With fewer Democrats in Idaho Legislature, far-right has better shot at taking over | Opinion

Idaho Democrats lost three seats in the Legislature, reducing their already minuscule numbers even further.

It will affect committee positions and workloads, and there will be fewer Democratic voices to challenge bills being presented.

Big deal, you might think. Going from an 83% supermajority to an 86% supermajority won’t make much of a difference, right?

But there’s more at stake here.

Keep in mind that a few more extremist Republicans won seats in Tuesday’s elections, having defeated moderate Republicans in the closed Republican primary.

In the past, moderate Republicans in the Legislature have been able to stave off some really bad bills brought by their far-right fellow Republicans — but only with the aid of Democrats.

Think about close votes, such as the 36-34 vote in 2021 to fund Idaho Public Television. Extremist legislators such as then-Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, wanted to defund Idaho Public Television because one of the shows, “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” had a gay character. Then-Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, objected to “Arthur,” which contained an episode on global warming, and “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” which discussed race.

It took every last one of the 11 Democrats in the House to pass that budget.

Now, there will be just nine Democrats.

Given that new legislators such as Rob Beiswenger, Kent Marmon, Steve Tanner and Lucas Caylor can be added to the likes of Reps. Heather Scott, Vito Barbieri and Bruce Skaug, will centrist Republicans be able to fend off the growing number of extremists in their party with fewer Democrats to help them out?

So what could we expect to see from a Legislature that skews to the extreme?

Forget about fixing Idaho’s strict abortion ban, which has driven doctors and patients from the state and promises to result in the death of a mother, like we’ve seen elsewhere.

Idaho legislators have been able to kill school voucher proposals the past couple of sessions, but the chances of shooting down school vouchers become less and less likely. Pro-voucher groups Idaho Federation for Children and its national arm American Federation for Children spent tens of thousands of dollars to defeat Democratic Sen. Rick Just in District 15 in favor of Codi Galloway (who, by the way, voted against that Idaho Public Television funding bill when she was a representative in 2021).

A host of other bills that have been killed in the past now seem like a distinct possibility: guns in schools, repealing Medicaid expansion, more anti-transgender legislation, efforts to defund Boise State over diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and more, probably some that we haven’t even thought of yet.

Committees will be harder for House Speaker Mike Moyle to stack and control — that is, if Moyle can even hang onto his speaker position.

That means more bad bills likely will make it to the House floor, where extremist legislators could outvote the moderates and Democrats.

And what’s going to happen on the Senate side? Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, was defeated in the primary by a far-right challenger. When legislators meet in December to organize and elect their leadership, it will be telling to see who’s in positions of power.

Yes, Democrats losing seats is sad for the Democrats, but the implications of fewer moderating voices in the Legislature are likely to be more serious.

This story was originally published November 10, 2024 at 4:00 AM.