Meet the Candidates
Daily Digest 4/23/26
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to meet eleven Republican candidates for federal and statewide office. I came away impressed:
I hope the candidates I spoke with remain involved after May 19. We need people like this serving as city councilors, county commissioners, and state legislators. We need individuals willing to invest the time and energy required to drive political change from within the Republican Party. These roles may not receive the same attention as governor or senator, but they are vitally important. Building a movement from the ground up requires people willing to serve wherever they are needed to advance conservative policy and protect the liberties we often take for granted.
IFPC reads the Bible
Idaho Family Policy Center president Blaine Conzatti highlighted his organization’s participation (along with President Trump) in an event to read the entire Bible cover to cover:
The America Reads the Bible event shows that more and more American Christians are waking up to the fact that our nation was great only because the Bible was once at the heart of everything we did.
Let’s be praying that God revives us again—and that the Bible once again becomes the guidebook for all of life, including politics and government!
Risch goes nuclear
Sen. Jim Risch sent a press release highlighting his exchange with Energy Secretary Chris Wright in the Senate recently, which promoted Idaho’s role in nuclear innovation:
Risch introduced the ARC Act in February 2026 to accelerate investment in and encourage completion of new commercial nuclear reactors by minimizing the risk of project cost overruns. The Idaho National Laboratory is on schedule to take three microreactors critical by July 4th of this year, in compliance with the administration’s Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security executive order.
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I’m continuing to work on some developing stories, including more research into where taxpayer funded healthcare grants are going, as well as some interesting candidates for county office. Stay tuned!
Thanks as always to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and the iLuvIdaho Voter Guide. Thanks also to all of you for supporting this work!
Feature image courtesy of Daniel Murphy.
Candidates should be evaluated on their merits, not their fundraising. Some incumbents in contested races -- especially those who couldn't / wouldn't show up to meet the people in person -- have not served the people as well as their challengers might do.
Please let's not put our fingers on the scale by looking at how much money each one raises, how big their ads are, or how nasty their mailers might be.
Consider who is supporting the well-funded. Often, the best-funded incumbents are supported by Big "whatever" rather than grass roots everyday Idahoans whose votes should matter most.
Just sayin...