Idaho ought to belong to the people who live here. Our schools, elections, tax dollars, and future should never be auctioned off to the highest spender. But out-of-state PACs and billionaire-funded groups with misleading names and hidden agendas want exactly that.

They are pouring money into Republican primaries and coercing votes from lawmakers once they take power. Campaign costs are lower in Idaho than in larger states and they have figured out it doesn’t take much to buy our elections.

Look at Citizens Alliance of Idaho PAC. The group has already spent more than $135,000 to support legislative candidates ahead of the May 19 primary. Every incumbent it supports voted for the $50 million school voucher scheme, while their opponents who were in office voted against it. Nearly half a million dollars has flowed into the PAC, and less than 2% came from Idaho.

The American Federation for Children, founded by billionaire Betsy DeVos, dropped more than $400,000 last cycle to elect pro-school voucher candidates and punish anyone who stood in its way. It spent more than $140,000 lobbying in Idaho this year and its political arm has already dropped $50,000 on media buys attacking two Republicans. If 2024 is any guide, that is likely just the opening shot.

While the spending is alarming, their strategy is worse. These groups know many Idahoans are skeptical of vouchers that drain resources from neighborhood schools, so they rarely make a straight argument for their agenda. Instead, they fund unrelated attacks, twist records, and use fear to distract from what they are trying to buy.

That distinction matters because lawmakers should answer for real votes. This year, the Republican supermajority slashed Medicaid so severely four people who relied on mental health services died, cut LAUNCH scholarships that prepare our future workforce, reduced education funding, and voted down efforts to make housing more affordable. Voters deserve to know all of this.

Yet far-right, billionaire-backed groups often support those harmful votes. Their goal is not accountability. It is obedience. That is why voters are seeing salacious claims designed for shock value, including the false suggestion that lawmakers voted to put pornography in public libraries. That claim distorts a book-banning law that librarians warned was unworkable.

For the May primaries, ultra-rich groups are aiming those attacks at Republicans who aren’t in lockstep with their agenda. But they will use the same tactics against Democrats and independents come November.

Better campaign finance laws would help. But disclosure alone will not solve the bigger problem.

The way to put people back in charge is to restore competition, break one-party control, and elect more Democrats who will answer to Idaho voters first.

Onward,

Lauren Necochea
Idaho Democratic Party Chair