All Democratic candidates for Idaho governor have been registered Republicans [View all]

Democratic voters next week will choose among one candidate on the ballot and two write-in candidates for governor — all of whom have had a history with the Republican Party.

The only name on the Democratic primary ballot for governor has run for office as a Republican. Stephen Heidt, of Marsing, told the Idaho Statesman that he has been an unaffiliated voter since the 1990s. He ran for Congress as a Republican twice in Utah, once in 1986 and again in 1994.

In March 2020, he registered as a Democrat because he thought the party was “most in line” with his values, he said.

Heidt isn’t the only one with ties to the Republican Party. Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad, a write-in candidate hoping to secure the nomination, was unable to make the candidate filing deadline last month because he was a registered Republican. He said his past affiliation with the GOP was strategic.

Read more at: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/election/article261425317.html