Idaho Democrats flood races with candidates in every district for the first time in 30 years

[Geee]

Washington Examiner

In an attempt to drain Republican coffers and force incumbent lawmakers to compete in races, Democrats have placed challengers in every Idaho district for the first time in three decades.

The Republican-dominated state, which has only 18 Democrats in its 105-seat legislature across two chambers, has faced renewed vigor from the opposition party because of infighting between strict and centrist Republicans, along with the Idaho Republican Party’s fixation on cultural matters, such as a strict abortion ban.

 

Democrat Loree Peery decided to run when her state House representative, Heather Scott, introduced a cannibalism bill that Peery told Politico shows “she isn’t a serious lawmaker.”

“You can’t win if you don’t run,” Peery said. “It forces the Republicans to work, it forces [Scott] to get out there and talk to people so they can see what she’s about. It forces Republicans to spend more resources on the races.”

Chambers in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have been flipped from red to blue in recent years, but Idaho Democrats have no such delusion that their state will go in the same direction. They have set a goal of diminishing the state’s Republican supermajority, though.