Two PACs with East and West coast money spend in Idaho legislative races

A conservative PAC with East Coast money and a liberal PAC with West Coast money have reported electioneering expenses in Idaho legislative races, with a particular focus on candidate’s stance on the abortion initiative on the November ballot.

The conservative Citizens Alliance of Idaho PAC has reported about $9,500 in independent expenditures on a west Boise race in District 15 between Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, and Republican challenger Steve Keyser. Berch’s campaign has raised the most money of all legislative candidates this year with a total of $213,580. Keyser has raised $44,460.

The PAC, which has received $556,000 in contributions this cycle from the Northern Virginia-based Citizens Alliance Political Action Committee, has spent $4,736 in literature opposing Berch and an equal amount supporting Keyser. In the same filing it reported $8,298 in opposition to Proposition 1, the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act that would legalize abortion before fetus viability, and post-viability in cases of “medical emergency.”

Planned Parenthood Votes Idaho PAC last week reported a smaller amount of independent expenditures, $957, on 25 candidates running for the Legislature and another $246 in support of Proposition 1.

The PAC this election cycle received $40,000 from a federal Planned Parenthood Alliance PAC based in Seattle and $20,000 from Boise residents Katie and Scott Andrews.

Here’s the list of legislative candidates the Planned Parenthood Votes Idaho PAC is supporting and opposing:

Support (All Democrats) Oppose (All Republicans)
Sen. Melissa Wintrow Sen. Dan Foreman
Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking Rep. Dustin Manwaring
Sen. Carrie Semmelroth Scott Herndon (D1 Senate)
Sen. Ron Taylor  
Sen. James Ruchti  
Rep. Ilana Rubel  
Rep. Soñia Galaviz  
Rep. John Gannon  
Rep. Anne Henderson Haws  
Rep. Monica Church  
Rep. Chris Mathias  
Rep. Megan Egbert  
Robin Weldy (D6 Senate)  
Trish Carter-Goodheart (D6 House A)  
Megan Woller (D16 House A)  
Karlie Easley (D22 Senate)  
Amanda Easley (D22 House B)  
Kevin Marsh (D26 House B)  
Mary Shea (D29 House A)  
Nate Roberts (D29 House B)  
Jan Brown (D33 Senate)  
Chance Marshall (D33 House A)  
Sean Dolan

Sean Dolan

Sean previously reported on local government for three newspapers in the Mountain West, including the Twin Falls Times-News. He graduated from James Madison University in Virginia. Contact him at sean@idahoednews.org

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