Idaho Republican primary: Here are all of the endorsements from the Idaho Statesman
The Idaho Statesman editorial board conducted interviews with 19 candidates in 12 Republican primary races, from governor and lieutenant governor to secretary of state, attorney general and individual state legislative districts.
Here’s a rundown of the Idaho Statesman’s endorsements ahead of the Tuesday, May 17, Republican primary:
Lieutenant governor: Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke is facing off against state Rep. Priscilla Giddings.
Some endorsement decisions are difficult to make.
The race between Bedke and the pugilistic Giddings does not present one of those hard decisions. Voters in the Republican primary have an easy choice in this lieutenant governor’s race: between a candidate with a long track record of solving hard problems and a candidate who does nothing but make fiery speeches; between a candidate with a boringly clean record on matters of ethics and a candidate who was recently sanctioned by her colleagues for dishonest conduct and cruelty to a subordinate.
Bedke’s candidacy offers a simple promise: return the office of lieutenant governor to a low-profile position that assists the governor and presides over the Senate. No more temper tantrums in executive order form; no more turning an elected office into a four-year campaign platform; no more breaking the budget by trying to hide public records. “I will never embarrass the state of Idaho as lieutenant governor,” Bedke said.
Bedke earns our nod, easily.
Read the full endorsement here.
Secretary of State: Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane said he believes President Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election. State Rep. Dorothy Moon and Sen. Mary Souza said they believe Biden didn’t win. This is a race for the person who will be the top elections official in the state.
The job of Idaho secretary of state requires someone who approaches it from a practical standpoint of pulling off fair and secure elections while at the same time ensuring that anyone who wants to vote has ample opportunity. Their duties should not become a vehicle for political grandstanding.
Moon and Souza have shown, through their work in the Idaho Legislature, that they would approach the job politically. Both proposed this session election legislation that would have disenfranchised an untold number of legitimate voters, including students and military members.
The Idaho Statesman editorial board endorses McGrane for his vast election experience, his level-headed approach to election integrity and his knowledge of other facets of the job.
Read the full endorsement here.
Attorney General: Incumbent Attorney General Lawrence Wasden is facing challenges from Coeur d’Alene lawyer Art Macomber and former state legislator and congressman Raul Labrador.
Wasden’s opponents have made it clear that they intend to turn the office into a political bully pulpit, and that would be bad for Idaho and is the exact opposite of how the AG’s office should function.
We already have a state Legislature bent on making political statements through legislation that invariably gets blown out of the water in the courts. We don’t need a political activist in the executive branch as well, enabling such costly behavior. Wasden, 64, has been Idaho’s attorney general since 2003, and he has guided the ship with a steady hand.
Wasden knows that the law is the law, and that the role of attorney general shouldn’t be based on political whims. He’s right, and that’s why Wasden earns the Idaho Statesman’s endorsement in the Republican primary for Idaho attorney general.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Former State Board of Education president Debbie Critchfield is seeking to oust incumbent Sherri Ybarra, who has grown in her role as superintendent.
In what was perhaps its most difficult decision of the primary season, the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board decided to endorse Critchfield over Ybarra.
Both support sound education policy. Both aim to increase the emphasis of Idaho’s education system on career readiness, and on subjects needed by the next generation of Idaho employers. Both have long experience in Idaho’s education system.
Though Ybarra has grown considerably in competence and policy understanding since she was first elected, after speaking with both serious candidates, we give the edge to Critchfield.
Read our full endorsement here.
District 11 Senate: Idaho Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, is seeking to jump from the House to the Senate, which he said is where “the adults in the room” are. He’s also seeking to jump from District 10 to District 11 after redistricting and after longtime District 11 Sen. Patti Anne Lodge is not seeking reelection.
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.
Read our full endorsement here.
Congressional District 2: Longtime incumbent Rep. Mike Simpson faces another challenge from medical debt lawyer and right-winger Bryan Smith.
Simpson has been a positive force for Idaho since he was first elected to state office in 1984. Since he was first sent to Washington in 1998, he has protected key assets for his district, including agriculture, public lands and Idaho National Laboratory. In the editorial board’s judgment, voters in the 2nd Congressional District would be best served by making him the Republican nominee.
Read our full endorsement here.
Idaho Senate District 20: Political newcomer Rosa Martinez is challenging longtime Senate leader and current Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder in this race in Boise’s District 20.
In the District 20 Senate race, Republican primary voters would do the state well by retaining Winder.
Winder’s character is best attested to by those who know him best, those he’s served alongside and led for more than a decade.
Read our full endorsement here.
Idaho House District 34: Perhaps no other Idaho legislative race better illustrates the warring factions within the Idaho Republican Party than the race for this Idaho House seat in District 20 between Ron Nate and Britt Raybould.
If there’s one place where Republican primary voters could make the most ground on turning the Idaho House away from extremism, it’s here, where Raybould is seeking to retake a seat she lost to Nate two years ago.
Raybould represents an older brand of conservatism, focused not on ideological purity but on careful, considered action and service to her constituents. Her belief is that sweeping changes can have unintended consequences and that there is wisdom baked into existing practices and institutions. Both Nate and Raybould have experience serving in the House. And though Nate served there longer, Raybould has proved the more effective lawmaker.
You can read our full editorial endorsement here.
District 1: The decision to endorse Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, was not difficult. For the good of the state and his district, he should serve another term in office.
His opponent, Scott Herndon, did not respond to an invitation to interview with the editorial board. The Statesman does not endorse candidates who won’t agree to an interview.
Woodward is a man who thinks and acts just like you would expect from a Navy engineer: practical, methodical and solution-oriented. He’s not given to the wild, windmill-tilting tendencies that have for years grown on the far right.
You can read our full endorsement here.
District 14: 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.
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.
Read our full endorsement here.
Governor: For this endorsement, the Idaho Statesman editorial board interviewed the top three candidates: incumbent Gov. Brad Little, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin and Ed Humphreys.
The differences between Little and his challengers are stark, and they come primarily from the far-right fringes of the Idaho Republican Party. Much of the opposition stems from Little’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the incumbent governor of “tyranny” and violating the constitution.
While Little’s opponents bring up some issues worthy of debate, much of their arguments devolve into extremism, conspiracy theory and hyperbole.
Read our full endorsement of Gov. Little here.
This story was originally published May 15, 2022 at 4:00 AM.