Updated at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 9 with a statement from Christine Ivie, who says she is not planning on running at this time.

Two independent conservative Christian candidates have taken steps to run for Senate and House seats in a notable Idaho swing district.

District 26 — covering Blaine, Lincoln and Jerome counties — had a close three-way race for the Senate in 2024 that led to the re-election of Sen. Ron Taylor, D-Hailey, by a 1.7% margin.

Independent candidate Kala Tate received 10.5% of the vote and told the Twin Falls Times-News days after the election that she achieved her campaign’s goal and “stole several thousand votes” from Republican Laurie Lickley in order to elect Taylor.

God told her to run, Tate added.

Tate said Lickley is a very powerful politician and wanted to keep her out of the Idaho Legislature.

“That was ultimately all we were supposed to do and it worked, so praise God,” Tate told the Twin Falls newspaper.

Tate is now the campaign treasurer for two family members with active accounts in Idaho Sunshine for the 2026 election. Naming a campaign treasurer is typically a precursor to running.

For the Senate, Shaila Joanne Tate, a board member at Heritage Academy Charter School in Jerome, named Kala Tate as her campaign treasurer on Jan. 27.

Republican Christine Ivie, the superintendent of Heritage Academy, has also named a campaign treasurer for the seat. Ivie in 2019 filed a $500,000 defamation claim against the Idaho Public Charter School Commission after commissioners in leaked audio of an executive session made offensive comments about Ivie.

But Ivie told EdNews on Monday, Feb. 9, that at this time she is not planning on running.

“Our school is working on a campus expansion plan that will require a great deal of fundraising,” Ivie wrote in an email. “I think it would be challenging to run for office or serve in the Legislature while we are working on that project.”

For House Seat A, Isabella Grace Schiffler, a Jerome County Republican precinct committee person elected in 2024, also named Kala Tate as her campaign treasurer on Jan. 27.

On Schiffler’s Substack blog, she wrote last month that the government has too much power and “we need to take it back.”

“They decide what our children are being taught in school and unfortunately, it’s wokism,” Schiffler wrote. “The government is beyond corrupt. They reap the reward of our labor, rob us, cheat us, brainwash us, feed us propaganda, poison us with the processed foods we eat, and so much more. We need to start paying attention.”

District 26 is solidly purple.

In 2020, Democrats held all three legislative seats, elected by wide margins. After redistricting in 2021, the margins became very tight. Two Democrats and one Republican controlled the district after the 2022 election:

• Senate: Taylor beat Lickley by a 3.6% margin.
• House Seat A: Democrat Ned Burns defeated Republican Mike Pohanka by just 37 votes, or 0.24%.
• House Seat B: Republican Jack Nelsen defeated Democrat Karma Fitzgerald by 84 votes, or 0.54%.

In 2024, Republicans picked up another seat, leaving Taylor as the only Democrat in District 26 today, thanks in part to Kala Tate’s independent campaign that siphoned votes from Lickley. The House results:

• House Seat A: In a rematch, Pohanka flipped the seat away from Burns by 535 votes, or 2.4%.
• House Seat B: Nelsen won re-election over Democrat challenger Chris Hansen by 683 votes, or 3%.

With a history of tight margins and two independent candidates potentially on the ballot in District 26, there’s no telling what might happen in November.

The filing period to run in Idaho is Feb. 23 to 27.