Who’s running for office?

Candidates file for LD1 Statehouse seats

Ballots will feature names familiar from past primary, general elections

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

With the filing deadline to seek office in the Tuesday, May 19 primary election passed, voters in Idaho Legislative Dist. 1 will have a full slate of candidates to choose from. 

Every legislative seat in the state is up for election this cycle, as well as all constitutional offices and three of Idaho’s four congressional seats, with more than 1,200 candidates filing to run statewide as of March 5. 

In LD1, all three incumbent legislators face challengers in the primary. Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, will face off with Scott Herndon, also of Sagle, in the GOP primary — the fourth time they’ve sought the same Senate seat since 2018. 

Herndon, a homebuilder and current chair of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee, lost to Woodward in all but one of those contests, when he secured a primary and general election win to serve a two-year term from 2023-2024. Woodward, a marine construction and excavation business owner and retired Navy commander, returned to defeat Herndon in that year’s primary, and is seeking a second consecutive term for 2026 (which would be his fourth term overall). 

Woodward bested Herndon in the 2024 primary — which ended up being one of the most expensive primary races in recent memory, with both candidates raising in excess of $100,000 — by a relatively close margin of 51.94% to 48.06%, respectively.

Woodward serves as a co-chair on the Legislature’s powerful budget-setting Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, as well as on the Education Committee.

Steve Johnson, a Sagle resident who has sought several elected offices in recent years, filed to run for the LD1 Senate seat as an Independent. 

A lifelong local resident with decades of experience as an educator and farmer, Johnson filed to run as a Democrat for the Dist. 1A House seat in 2022, then dropped out to re-register as an Independent write-in Senate candidate against Herndon. He again ran for Idaho Senate as an Independent in 2024, but withdrew to put his name on the ballot for Bonner County commissioner against Dist. 1 Commissioner Brian Domke, who ultimately prevailed at the polls.

As an Independent, Johnson will not appear on the primary ballot,, moving directly to the general election in November.

Other names on the ballot will be familiar to voters in LD1 — which encompasses most of Bonner County and all of Boundary County. 

Two Republicans will vie for their party’s nomination for the House 1A position: incumbent Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint, who is seeking a third term, and challenger Jane Sauter (no relation) in a repeat of their faceoff in 2024.  

Mark Sauter, a longtime former fire services leader in California and North Idaho, won his last primary race by a handy margin of 49.8% against BCRCC-endorsed Jane Sauter’s 31.6% and fellow GOP challenger Spencer Hutchings.

Sauter serves on the Legislature’s Agricultural Affairs, Education, and Resources and Conservation committees.

Karen Matthee, a former journalist and nonprofit communications director who serves as the chair of the Bonner County Democrats, will again seek the House 1A seat under her party’s banner, following an unsuccessful general election bid in 2024, where she took 22.3% of the vote compared to Mark Sauter’s 77.7%. She will not face an opponent on the May primary ballot.

The House 1B race will also look familiar to voters who participated in the 2024 election, with incumbent Rep. Cornel Rasor, R-Sagle, again facing GOP challenger Chuck Lowman. Rasor, a lifelong resident, owner of the local Army Surplus and longtime figure in Idaho conservative politics, is running for a third term after his appointment by Gov. Brad Little to fill the vacancy left by Sage Dixon, who retired from office fewer than two months before the November 2024 election. He serves on the Legislature’s Business, Local Government, and Revenue and Taxation committees. 

Prior to that, Rasor won the primary against Lowman with nearly 52% of the vote to just more than 48%, respectively. Lowman served as a U.S. Army chaplain before returning to Idaho, where he has worked as a biologist, pastor and business owner.

Finally, Kathryn Larson will repeat her 2024 challenge for the House 1B seat in 2026, though this time filing as an Independent. A strategy and management consultant with international experience and post-graduate work in education and organizational development, Larson previously sought the seat as a Democrat. She took 28.7% of the vote in that race against Rasor’s 71.3% in the general election. 

The deadline to withdraw from the primary is Friday, March 6 at 5 p.m. (MT), which is also the deadline for write-in candidates to enter the race. Find all election-related info at run.voteidaho.gov.

Pick up future editions of the Sandpoint Reader for more candidate profiles and questionnaires heading into the May 19 primary.

