strong challenge from Democrat Rick Just. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• Colin Nash, District 16: In an open seat for state representative, Democrat Colin Nash faces off against Jackie Davidson, a Republican candidate who has posted on social media about QAnon and conspiracy theories. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• Ali Rabe, District 17: In another open seat, this one for the Senate, Democrat Ali Rabe and Republican Gary Smith share a lot of similar views, but one key difference on public education funding separates the two, giving Rabe the advantage. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• Melissa Wintrow, District 19: In a race to replace outgoing Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, current state Rep. Melissa Wintrow, a Democrat, deserves to move to the Senate chambers. She is facing Republican Aaron Tribble. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• John Vander Woude, District 22: Five-term incumbent Republican Rep. John Vander Woude deserves another term over a challenge from Democrat Diane Jensen. Read our endorsement and watch video of our full interviews here.
• No endorsement, District 22: The Editorial Board could not make a recommendation in the race between incumbent Republican Rep. Jason Monks, who is too much of an ideologue and too dogmatic, and his Democratic challenger Nina Turner, who was not strong enough to earn an endorsement. Read the full endorsement here.
• Lori Den Hartog, District 22: Incumbent Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, is knowledgeable and reasonable, earning her an endorsement despite a strong challenger in Democrat Mik Losé. Read our endorsement and watch the full interview.

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 11:16 AM.