Idaho Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin wants to be the next head of the regional government after the November elections. But when the governor traveled on official business, she decided not to wait.
McGeachin, a far-right figure known for her opposition to COVID-19 vaccines and her ties to anti-government elements, proclaimed herself acting governor and attempted to dispatch National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, an order that it was flatly rejected by the commander of that force. He also tried to issue an executive order to prohibit any obligation to get the vaccine. Gov. Brad Little, also a Republican, reversed the order the next day while still in Texas.
While divisions among Republicans – especially supporters of former President Donald Trump – are common, they are rampant in one of the states with the largest Republican presence. The power struggle in Idaho has revealed how fierce – and according to others, how foolish – the battle for control of that political canopy has been.
Now prominent Idaho Republicans, relatively moderately leaning and fearful of the effects a radical right victory should have on the economy, are asking Democrats and independents temporarily registered as Republicans to vote in the party’s primaries in May.
“Everybody and their cousin should go to the primaries and cast their vote, that’s where it counts,” said Jim Jones, a Republican leader who was head of the Idaho Supreme Court and also its attorney general.
Traditional Republicans, who have controlled state government for decades, fear that if far-rightists like McGeachin take office, the economic consequences will be dire. Idaho, they fear, will no longer be able to attract tech companies or highly educated workers eager to get out of expensive West Coast cities.
Little, who has yet to announce whether he will run for re-election, would be considered a right-winger in many places. He has been a staunch supporter of reducing taxes and signed a law last year that prohibits transgender people from changing the sex indicated on their birth certificates.
However, at the same time he has angered the most right-wingers for calling on people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, although he has not imposed an obligation to get the vaccine, nor has it prohibited them. His temperament and track record build trust among entrepreneurship in the state, where the economy is beginning to move beyond its agricultural roots and hosting a fledgling tech sector in the Boise area.
Bob Kustra, a Republican politician who was president of Boise State University and former lieutenant governor of Illinois, wrote an opinion piece in the Idaho Statesman newspaper in which he warned: “The battle for the soul of the Republican Party in Idaho begins in the May primaries. ”.
“This is about rescuing Idaho from a group of people who have crossed out the name of the state at the national level,” Kustra said in a telephone interview. “The only way to get rid of these radical far-rightists is to attract more people to the Republican primaries.”
McGeachin was criticized for her sudden takeover, including by the head of the state lower house, also a Republican, who accused her of doing political theater.
But McGeachin looks unrepentant, following the strategy used successfully by the far right since Idaho Republicans declared their primaries closed a decade ago.
McGeachin has led campaigns against the use of masks and other sanitary measures dictated to stop the spread of the coronavirus. And he created a special commission to investigate the alleged “indoctrination” of children in schools and “protect our young people from the plagues of critical theory of racism, socialism, communism and Marxism.”
She was also criticized in 2019 for taking photos with members of an anti-government group. McGeachin defended himself, saying he was only expressing his support for a man sentenced to jail for participating in the 2014 confrontation on the estate of anti-government activist Cliven Bundy in Nevada.
What worries moderate Republicans most is McGeachin’s popularity with elements on the far right.
In Idaho, Republican primaries usually attract more far-rightists, and because Republicans dominate the local political machine, they often decide state political offices. Democrats will usually get 40% of the vote.
Republicans who are trying to scare off extremist elements are now trying to convince Democrats and independents that they can register as Republicans temporarily, in order to participate in the primaries.
“I think there is a misconception that only members of that party can participate in the Republican primary or the Democratic primary,” Kustra said, recalling that the primaries are financed with taxpayer money.
Discussions about new right-wing trends in Idaho use a lead to the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a libertarian organization that evaluates legislators based on how they vote.
The evaluations are used in the primaries against Republicans labeled too liberal and have been extremely effective, especially in the elections for the lower house of the state legislature, where they have succeeded in replacing moderates with more extremist elements.
Republican lawmaker Dorothy Moon days ago reminded the electorate of such assessments, in a failed far-right attempt to convene the legislature to ban vaccination mandates. Only 12 deputies appeared, much less than the necessary 36. Moon immediately poured out his fury against moderate Republicans.
"Get them out with your votes!" the legislator exclaimed to a crowd of about 150 supporters in front of the legislature’s headquarters. “It is not enough that they are good people.”
The Idaho Freedom Foundation generally supports any measure that involves less state presence in public life, and opposes any mandate to wear masks or to get vaccinated.
Idaho is currently in the midst of a health crisis as unvaccinated patients are flooding hospitals, in turn limiting medical care for other patients.
However, Wayne Hoffman, president of the foundation, recently wrote to him that the fault lies with the hospitals themselves. Hoffman did not respond to a call from the AP asking for his comment.
Critics also denounce that the ultra-rightists use fear, intimidation and misinformation. Many legislators, Jones points out, are hesitant to speak their minds so as not to have to compete with an extremist in the primaries.
In particular, Kustra insists the problem lies with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, whose political influence has grown since Republicans declared their primaries closed.
“They have had enormous power in the Republican primaries,” says Kustra.
“That is another reason why Democrats and independents should participate in the first Republicans, it would send a message to the Freedom Foundation that they are not the ones who rule the state,” he added.
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