Idaho Democratic Party

Idaho Democratic Party
Chairwoman	Lauren Necochea
Senate Minority Leader	Melissa Wintrow
House Minority Leader	Ilana Rubel
Founded	1860s
Headquarters	Boise, Idaho
Membership (2024)	125,989[1]
Ideology	Modern liberalism
National affiliation	Democratic Party
Colors	Blue
Seats in the U.S. Senate	0 / 2
Seats in the United States House of Representatives	0 / 2
Seats in the Idaho Senate	7 / 35
Seats in the Idaho House of Representatives	11 / 70
Election symbol
Website
www.idahodems.org
Politics of Idaho Elections

The Idaho Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Idaho.

While the party has been in the minority for most of the state's history, it has produced several notable public figures, including former U.S. senator Frank Church and former governor and secretary of the interior Cecil Andrus. Trade union support has traditionally been a key component of Democratic success in Idaho.^[2]

Created in 1863 after the discovery of new mining territory, the early Idaho Territory was heavily populated by settlers from western Oregon, California and Nevada who supported a radical Republican agenda. However, towards the end of the war, Idaho became flooded with Confederate refugees from states like Missouri who voted, like the miners in Idaho, heavily Democratic. The state became a Democratic stronghold for the next two decades.^[3]

At the dawn of statehood, despite ceding Idaho almost entirely four years earlier to the Populists and Republicans (Cleveland won only 2 popular votes in 1892), a fusion Populist/Democratic ticket behind William Jennings Bryan's candidacy won the state with 78.1% of the vote with the support from Silver Republicans. Nevertheless, the three– man congressional delegation remained two-part Populist, one-part Republican.

It was not until the turn of the century that Idaho saw its first Democratic representation in Congress, Senator Fred Dubois, U.S. Marshal of the Idaho Territory and a former Republican. He successfully campaigned on the disenfranchisement of Mormons on the grounds that they broke the law by practicing polygamy, already having barred them form holding office while he held office in the state legislature. Ironically, while his anti– Mormonism as a Republican kept Democrats out of office after 1882, his anti-Mormonism as a Democrat had the same result after 1902.^[3]

Though Democrats and Jewish governor Moses Alexander were able to implement a radically progressive agenda with the backing of the Nonpartisan League while in control during Woodrow Wilson's presidency, they quickly ceded power and it was not until Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1932 landslide that they began to turn out state and local (as well as national) Republican office holders for a sustained period of time.^[3] That year, all three congressional Republicans up for re– election were defeated by Democratic challengers by at least 11 percent. All three challengers, like their state party, were stalwart supporters of FDR's New Deal. Despite a turn of opinion against the federal government's programs years later, Democrats retained two of their three newly attained seats for at least 15 years and managed to control the legislature for eight until the chambers evened themselves out during and immediately after the war.^[3]

In the post-war decades, as state politics was professionalized, Republicans dominated the state legislature and the governor's mansion, but Democrats maintained a steadfast presence across all other executive offices. A platform of environmental concerns gave Idaho its last Democratic governor to date even as it became more conservative in its congressional delegation and state legislature.^[3] However, in the 1970s and 1980s, Democrats lost two key voting groups. After the national party adopted a host of liberal social issues like abortion rights and feminism, Idaho's Mormons left the party in droves. Meanwhile, unions lost influence in already declining mining and timber industries.^[4]

Since 1994, when four-term Democratic governor Cecil Andrus retired and Representative Larry LaRocco was defeated, only one member of the party, Walt Minnick, has won either statewide office or election to Congress; after winning election to the latter capacity in 2008, Minnick was subsequently defeated for re-election by Republican Raúl Labrador two years later. Idaho Democrats currently seat only twelve members of the state House and six members of the state Senate, slightly worse than the ~20% they held in each chamber in 1996 when the party first collapsed.^[4] Unlike with other Mountain West states, such as Nevada and Colorado, immigration has not shifted Idaho leftward. Rather, Californians and other West Coast residents who have moved there have done so largely for cultural instead of economic reasons.^[5]

• None

• None

• Senate Minority Leader: Melissa Wintrow
• Assistant Senate Minority Leader: James Ruchti
• Senate Minority Caucus Chair: Janie Ward– Engelking
• House Minority Leader: Ilana Rubel
• Assistant House Minority Leader: Lauren Necochea
• House Minority Caucus Chair: Ned Burns

The following Democrats hold prominent mayoralties in Idaho:

• Boise: Lauren McLean (1)

