Our democracy works best when candidates and elected officials work hard to reach out to their constituents. Over the past few months, I have knocked on doors in Jerome, Hailey, Lapwai, Boise, Moscow, and Pocatello. I have learned a lot.

First, I talked to many voters who identified as Republican but are either voting Democratic — or seriously considering it. At one door, a former Republican official who held office for many years told me their group of friends once always voted Republican. Today, they’re all voting Democratic. They watch the Legislature closely and see a Republican Party that’s abandoned their values for extremism. The following week, I met someone who served in the Idaho Legislature as a Republican who is now a registered Democrat.

I spoke to a gentleman who moved here from a coastal city, partly due to the progressive politics there. Yet, he now sees the harms of Republican extremism in Idaho. He is considering joining his wife in voting Democratic.

Second, voters of both parties are supportive of LAUNCH scholarships. One Republican mom told me her daughter is attending college this year on a LAUNCH scholarship. She was concerned when I told her that her Republican legislator voted to defund it after scholarship awards were announced and that far-right Republicans are trying to discontinue this route to good jobs. A young man I met is enrolled in career training thanks to LAUNCH. He wasn’t registered to vote yet, but when I left his doorstep, he was more motivated to get to the polls.

Third, Idaho’s extreme abortion ban is deeply unpopular. Women are appalled that their reproductive freedoms have been ripped away, setting us back 50 years and risking their health and their lives. Men are expressing this as a top concern as well. And it’s no wonder with the recent report of two maternal deaths in Texas under a similar abortion ban.

Finally, voters are focused on issues that affect their families and communities, not book bans and other nonsense. A public school employee in a rural town told me Republican legislators don’t understand the challenges of teaching with strained resources. Other families are troubled by the unaffordability of homes, a challenge that Republican legislators continue to shrug off. No one I spoke to is calling for deeper tax cuts that give $15,000 a year to the top 1 percent and less than $30 to Idahoans who work some of the hardest jobs.

This election, we have an opportunity to elect leaders who will focus on the things that voters care about, not the latest whims of extremists who are out of touch with the everyday concerns of voters. Let’s seize it.

Onward,
Lauren Necochea
Idaho Democratic Party Chair