Idaho Republicans want to get rid of all nonpartisan elections, saying current elections “obscure the ideological and moral frameworks” of elected officials.
This would include school board elections.
During its annual summer meeting, held in June, the GOP state central committee approved a resolution called for converting all nonpartisan elections into partisan races, beginning in 2026.
School trustees, mayors and city council members are currently elected in nonpartisan elections, held in November in odd-numbered calendar years. Partisan elections for congressional, statewide, legislative and county elections take place in even-numbered calendar years.
“Nonpartisan elections fail to provide voters with clear information about the moral and political stances of candidates, leaving citizens unable to hold officials accountable to a consistent party platform,” according to the resolution, sponsored by Ben Chafetz, a Boisean who ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for the District 17 state Senate seat.
The resolution calls out both school boards and city councils for pushing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, with a specific criticism directed at school boards. “The presence of sexual books and materials in school libraries and curricula, often championed by school board trustees and reflective of liberal ideologies, exposes children to content that may conflict with the values of many Idaho families.”
The resolution calls on state GOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon to present the partisan elections proposal to the 2026 Legislature — where Republicans hold nearly an 86% supermajority.
The concept of partisan school board elections is not new. In 2023, state Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, proposed a bill to require trustee candidates to declare a party affiliation, and run for two-year terms in the November election in even-numbered calendar years. The bill never made it out of a House committee.
A second GOP resolution would also affect school elections, by calling for further consolidation.
Sponsored by Boise Republican Lynn Bradescu, this resolution calls for eliminating all elections in odd-numbered calendar years. Holding all elections in even-numbered years would improve turnout, combat voter fatigue and save “untold amounts of taxpayer money,” the resolution says.
The resolution doesn’t directly address bond issue and levy elections, which school districts can schedule for May or November, in any year. But banning all elections in odd-numbered years would further limit schools’ options for seeking ballot measures.
Moon also has floated the idea of moving all elections to even-numbered years.
Gender identity
A separate GOP resolution would call on the Legislature to pass a far-reaching law that would strike all legal references to gender identity, gender ideology, gender expression “and any like terms.”
The resolution does not just refer to state law. It calls on lawmakers to ban similar language in local ordinances passed by “any taxpayer funded political division within the state.”
“Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women and men by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being,” reads the resolution, in part.
Its sponsor, Mike Hon of Meridian, has run unsuccessfully for the Legislature, mayor, City Council and library board.