• Lauren Necochea
• Deborah Silver
• Fred Cornworth^[6]
• Evangeline "Van" Beechler^[7]
• Bert Marley^[8]
• Larry Kenck^[9]
• R. Keith Roark^[10]
• Larry Grant^[11][12][13]
• Richard H. Stallings^[14][15]
• Carolyn Boyce^[16]
• Kathie Garrett^[17]
• Bill Mauk^[18][19][20]
• Mel Morgan^[21][22]
• A. K. Lienhart– Minnick^[23][24]
• Conley Ward, 1988–1991^[25]
• George Klein 1978^[26][27]
• John F. Greenfield 1976–77^{[28][29][30][26][31][32][33]}
• A. W. "Bill" Brunt 1952–1954^[34]
• John G. Walters 1958
• John Glasby
• George A. Greenfield 1954– 1955^[26]
• Gilbert Larsen ?–1952
• Ed P. Brennan 1949
• Dan J. Cavanagh 1947–1948
• David L. Bush 1944–1946
• Ben W. Davis 1939
• Ira H. Taylor 1937
• T. A. Walters 1931
• Edwin M. Holden 1930
• L. E. Dillingham 1925–1929
• Dr. W. R. Hamilton ?–1918
• Joseph T. Pence 1914
• Ben R. Gray 1912
• John F. Nugent^[35]
• Kirtland I. Perky 1900–1902
• George Ainslie 1890–1891
• Wayne P. Fuller 1979–1980

Idaho Democratic Party gubernatorial election results

Election	Gubernatorial candidate	Votes	Vote %	Result
1890	Benjamin Wilson	7,948	43.65%	Lost N
1892	John M. Burke	6,769	33.72%	Lost N
1894	Edward A. Stevenson	7,057	28.70%	Lost N
1896	Frank Steunenberg	22,096	76.79%	Won Y
1898	Frank Steunenberg	19,407	48.83%	Won Y
1900	Frank W. Hunt	28,628	50.87%	Won Y
1902	Frank W. Hunt	26,021	43.18%	Lost N
1904	Henry Heitfeld	24,252	34.02%	Lost N
1906	Charles Stockslager	29,496	40.09%	Lost N
1908	Moses Alexander	40,145	41.61%	Lost N
1910	James H. Hawley	40,856	47.42%	Won Y
1912	James H. Hawley	33,992	32.22%	Lost N
1914	Moses Alexander	47,618	44.13%	Won Y
1916	Moses Alexander	63,877	47.49%	Won Y
1918	H. F. Samuels	38,499	40.05%	Lost N
1920	Ted A. Walters	38,509	26.93%	Lost N
1922	Moses Alexander	36,810	28.79%	Lost N
1924	A. L. Freehafer	25,081	16.82%	Lost N
1926	Asher B. Wilson	24,837	20.59%	Lost N
1928	C. Ben Ross	63,046	41.58%	Lost N
1930	C. Ben Ross	73,896	56.03%	Won Y
1932	C. Ben Ross	116,663	61.73%	Won Y
1934	C. Ben Ross	93,313	54.58%	Won Y
1936	Barzilla W. Clark	115,098	57.19%	Won Y
1938	C. Ben Ross	77,697	41.89%	Lost N
1940	Chase A. Clark	120,420	50.48%	Won Y
1942	Chase A. Clark	71,826	49.85%	Lost N
1944	Charles C. Gossett	109,527	52.64%	Won Y
1946	Arnold Williams	79,131	43.63%	Lost N
1950	Calvin E. Wright	97,150	47.44%	Lost N
1954	Clark Hamilton	104,647	45.76%	Lost N
1958	Alfred M. Derr	117,236	49.04%	Lost N
1962	Vernon K. Smith	115,876	45.36%	Lost N
1966	Cecil Andrus	93,744	37.11%	Lost N
1970	Cecil Andrus	128,004	52.22%	Won Y
1974	Cecil Andrus	184,142	70.92%	Won Y
1978	John Evans	169,540	58.75%	Won Y
1982	John Evans	165,365	50.64%	Won Y
1986	Cecil Andrus	193,429	49.9%	Won Y
1990	Cecil Andrus	218,673	68.21%	Won Y
1994	Larry Echo Hawk	181,363	43.88%	Lost N
1998	Robert C. Huntley	110,815	29.07%	Lost N
2002	Jerry Brady	171,711	41.73%	Lost N
2006	Jerry Brady	198,845	44.11%	Lost N
2010	Keith G. Allred	148,680	32.85%	Lost N
2014	A.J. Balukoff	169,556	38.55%	Lost N
2018	Paulette Jordan	231,081	38.19%	Lost N
2022	Stephen Heidt	120,160	20.03%	Lost N

• Political party strength in Idaho
• Idaho Democratic caucuses, 2016
• Idaho Democratic caucuses, 2012
• Idaho Democratic caucuses, 2008

• Idaho Democratic Party