Redistricting put these conservative Idaho senators in the same race. Here’s our pick

Redistricting has put two prominent Idaho senators in the same District 14, pitting Scott Grow and Steven Thayn in a head-to-head battle in the Republican primary.

For Republican voters, this will be a difficult choice. Both have conservative Republican bona fides: support for tax cuts, anti-abortion legislation, restricting citizen initiatives.

Both are complementary — and complimentary: Thayn and Grow concede that Grow, a retired CPA in Eagle, is perhaps better on the budget and tax side of state legislation, while Thayn, a teacher and farmer in Emmett, focuses more on education policy and social programs.

It’s a good problem for Republican voters in the newly drawn District 14 to have: two experienced, qualified conservative candidates to choose from. The downside for Republican voters, of course, is that one of these candidates will be out of the Legislature.

The other Republican candidate, Katie Donahue, did not respond to an invitation to interview with the editorial board. The Statesman does not endorse candidates who do not interview with the board.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Constitution Party candidate Kirsten Faith and Libertarian Party candidate Robert Imhoff in the November general election.

Grow seems to have grown a little more nuanced in his position on property taxes. Although he still wants to limit local spending, he recognizes the state can help by increasing education funding to get rid of the need for supplemental levies, help fund school buildings and improve roads.

Thayn, in our interview, was almost dismissive of the social, culture war issues that the Legislature faces every session, instead focusing on education and social programs. He’s done some good things with public education (Advanced Opportunities Scholarship, dual credit program, self-directed learner bill), wants to change how we fund schools, and wants to encourage parent involvement and increase career technical education. On social programs, he wants to find ways to incentivize people to get off of welfare programs.

Grow should continue to own his unconstitutional bill on limiting citizen initiatives, which passed and was signed by the governor but then shot down by the Idaho Supreme Court. When asked about it, Grow launched into a diatribe that sounded like a scene from “Reefer Madness,” showing that he’s afraid of “out-of-state” money coming in to get marijuana legalized in Idaho. It revealed Grow’s lack of confidence in Idaho voters to make their own decision.

Thayn, to his credit, kind of shrugs his shoulders. While saying he thinks the initiative process should be tightened up a little bit, it’s clearly not an issue for him. He also recognized that if the Legislature doesn’t want a citizen initiative on the ballot, it needs to act in response to the will of the people.

Although it would be a shame to lose an experienced CPA like Grow from the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, we give a slight nod to Thayn in this race.

He is his own person. Like his ideas or not, they are his and his alone. While Thayn walks a fine line with the far right, he doesn’t play the games the rest of them do. He is thoughtful and willing to work hard to “sell” his ideas to the rest of the Legislature. Often, even if lawmakers did not accept an idea of his in its entirety, they would use portions of it to craft some good educational policies.

Overall, those policies began with a concept from Thayn. He does think outside of the box, and that gives him an edge over most legislators, including Grow.