Idaho Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairwoman | Lauren Necochea |
| Senate Minority Leader | Melissa Wintrow |
| House Minority Leader | Ilana Rubel |
| Founded | 1860s |
| Headquarters | Boise, Idaho |
| Membership(2025) |  120,009[1] |
| National affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Colors | Blue |
| Seats in theUnited States Senate | 0 / 2 |
| Seats in theUnited States House of Representatives | 0 / 2 |
| Seats in theIdaho Senate | 6 / 35 |
| Seats in theIdaho House of Representatives | 9 / 70 |
| Election symbol | |
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| Website | |
| www | |
TheIdaho Democratic Party is the affiliate of theDemocratic Party in theU.S. state ofIdaho.
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. senatorFrank Church and former governor and secretary of the interiorCecil 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 westernOregon,California and Nevada who supported aradical Republican agenda. However, towards the end of theCivil War, Idaho became flooded withConfederate refugees from states likeMissouri 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 thePopulists andRepublicans (Cleveland won only 2 popular votes in 1892), a fusion Populist/Democratic ticket behindWilliam Jennings Bryan's candidacy won the state with 78.1% of the vote with the support fromSilver Republicans. Nevertheless, the three– man congressional delegation remainedtwo-part Populist, one-part Republican.
It was not until the turn of the century that Idaho saw its first Democratic representation in Congress, SenatorFred Dubois,U.S. Marshal of theIdaho Territory and a former Republican. He successfully campaigned on the disenfranchisement ofMormons 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, hisanti-Mormonism as a Democrat had the same result after 1902.[3]
Though Democrats and Jewish governorMoses Alexander were able to implement a radicallyprogressive agenda with the backing of theNonpartisan League while in control duringWoodrow Wilson's presidency, they quickly ceded power and it was not untilFranklin 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'sNew 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 andfeminism, Idaho'sMormons left the party in droves. Meanwhile,unions lost influence in already declining mining and timber industries.[4]
Since 1994, when four-term Democratic governorCecil Andrus retired and RepresentativeLarry 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 in2008, Minnick was subsequently defeated for re-election by RepublicanRaúl Labradortwo 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 otherMountain West states, such asNevada andColorado, 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]
The following Democrats hold prominent mayoralties in Idaho:
| Election | Gubernatorial candidate | Votes | Vote % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | Benjamin Wilson | 7,948 | 43.65% | Lost N |
| 1892 | John M. Burke | 6,769 | 33.72% | LostN |
| 1894 | Edward A. Stevenson | 7,057 | 28.70% | LostN |
| 1896 | Frank Steunenberg | 22,096 | 76.79% | Won Y |
| 1898 | Frank Steunenberg | 19,407 | 48.83% | WonY |
| 1900 | Frank W. Hunt | 28,628 | 50.87% | WonY |
| 1902 | Frank W. Hunt | 26,021 | 43.18% | LostN |
| 1904 | Henry Heitfeld | 24,252 | 34.02% | LostN |
| 1906 | Charles Stockslager | 29,496 | 40.09% | LostN |
| 1908 | Moses Alexander | 40,145 | 41.61% | LostN |
| 1910 | James H. Hawley | 40,856 | 47.42% | WonY |
| 1912 | James H. Hawley | 33,992 | 32.22% | LostN |
| 1914 | Moses Alexander | 47,618 | 44.13% | WonY |
| 1916 | Moses Alexander | 63,877 | 47.49% | WonY |
| 1918 | H. F. Samuels | 38,499 | 40.05% | LostN |
| 1920 | Ted A. Walters | 38,509 | 26.93% | LostN |
| 1922 | Moses Alexander | 36,810 | 28.79% | LostN |
| 1924 | A. L. Freehafer | 25,081 | 16.82% | LostN |
| 1926 | Asher B. Wilson | 24,837 | 20.59% | LostN |
| 1928 | C. Ben Ross | 63,046 | 41.58% | LostN |
| 1930 | C. Ben Ross | 73,896 | 56.03% | WonY |
| 1932 | C. Ben Ross | 116,663 | 61.73% | WonY |
| 1934 | C. Ben Ross | 93,313 | 54.58% | WonY |
| 1936 | Barzilla W. Clark | 115,098 | 57.19% | WonY |
| 1938 | C. Ben Ross | 77,697 | 41.89% | LostN |
| 1940 | Chase A. Clark | 120,420 | 50.48% | WonY |
| 1942 | Chase A. Clark | 71,826 | 49.85% | LostN |
| 1944 | Charles C. Gossett | 109,527 | 52.64% | WonY |
| 1946 | Arnold Williams | 79,131 | 43.63% | LostN |
| 1950 | Calvin E. Wright | 97,150 | 47.44% | LostN |
| 1954 | Clark Hamilton | 104,647 | 45.76% | LostN |
| 1958 | Alfred M. Derr | 117,236 | 49.04% | LostN |
| 1962 | Vernon K. Smith | 115,876 | 45.36% | LostN |
| 1966 | Cecil Andrus | 93,744 | 37.11% | LostN |
| 1970 | Cecil Andrus | 128,004 | 52.22% | WonY |
| 1974 | Cecil Andrus | 184,142 | 70.92% | WonY |
| 1978 | John Evans | 169,540 | 58.75% | WonY |
| 1982 | John Evans | 165,365 | 50.64% | WonY |
| 1986 | Cecil Andrus | 193,429 | 49.9% | WonY |
| 1990 | Cecil Andrus | 218,673 | 68.21% | WonY |
| 1994 | Larry Echo Hawk | 181,363 | 43.88% | LostN |
| 1998 | Robert C. Huntley | 110,815 | 29.07% | LostN |
| 2002 | Jerry Brady | 171,711 | 41.73% | LostN |
| 2006 | Jerry Brady | 198,845 | 44.11% | LostN |
| 2010 | Keith G. Allred | 148,680 | 32.85% | LostN |
| 2014 | A.J. Balukoff | 169,556 | 38.55% | LostN |
| 2018 | Paulette Jordan | 231,081 | 38.19% | LostN |
| 2022 | Stephen Heidt | 120,160 | 20.28% | LostN |
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| National | |
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