Idaho Congress hopefuls in 2026?

Incumbent Republicans all facing primary challengers

By Kyle Pfannenstiel
Idaho Capital Sun

All members of Idaho’s congressional delegation who are up for reelection are running, and they are facing primary election challengers.

This year, three of Idaho’s four congressional seats are up for election — one seat in the U.S. Senate and both of its seats in the U.S. House. 

First, candidates with a declared party will vie for the party’s bid in the Tuesday, May 19 primary election. Then, winners of the races will ultimately be determined in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.

Only registered Republican voters can vote in Idaho’s closed GOP primary elections. 

Here’s a look at who’s running to represent Idaho in Congress. Find the full list of candidates for all offices online in the Idaho Secretary of State Office’s candidate database. 

The deadline to declare candidacy for Idaho’s federal, statewide and legislative offices was Feb. 27. Candidates have until 5 p.m. (MT) Friday, March 6 to withdraw their candidacy, or to declare their intent to be a write-in candidate.

U.S. Sen Jim Risch faces three Republican challengers

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, 82, is running for a fourth six-year term. The Republican was first elected to the seat in 2008 and now chairs the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

He faces three Republican challengers in the May primary election: Denny LaVe, Joe Evans and Josh Roy. 

Three candidates — David Roth, Brad Moore and Nickolas 007 Bonds — are running as Democrats. Roth has previously unsuccessfully run for an Idaho congressional seat. 

Two candidates have filed independent bids for U.S. Senate: Natalie M. Fleming and Todd Achilles, who resigned in June 2025 from a state House of Representatives seat as a Democrat to challenge Risch. 

Matt Loesby is the sole Libertarian Party candidate. 

In announcing his reelection bid in an April 2025 post on X, Risch touted an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump. 

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican serving his fifth term, is not yet up for reelection. His six-year term began in 2023. 

U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher faces two Republican challengers

U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher, 63, is running for a fifth two-year term. The Republican has represented Idaho’s 1st Congressional District since 2019.

He faces two Republican challengers in the May primary election: Joseph P. Morrison and Andy Briner. 

Two candidates have filed Democratic bids for the U.S. House seat: Kenneth Brungardt and Kaylee Peterson, who unsuccessfully challenged Fulcher in 2022 and 2024. Sarah Zabel is running as the sole Independent candidate. Brendan J. Gomez is the sole Constitution Party candidate.

Idaho’s 1st Congressional District — home to roughly 1 million people — splits Ada County, includes some of Boise and spans the state’s western border through the Idaho panhandle in the north.

Since 2000, only one Democrat has been elected to represent the district, for one term. Fulcher did not face a Republican challenger in the 2024 primary election. 

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson faces two Republican challengers

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, 75, is running for a 15th two-year term. The Republican has represented Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District since 1999 and chairs the House Interior and Environment Subcommittee on Appropriations.

He faces two Republican challengers: Brian Keene and Perry Shumway.

Ellie Gilbreath and Julie Wiley are running as Democratic candidates. Emre Houser and Tripp Charles Hutchinson are running as Independent candidates. 

Will Johanson is running as the sole Libertarian candidate. The sole Constitution Party candidate is C. Sierra — ID Law — Idaho Lorax.

Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District — home to almost 1 million people — splits Ada County, includes most of Boise, and spans central and eastern Idaho. 

Simpson has widely won reelection bids.

This story was produced by Boise-based nonprofit news outlet the Idaho Capital Sun, which is part of the States Newsroom nationwide reporting project. For more information, visit idahocapitalsun.com.

All the candidates who filed for Idaho constitutional offices in the 2026 election

By Kyle Pfannenstiel
Idaho Capital Sun

Republican incumbents in all of Idaho’s statewide constitutional offices — the governor, attorney general, secretary of state and more — are all running for reelection, and are largely not set to face Republican challengers, with the governor’s race being one exception.

This year, all statewide constitutional offices — such as governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general — are up for election as well as all 105 seats in the Idaho Legislature. Three of Idaho’s four congressional seats will also be on the ballot in the May primary and November general elections.

First, candidates with a declared party will vie for the party’s bid in the Tuesday, May 19 primary election. Then, winners of the races will ultimately be determined in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.

