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A former legislator who lost her 2024 re-election bid by 83 votes wants her seat back, despite the deluge of attack ads she faced two years ago from out-of-state school choice political action committees.

Rep. Chris Bruce, R-Kuna, faces a rematch with Melissa Durrant in the May 19 Republican primary for District 23 House Seat A covering rural Owyhee, Ada and Canyon counties.

Bruce, a first-term legislator who sits on the state’s budget-writing committee, said education has changed over the years and kids learn in a variety of ways. While he sends his kids to public schools, he said that’s not the best fit for some families who choose private, charter, virtual or home school environments.

“If the state’s going to put money towards public education, then it should follow the kid,” he said

After a 2024 vote against a private school tax credit bill, the school choice group American Federation for Children decided to heavily target Durrant. Its Idaho Federation for Children PAC, which is funded by out-of-state money, two years ago poured $80,655 into Idaho to oppose her. So far this year, the AFC Victory Fund has spent $38,318 to oppose her.

Durrant said she could not believe the amount of mailers the group sent out in 2024 to oppose a freshman legislator.

“I had kids and they would see it,” Durrant said. “Their high school friends would sometimes get mailers before we did, and they would be like, ‘Hey, this one’s bad.'”

Bruce said he wants to rein in the out-of-state money, regardless of whether he benefits from it or not.

“Money comes from everywhere, right?” he said. “We see it in all elections and all cycles. We see it even in spending with ballot initiatives. Good, bad or ugly, it’s there.”

Bruce ran an efficient campaign in 2024, getting strong results with relatively modest spending. His primary campaign spent just $2,731, with no support or opposition from political action committees.

“I don’t do a lot with campaigns,” he said. “So I’ve just tried to be involved in the community.”

Meanwhile, Durrant’s 2024 campaign spent $38,331. PACs spent $23,978 to support her and $97,797 to oppose her, bringing total spending to $160,106.

When asked if it was a difficult choice to get back into the fray, Durrant said folks in her district told her they need someone to represent them.

“When it came down to it, my kids, my husband were like, ‘Let’s do this, Mom. We want to do this again,'” she said.

Bruce almost died from leukemia a few years back and was in the ICU for 33 days. He said that experience shaped how he and his wife approach life.

“After that time, we kind of looked at what we want to do and what we want to provide,” Bruce said. “We try to serve in our community and just, you know, pay it forward.”

Bruce is now a Kuna City Council member and state legislator, while his wife is a trustee for Kuna School District.

“I always represent the people,” Bruce said. “No matter what chair I sit in, I try to look out for them.”

He said he is able to fulfill his duties to both of his roles. Two days a month during the session, he said he leaves the Statehouse and goes straight to the city council meeting.

As a member of the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, Bruce said budgeting is a balancing act. He focused on the Legislature’s constitutional duties and the burden placed upon the taxpayer.

“I talked about this a lot within health and welfare,” Bruce said. “Yes, folks need these services, but what about the taxpayer that may be working two or three jobs and not using any of these programs?”

Bruce said educating kids these days is much different than what he experienced. Now, kids learn in many different ways. That’s why he thinks school choice is so important.

“I think wherever the kid learns best, that should be the parent and the kid’s choice. So whatever that looks like,” he said. “Now, when I say I’m pro school choice, that’s what I mean.”

When it comes to education, Bruce said he wants more accountability.

He said higher education leaders spoke to JFAC this year about how they are spending more money on remedial classes. Bruce said kids should know that they might get held back if they don’t complete assignments or learn at the level they should be at.

“Honestly, if we’re passing kids up who aren’t prepared, that doesn’t help them any, and it doesn’t help the state any,” he said.

He was happy to see a bill pass this year that created “earned autonomy” for school district funding. House Bill 883 gives public schools more flexibility in spending state funding if they show high proficiency in state assessments.

“Limiting some public schools and rewarding other ones — I’d like to see us look at that as a whole and maybe allow schools, just like agencies do, to be able to use the funding as they see fit,” he said.

While Bruce’s campaign has benefitted from out-of-state lobbying and PAC spending from the American Federation for Children, he told EdNews that he wants to rein it in. “I think getting back to where it’s just you and the community out spending time, that’s what I try to do.”

Bruce said he has spoken to American Federation for Children lobbyists at the Statehouse but has not communicated with the group’s PAC, which cannot coordinate with candidates on independent expenditures.

“That’s been the craziest thing is getting calls from people who had questions about it, and you’re like, ‘Look, I don’t know who’s sending it,'” Bruce said. “There’s nothing that I can stop or start.”

Durrant has been busy since being voted out of office two years ago.

She earned a master’s degree last spring and is wrapping up her first school year as a speech language pathologist for the Kuna School District.

Her daughter, who was born with a bilateral cleft lip, inspired her to enter the profession.

Working in special education has given her perspective of how legislation impacts schools, and she said the work is rewarding. She loves being with the kids and seeing their excitement when they learn to say new words.

“They’ll come and stop me in the hall and be like, ‘Look, I can say this one now,'” she said.

But Durrant has a target on her back.

In 2024, she served on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee and was one of seven Republicans to reject a bill that would have created a $50 million private school tax credit.

Durrant said she stands by her vote. She opposed HB 447 in part because there was no priority for low-income families.

“I tried working with the sponsors of the tax credit when I was there, and we just couldn’t come to terms on something that would work,” she said.

The next year, legislators passed a similar $50 million tax credit in HB 93. The new program gives priority to families who make under 300% of the poverty level.

“Whether people are for that tax credit or not, when you look at it, a better bill came the next year because we voted no on that first one,” Durrant said.

Due to her vote against the 2024 tax credit bill, the Idaho Federation for Children PAC spent $80,655 and the national super PAC Make Liberty Win spent $17,142 to oppose her in the primary. Both groups are funded by out-of-state money.

Durrant said she wonders why those groups spent so much money to send out campaign ads against her.

“I was just a freshman legislator,” she said. “I don’t have a seniority weight to me. I don’t have a leadership weight.”

While the PACs say she opposes school choice, Durrant told EdNews that she supports school choice.

“My thing that I think people don’t like is that school choice is a catchphrase,” she said. “We need to focus on making sure it’s good policy.”

Durrant said she decided to run for office again because she thinks she could represent constituents better than Bruce. She said her opponent wears two conflicting hats with seats on the city council and in the Legislature.

“He couldn’t give either one his full attention,” she said.

Durrant said she values freedom, family, personal property rights, Second Amendment, local control and limited government.

“When you look up Republican in the dictionary, the values, you know, what Republicans stand for, I can honestly say I’m looking in the mirror,” Durrant said.