With the filing deadline in the May 19 Idaho primary set for Friday, Feb. 27, the field of candidates is filling after Scott Herndon announced that he would seek the GOP nomination for the Legislative Dist. 1 Senate seat.
That sets up a contest between Herndon and incumbent Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, in the May election — the fourth time they have vied for the same seat since 2018, when Woodward bested Herndon in that primary, followed by Herndon’s defeat of Woodward in the 2022 primary and subsequent two-year term in the Senate from 2023-2024, after which Woodward returned to defeat him in that year’s primary.
A local custom home builder and current chair of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee, Herndon’s campaign told the Reader in an announcement Feb. 24 that he is “running on a firm belief that in the face of an insurmountable national debt, unaffordable housing and massive inflation on food, gas and the cost of living, now is the time to permanently eliminate all property taxes and control Idaho’s state spending without raising any other taxes.”
“Our Founding Fathers had a vision for this country — free, sovereign states that govern themselves with minimal federal intrusion, sound monetary and fiscal policy, and no national debt,” he stated. “Low government regulation, low taxation and free market capitalism is the best recipe for liberty and prosperity for every Idahoan.”
Scott Herndon. Courtesy photo
Herndon added that Congress has failed to control an “exploding national debt and the ravages of inflation.” Meanwhile, since moving to North Idaho in 2004, Herndon said Bonner and Boundary counties “have become horrifically unaffordable. I see every day in my business that skilled workers on regular wages or retirees on fixed incomes find it almost impossible to afford rising housing costs, food and gas.”
Describing the situation as “an affordability crisis,” Herndon called for a “return to the roots of America — reduce government regulation, control government spending, and return to the principles of free market capitalism and low taxation.”
By eliminating property tax “altogether,” Herndon stated that “North Idahoans will be assured that they can own their own homes, free and clear, without the high property tax bills and the threat that one day the government could take their property for failing to pay the rising taxes.”
Herndon stated that his plan to eliminate property taxes “includes the full, responsible funding of public education through state revenues as the Idaho Constitution requires. This practical solution will eliminate the arguments between neighbors when the local school district currently brings a new property tax levy to local voters.”
Herndon pointed to property tax reductions that he helped pass during his time in the Senate, as well as voting in favor of cuts to income taxes.
“The Idaho Senate needs more advocacy for limited government and free market capitalism,” he stated. “We can eliminate property taxes, support the improvement and maintenance of transportation infrastructure, secure public safety, promote education and advance individual liberty.”
Herndon also sponsored Senate Bill 1374, which passed the House and the Senate and was signed by the governor, allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons on public property. As BCRCC chair, Herndon also supported the 2022 voter-approved Idaho constitutional amendment giving the Legislature the power to convene in emergency sessions without the governor’s directive or permission — as well as supported S.B. 1130, which was signed into law in 2023 and, among other stipulations, barred businesses from requiring that workers receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
Herndon has been a longtime supporter of legislation related to parental rights, school choice and homeschool protections, and was a key advocate for Idaho’s fetal heartbeat bill, which outlawed nearly all abortions in the state.
He also supported H.B. 173, which was signed into law preventing foreign governments and corporations controlled by them from purchasing Idaho agricultural land, water and mineral rights, and mining claims.
Herndon has been married to his wife, Arlene, for 28 years and seven of their children continue to reside in Bonner County — including his son, who works for the family business, and several of his daughters who perform music as The Herndon Girls at public events and with the Bonners Ferry Community Orchestra.
Learn more at herndonforidaho.com.
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