Issues

Public Lands

As a longtime North Idaho resident and a wildfire GIS specialist on Incident Management Teams, I’ve seen firsthand how forest practices affect communities. Large‑scale clearcutting can increase erosion, reduce habitat, and contribute to more severe fire behavior. Public lands play a vital role in recreation, tourism, wildlife, and wildfire resilience, and once they’re sold, they’re rarely recoverable for public use. I support keeping public lands public and ensuring that access remains open and affordable for everyone who already pays to maintain them.

IN SHORT: Public lands support recreation, tourism, and wildfire resilience. Privatization reduces access and increases fire risk, and is irreversible!

Schools

I support school choice. But school vouchers create a parallel taxpayer‑funded system without oversight. diverting everyone’s tax dollars into unregulated private education systems with no accountability, no curriculum standards, no staff background check requirements, and no limits on what counts as “educational expenses.” The majority of Idahoans are against supporting this, and I agree.

IN SHORT: Families shouldn’t feel forced to leave the public system because it’s underfunded.

Healthcare

Besides rapidly climbing cost-of-living expenses, rising medical costs are putting more pressure on Idaho families and rural hospitals. Medicaid expansion remains one of the state’s most cost‑effective tools: it brings in about $1 billion per year in federal funding while Idaho covers only 10%. It reduces uncompensated care, helps keep rural hospitals open, and prevents cost‑shifting to local taxpayers. As a longtime rural Idaho resident and former volunteer EMT, I’ve seen how essential affordable, accessible healthcare is for small communities.

IN SHORT: Rural families feel these cuts the most, as fewer providers and higher bills make even basic care impossible to afford.

Development

North Idaho is seeing rapid growth in large commercial, industrial, and multi‑acre tech projects. Hyperscale AI data centers may follow. While these developments bring investment, many add few long‑term jobs and place heavy demands on water, power, transportation, and nearby neighborhoods. For communities that value Idaho’s natural landscape, environmental impacts matter. I will support fair tax policy and careful evaluation to ensure major projects deliver real benefits that outweigh long‑term costs to our residents.

IN SHORT: Idaho should evaluate large commercial developments carefully to protect resources, ensure tax fairness, and guarantee real community benefits.

Minimum Wage

Idaho’s minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009, and every attempt in the Legislature to raise it has been voted down.  Meanwhile, housing costs have risen 40–60% in many counties, and our neighboring states offer much higher wages, pulling workers away. Idaho now has one of the highest rates of working poor in the country.

I understand that small rural businesses cannot absorb a sudden, drastic increase. But modest, phased‑in adjustments, starting at $10-12 and including informed input by local businesses, would help workers afford housing and reduce reliance on public assistance programs like Medicaid and SNAP. I know that people here spend money locally, so when they earn a living wage, it will strengthen our rural economies.

In short: I support a living wage that raises Idaho’s floor so that people who work full‑time can afford housing, food, and basic needs without relying on public assistance.