Idaho Rep. Greg Chaney seeks to jump from House to ‘the adults in the room’ in Senate
Redistricting’s newly drawn boundaries and the retirement of longtime state Sen. Patti Anne Lodge means an open seat for the Idaho Senate in District 11.
State Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, is looking not only to make the successful switch from District 10 to District 11, but also from the House of Representatives to the Senate.
“I think that there’s an important role that the Senate plays in being the adults in the room,” Chaney told the Idaho Statesman editorial board. “I think that there’s a more important role for me there to assist in that than there is in the House.”
Chaney is running in the Republican primary against Chris Trakel. The winner of the primary will face Democrat Toni Ferro and Constitution Party candidate Kurtis Berger in the general election in November.
The Statesman editorial board endorses Chaney in the Republican primary based on the strength of his eight years of experience in the state Legislature, his ability and willingness to clap back against the far-right faction of his own party and because of the tremendous amount of growth he has shown in his four terms as a representative.
Trakel did not respond to invitations to interview with the editorial board, and the Statesman will not consider endorsing a candidate who does not agree to an interview. The editorial board interviewed Trakel last year when he ran for Caldwell mayor and did not endorse him.
Some of us recall Chaney’s humble beginnings as a legislator, seemingly repeating the talking points of the right wing without a deep knowledge of the subject. How far he has come since those days, rising to the job of chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, a difficult role that he has handled with remarkable deftness.
Chaney, a lawyer in private practice, has demonstrated a nuanced understanding of several issues. His unvaccinated mother died of COVID-19, and Chaney said he believes she was misled by misinformation about the vaccine. During the 2020 session, Chaney held a bill in committee that would have banned therapy for transgender children.
Chaney rails against what he calls “trap bills.”
“They’re the ones where you either vote yes and consider yourself a little less intelligent than you did a minute earlier,” he said, “or you vote no and you get painted in some form or fashion that you’re a left-wing nut for daring to vote against this (sarcastically) beautifully perfect piece of legislation that just rolled out of House State Affairs.”
That said, Chaney can still be prone to falling into the trap. Last session, he voted in favor of House Bill 666, which would have criminalized librarians if obscene materials were found among their collections.
Chaney explained that he felt the bill effectively wouldn’t do much, but we would still prefer level-headed legislators like Chaney to stand up and vote against these wrongheaded culture war bills and send a clear message that “enough is enough.” House support for and passage of that bill sent a terrible message to Idaho’s librarians and vilified them.
Chaney understands this, whether it’s the anti-librarian bill or last year’s bill that purportedly banned critical race theory but didn’t really.
“You end up saying there’s no monster under the bed, and then you realize that they have 36 votes that think there’s a monster under the bed,” Chaney said of the House. “Then you have to pick up a pretend ray gun and shoot the monster to make people feel like they can come out from under their covers. And that’s kind of some of the not-so-fun calculus you end up with in the House.”