But in Idaho, Republican primary elections often decide major elections. Idaho voters last elected a Democrat to statewide office in 2002. Since 1992, Republicans have held a supermajority in both chambers of the Idaho Legislature. Only registered Republican voters can vote in Idaho’s closed GOP primary elections. 

Here’s a look at who’s running to represent Idaho in statewide offices including offices for the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state controller, state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction, as well as key legislative races. 

Find the full list of candidates for all offices online in the Idaho Secretary of State Office’s candidate database. 

Idaho Gov. Brad Little faces seven Republican challengers

Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little is seeking reelection to a third four-year term. He’s set to face seven Republican challengers in the May primary election: Daniel C. Fowler, Ethan Giles, Justin R. Plante, Lisa Marie, Ron James, Sean Calvert Crystal and Mark Fitzpatrick, who owns State Street Saloon in Eagle and organized the Hetero Awesome Fest in downtown Boise in 2025.

Four candidates have filed to run as Democrats: Chanelle Torrez, Jill C. Kirkham, Maxine Durand and Terri Pickens, an attorney who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2022.

Two candidates filed to run as Libertarians: Paul Sand and Melissa-Sue Robinson. 

Retired Idaho Supreme Court Justice John Stegner filed to run for governor as an independent. One candidate, who legally changed his name to Pro-Life, filed under the Constitution Party. 

Little, a rancher from Emmett, was first elected governor in 2018 after previously serving as lieutenant governor and a member of the Idaho Senate. 

The May Republican primary election for governor is set to be an eight-way race between Little, Fowler, Giles, Plante, Marie, James, Calvert Crystal, and Fitzpatrick. 

The winners of the May 19 primary elections will advance to the Nov. 3 general election. 

Republican Lt. Gov Scott Bedke faces no primary challenger in his bid for reelection. Eric Myricks is running as a Democratic candidate for the lieutenant governor’s office. 

All constitutional offices in Idaho are elected separately — including the governor and lieutenant governor. 

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is sole Republican candidate

Republican Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador faces no primary challenger in his bid for a second four-year term as the state’s top attorney.

Lori Hickman filed to run as a Democrat in the attorney general’s race. Hickman is an Idaho attorney with two decades of experience, and has served as board chair of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, the Idaho Democratic Party announced in a news release.

Labrador and Hickman are not set to compete against each other until the Nov. 3 general election. 

The attorney general’s office is responsible for providing legal representation for the state of Idaho, including its state agencies, offices and boards to protect the state’s legal interests. It is part of the executive branch.

In 2022, Labrador defeated the state’s longtime Republican attorney general, Lawrence Wasden, in the primary election. Born in Puerto Rico, Labrador was the first Hispanic member of Idaho’s congressional delegation and a founding member of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus.

Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane is sole Republican candidate

Republican Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane faces no Republican challenger in his bid to be reelected to a second four-year term. 

Shawn Keenan, who lives in Coeur d’Alene and unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Secretary of State in 2022, also filed to run as a Democrat. 

The Secretary of State’s Office manages the state’s elections, runs an online campaign finance transparency database and manages business filings.

McGrane and Keenan will face off in the November general election. 

School superintendent, treasurer, controller candidates face no primary challengers

Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield faces no primary challenger in her bid for a second four-year term leading the office that administers the state’s K-12 public school system. 

Becky Sundin, a Nampa resident named 2018 Idaho Teacher of the Year, is running as a Democrat, Idaho Education News reported. Teresa Roundy filed as a Constitution Party candidate.

Republican Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf faces no primary challenger in his bid for reelection. He has served in the office since being appointed in 2012, and was first elected in 2014.

But in the November general election, Woolf is set to face a Democratic challenger who is well known in Idaho state politics. 

Rakesh Mohan, a longtime director of an independent state watchdog agency, filed to run for state controller as a Democrat. Mohan retired from leading the Office of Performance Evaluations in June 2024. 

Republican State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth faces no primary challenger in her bid for reelection. Kevin A. Jones, who lives in Boise, filed to run as a Democrat.

This story was produced by Boise-based nonprofit news outlet the Idaho Capital Sun, which is part of the States Newsroom nationwide reporting project. For more information, visit idahocapitalsun.com.