LD1 and Bonner County Candidates Face Voters at Sandpoint Primary Forums
Candidates vying for contested seats in Idaho Legislative District 1 and Bonner County offices met voters face-to-face at Sandpoint High School on May 4 and May 5, making their cases ahead of the Tuesday, May 19 primary election. The two-night forum series drew roughly 150 attendees across both sessions, with questioning covering tax policy, education funding, public lands, and the reach of outside political organizations.
The forums were co-sponsored by 88.5 FM KRFY Panhandle Community Radio, sandpointonline.com, the Bonner County Daily Bee, the Selkirk Association of Realtors, and the Sandpoint Reader. Full audio recordings are available at krfy.org. Friday is the deadline to request an absentee ballot for voters who wish to participate in the May 19 primary without appearing at the polls.
Tax Cuts, Revenue, and Budget Trade-Offs Dominate LD1 Discussion
All six candidates competing for contested District 1 legislative seats are Republicans, setting up a contest over the direction of Idaho’s fiscal policy rather than a partisan divide. Questions about tax cuts and state spending generated the sharpest exchanges.
Incumbent House 1A Rep. Mark Sauter acknowledged the challenges the 2026 Legislature faced in covering revenue gaps left by prior tax reductions, along with conforming to federal budget legislation. He expressed cautious optimism, saying expenditure cuts this year mean things should work out as long as lawmakers keep a close watch on future tax reductions.
His challenger for the 1A seat, Jane Sauter (no relation), took a more aggressive line on spending, arguing that programs carried over from the COVID-19 era should be eliminated if they are not producing results.
Incumbent House 1B Rep. Cornel Rasor highlighted what he described as the compounding benefits of lower tax rates, noting that Idaho’s income tax rate has dropped from 7.4% to 5.3% while General Fund income tax receipts have grown from $1.6 billion to $2.7 billion. He also called for eliminating funding for hundreds of vacant state employee positions. His challenger, Chuck Lowman, urged caution against broad, unexamined cuts. Lowman raised concerns that fully eliminating property taxes would push county governments to depend on Boise, and instead floated a blended approach combining a reduced property tax with a quarter-percent local option sales tax.
The Senate contest between incumbent Jim Woodward and former one-term senator Scott Herndon produced some of the forum’s most pointed exchanges. Woodward, who said he voted for multiple income tax reductions, argued that cutting the rate to 5.3% stripped the state’s ability to maintain core services — pointing specifically to roughly $250 million removed from the transportation budget and budget maneuvering required to cover the Idaho Department of Lands, including fire suppression funds ahead of summer.
Herndon, whose campaign centers on eliminating property taxes, identified Medicaid expansion as a major budget pressure, calling it “way more expensive than we were told.” He framed the issue as a choice between government dependency and free markets.
Public Lands, Education Funding Divide the Field
Education funding emerged as a point of broad agreement in principle but sharp disagreement on mechanics. Every candidate expressed support for public education, and all indicated the current funding formula needs reform — particularly regarding how rural and urban districts receive state dollars.
Herndon argued that because the state already covers the majority of public education costs, the Legislature could fully fund schools and remove reliance on property taxes. He also proposed shifting the allocation basis from attendance to enrollment. Mark Sauter agreed enrollment should be a factor but said attendance must still count, and flagged underfunded special education costs as a priority. Jane Sauter advocated for expanding state funding for education alternatives and proposed redirecting approximately $80 million currently directed to the LAUNCH Program into K-12 education. Lawmakers’ decisions on education funding during the recently concluded legislative session are shaping these debates — including the governor’s recent veto of a bill affecting graduate medical education funding.
On public lands, Herndon pointed to efforts in the Senate to preserve public access to Lake Pend Oreille at Camp Bay while also stating his opposition to transferring long-held federal lands. Woodward challenged Herndon’s current stance, saying the challenger previously campaigned openly on selling public lands. Both Lowman and Mark Sauter took firm positions against any land sales, each pointing to the Good Neighbor Authority as a vehicle for greater local involvement in managing federal acreage, especially with wildfire risk in mind.
What Comes Next
Bonner County voters will head to the polls for the Idaho primary election on Tuesday, May 19. Candidates who advance through the Republican primary in these uncontested-general districts will effectively secure their seats in the fall. Voters seeking to participate by mail should be aware that the absentee ballot request deadline has passed or is imminent. Full forum audio from both nights remains available through KRFY’s website for voters who missed the live events.