Four-term Rep. Steve Berch wants to continue to use his voice to counter the Republican supermajority and argue that Idaho has a revenue problem.

Republican challenger Steve Keyser said he has been frustrated with Berch’s liberal record. He wants to bring a fiscal conservative perspective to District 15 House Seat A.

“It’s a conservative state,” Keyser said. “It’s got a very conservative populace.”

Berch ran and lost four times before his first victory in 2018. In a district covering West Boise and East Meridian, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than two to one, Berch said his year-round door-knocking strategy, paired with town halls and newsletters, has convinced enough Republicans and independents to keep sending him back to the Statehouse.

 “I’ve walked every street in my district three or four times over the years, and it informs me,” Berch said.

He has raised the most money of all candidates running for the Legislature, with $250,165 in contributions from 2,723 separate donations. He said his fundraising numbers show that his constituents like what he is doing.

“It’s just very humbling that people have been so generous with their support of me,” he said.

Keyser — a retired police officer and father of Sen. Josh Keyser, R-Meridian — wants to scrutinize state spending and focus on funding public schools, emergency responders and infrastructure.

“I wouldn’t call it a revenue problem,” he said.

He said Idaho’s $50 million Parental Choice Tax Credit is not taking away from public schools, and he wants the state to continue to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom.

“I’m trying to address myself primarily to those Republicans who are conservative and not necessarily aware of his voting record,” Keyser said of Berch.

Berch narrowly won re-election in 2024, with 50.5% of the vote against Republican Annette Tipton. Before that, he defeated Keyser in 2022, with 53% of the vote. Now, four years later, the two face a rematch for the House seat.

There are two sides to every budget, Berch said, and the Republican Party focuses on spending.

When he’s talking to voters, he focuses on the other side.

He said the Legislature has excluded billions of dollars in revenue through accumulated sales and income tax exemptions, some going back to the ’60s, which are not reviewed regularly. Then, he said, the majority party tells voters the state has a spending problem.

“That’s like coming home and saying, ‘Honey, guess what? I just quit my job, and I took another job that pays 30% less. So now we have a household spending problem,'” Berch said. “No you don’t. You have a self-inflicted revenue problem.”

After eight years in office, Berch said he is proud to be a voice in the Legislature that isn’t afraid to use the microphone to counter the narrative of the Republican supermajority. He said the Idaho GOP has lost touch after decades in power.

“This isn’t a partisan issue,” Berch said. “It’s really human nature. You wind up taking your power for granted, which means you take your voters for granted.”

Berch said he stays current with what his constituents care about by knocking doors year round. Connecting with voters gives him a deeper perspective and helps him identify unintended consequences in bills.

In a district with more than twice as many registered Republicans than Democrats, Berch credits his electoral success over the years to meeting people face-to-face.

“Most people, in fact, are willing to vote for the person, but they never get to meet the person,” he said. “And when they do, a lot of that partisanship falls by the wayside.”

During an interview with EdNews, Berch repeatedly mentioned the state’s revenue problem.

He said many of the tax exemptions in Idaho are not bad, but they aren’t reviewed. If the Legislature found that 90% of them should be kept and 10% should be retired, he said that could flow roughly $600 million in the general fund every year.

That money would help the state adequately fund public schools without forcing homeowners to vote on bonds and levies. And the state would have enough money for infrastructure, allowing the Idaho Transportation Department to move forward with projects to meet the needs of the growing state.

He said the Legislature’s fiscal policy is geared toward a version of Idaho that no longer exists, after years of rapid population growth.

“When you explain to people what the Legislature has done that they never talk about, which is how much revenue they’ve taken off the table, people understand that,” Berch said.

Berch said the state’s revenue problem is starving public education, leading to program cuts and staff cuts. When he served on the House Education Committee, he said it was pitiful to hear university presidents start their presentations discussing how much money they cut from their budgets instead of looking forward.

“The Legislature’s attitude towards education, both K-12 and higher education, is they view it as an expense to be minimized instead of an investment in our children to be maximized,” Berch said. 

From his experience knocking on doors, Berch said he has noticed an uneasiness and dissatisfaction within his constituents. He said it’s very possible that Democrats could gain seats in November.

“I think that when election time comes around, people recognize that as their one opportunity to register their satisfaction or dissatisfaction,” Berch said.

Keyser is running to represent the conservative perspective in District 15.

“There is a contrast between me and my opponent,” Keyser said. “I know my opponent, based on his statements and his written communications, is more in the category of the liberal tax and spend, tax and spend, and he doesn’t really see Idaho as having a spending problem.”

He said Democrats like to try to promise everything to everybody, but that’s not a responsible approach to budgeting. The government instead should protect the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, while ensuring that people are safe and well educated.

“We can’t meet every human need,” he said. “We have to meet the needs that individuals and families and communities cannot reasonably meet within themselves.”

If elected, he said he would take a conservative fiscal approach and scrutinize the budget.

“I do want lots and lots of responsible spending — which the state needs — but I just want to make sure that it is what our government should be doing in terms of how they use their money,” he said.

Keyser has experience inside public schools. He served in law enforcement for 23 years and supervised the D.A.R.E. program, which teaches students to stay away from drugs. Being in schools and interacting with kids instilled in him a strong support for public schools, but also led him to be open-minded about other options for families.

He said all of his four adult children went through the public school system. He and his wife then became foster parents and adopted a son who is now 10. Keyser said his young son attended public school for one year, but struggled, and now attends a private Christian school.

While in public school, Keyser said his son came home one day from second grade and said he hates America.

There has been a lot of positive movement recently in ensuring public schools are focused on the important topics, Keyser said, like strengthening civics education and moving away from the “very politicized DEI-type messaging,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“There’s maybe some kind of internal conflict and confusion that gets created when you’re presenting too much material that’s not really age appropriate,” he said.

On the $50 million Parental Choice Tax Credit, Keyser said it is very reasonable to give parents a tax credit for taking responsibility for their kids’ education. When parents choose private schools, he said it provides some relief to the public school system.

But Keyser said his top priority is ensuring public schools are funded. The big question, he said, is whether the tax credit takes money away from public education. Keyser said it does not.

“I do believe that $50 million is truly not being stolen or taken away from the public schools,” he said. “It does come from the budget, but not from the school budget.”

Keyser does not support the recent addition to the Idaho GOP platform that calls for the abolition of property tax, which he said is way too far, way too fast. He does support the elimination of the grocery tax.

He described himself as a kind and loving person. If elected, he would try to find common ground with everyone to reach a common goal in the Legislature.

“I’ve always been a person who loves all people,” he said. “I never met a liberal Democrat that I didn’t love, never met a human being that I didn’t love, and so I appreciate every aspect of kindness and generosity.”