The Idaho GOP Platform, annotated edition
Daily Digest 5/27/26
The annotated Idaho GOP Platform
I finally finished this project that I’ve been working on the side this past month. I compiled the responses from victorious Republican primary candidates to the Integrity in Affiliation form and integrated them as notes in an easily-navigable copy of the current Idaho GOP Platform:
With the primary election over, the Idaho Republican Party now has a slate of voter-supported candidates heading into the general election. New PCs are also preparing to elect delegates to next month’s state convention in Meridian, where additions, modifications, or deletions to the platform will be debated. Out of that convention will come a new platform, perhaps with only small changes, or perhaps something very different entirely. Delegates will begin submitting proposals following this weekend’s reorganization meetings, at which point we’ll have the opportunity to discuss them.
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If a candidate submitted a note or disagreement, I attempted to copy it verbatim. In some cases, candidates simply noted disagreements without explanation. For those instances, I added their name under the respective section.
I noticed a few interesting things while working on this project. By far, the three most controversial planks are the platform’s demand to repeal the 17th Amendment, which requires the direct election of U.S. senators; the platform’s call for a return to the gold standard; and the platform’s strict position on abolishing abortion.
Check out the Google Doc or the PDF version below. What do you think? What would you like to see out of the new Idaho GOP Platform that will be considered at the state convention next month?
Mr. Labrador goes to Washington
Attorney General Raúl Labrador visited Washington, DC to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance and the anti-fraud task force:
“The Trump Administration is serious about fraud enforcement, and Idaho’s results prove what’s possible when the federal government works with states instead of against them,” said Attorney General Labrador. “Working with the White House and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we recovered more Medicaid dollars outside of multistate settlements last year than any year in the past decade. With better data access and the right reforms, we can recover even more, and I’ll be going back to the Idaho Legislature to secure the additional authority and resources to help make that happen.”
Gov. Little makes some appointments
Gov. Brad Little announced four new appointments today:
Boise, ID – Governor Brad Little announced today his appointments of Theodore J. Fleming and Gene A. Petty to serve on the Idaho Court of Appeals, Cortney Liddiard to serve on the Idaho Transportation Board, and Erika Malmen to serve of the Idaho Park and Recreation Board.
As always, stay tuned for more! The county and legislative district committees of the Idaho GOP will be reorganizing starting tomorrow, and there is sure to be some firework. Check out idgop.org to find a meeting near you.
Thanks again to sponsors Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty and Money Metals Please reach out if you have a small business and want to partner with the Gem State Chronicle.
New Saint Andrews College will be returning as a sponsor next month, so go ahead and check them out too! Thanks also to all of you for supporting this work!
It’s amazing the ignorance that is demonstrated even by high-level public officials who are against the repeal of the 17th amendment.
This betrays a lack of understanding of the structure of federalism, and by electing senators directly, we are stripping the state legislatures of any say in control of the federal power. Therefore, there is no control over the federal power. This is evident by the last 100 years of the expansion of federal power.
Rather than punish the states forever by removing their check and balance function over the populist reach of the House of Representatives, there should’ve been another solution to the purchasing of senatorial seats.
Further, the people have demonstrated that they will continue to ask more and more of the federal government with no checks on their behavior. The popular vote should be removed from the US Senate, and given back to the state legislatures where it belongs.