Bryan Smith, an ultra-right Republican and vice chair of the extremist Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), understands that the Open Primaries Initiative (OPI) will break the stranglehold his hardline branch of the GOP has over who gets elected to public office in Idaho. He let the cat out of the bag in August of last year when he said: “If Idaho gets ranked choice voting, we’re finished. It’s that simple.” Smith knows that getting rid of the closed Republican primary will allow every Idaho voter to have a say in choosing our leaders. No longer will the most extreme candidates have the best chance of winning the low-turnout primary and then coasting to victory in November.
Senator Dan Foreman in District 6 illustrates how a small minority of voters can game the closed primary system. Last May, Foreman won the GOP primary with the votes of just 9.39% of the registered voters in District 6. In 2022, he won with only 8.8%. He was by far the most extreme candidate both times. Foreman has called for women who get abortions, and doctors who perform them, to face first-degree murder charges. He petulantly told a member of the Nez Perce Tribe to “go back where you came from.”
Christy Zito, a close ally of the IFF, won the Senate primary against a hard-working traditional Republican, Geoff Schroeder, with 16.8% of the registered voters in District 8. The two reasonable House incumbents in District 8, Matt Bundy and Megan Blanksma, lost their races to other IFF extremists.
Another IFF darling, Brandon Shippy, beat a reasonable, pragmatic Republican, Scott Syme, with the support of 15.8% of registered voters in District 9. Julie Yamamoto, a strong champion of Idaho’s public schools, suffered a heart-breaking loss to IFF hardliner, Kent Marmon, in District 11. After an extremely ugly campaign, Marmon won with the support of only 9.5% of the registered voters. Brian Lenney, an extreme acolyte of the IFF beat a remarkable candidate, Jeff Agenbroad, with the support of 10.9% of the registered voters in District 13.
Chuck Winder, the President Pro Tem of the Senate, was a beacon of decency in the Idaho Legislature. He was defeated by Josh Keyser, a 2018 California transplant supported by the IFF. Keyser won with just 10.2% of the registered voters in District 20.
Extremists swept the field in Magic Valley’s District 25, thanks to the low-turnout GOP primary. Reasonable Republicans didn’t have a chance. Traditional Republicans in a number of North Idaho legislative districts don’t even contest the extremists in the closed GOP primary, knowing that the deck is stacked against them.
The OPI will eliminate closed primaries, giving every Idaho voter, regardless of party, the right to weigh in on who makes it to the general election ballot. That is why the extremists have launched such a furious campaign against the initiative. They understand what Bryan Smith was warning about. They will no longer be able to rely on a corrupt election system to perpetuate their grip on political power in Idaho.
Two GOP legislative leaders who hold office because of the closed primary, House Speaker Mike Moyle, who won with 14.4% of the registered vote in District 10, and Wendy Horman, who won with 13.2% in District 32, have promised to repeal the OPI if it is approved by voters. That seems rather arrogant but it clearly demonstrates the high stakes on the table with the OPI. The IFF and their extreme followers stand to lose if the majority of Idaho voters win.
Idaho voters face a stark “them-or-us” choice on the OPI in November. There are only two choices. Status quo voters, who want to perpetuate the system where extremist candidates scare up votes in the closed primary by stoking fear and outrage with meaningless culture war issues, will likely vote no on the OPI. Voters who are tired of the continual turmoil that has engulfed Idaho politics since the closing of the GOP primary in 2011, including reasonable Republicans like Butch Otter and Bruce Newcomb, will gladly vote a resounding “YES.”
