My Idaho 2024 Down-Ballot Votes
The races that didn't make the news cycle
Less than three weeks to Election Day, and here in Ada County, Idaho, early voting started this week! As I've done for the last few election cycles, I'm here to share with everyone how I'm voting on my personal ballot this time around, and my reasoning for those choices.
This time, I'm going all the way down-ballot, so my choices will become increasingly irrelevant for people who don't live super close to me. But since I do have a few family and friends in the area, there may be a few who might like some additional perspective. All underlined sections will link to the most relevant Ballotpedia page to that race, for more resources!
I'm skipping the presidential race on this one, because there have been plenty of words about that already, and surely there will be plenty more. For now, let's focus on the people that will really make an impact on the day-to-day politics.
U.S. Congress and State Legislature
U.S. House Representative - D1
Russ Fulcher (incumbent)
Matt Loesby
Brendan Gomez
As is tradition for me at this point, I'm starting with a race that isn't actually on my ballot, because every two years we have incumbents running for the U.S. House virtually unopposed, and I dislike all of Idaho's current U.S. delegation. Russ Fulcher is no exception; he would be a mediocre politician if he wasn't caught up in the culture wars. But he is caught up in them, which makes him a bad politician, and someday maybe Idaho will show him the door. I should also add that Mr. Fulcher has never responded to any of my official attempts to contact him about my concerns.
On the other hand, Kaylee Peterson looks like an all-around good candidate, who is running on a platform of several important things like improving education and healthcare, fighting political corruption, and supporting veterans. The third-party options are surprisingly worse than the incumbent due to neither of them having a clear, sane platform.
U.S. House Representative - D2
Todd Corsetti
Mike Simpson (i)
Idaho Law [aka. Carta Sierra]
David Roth is a decent choice here. He's running on a relatively small platform, but nothing I disagree with. He seems to care about real, down-to-Earth human stuff, which is always a nice change in politics. Todd Corsetti comes in second place barely ahead of Mike Simpson; as a Libertarian candidate, he has some odd views on certain issues, but he beats out Simpson on the tiebreaker of not being a 25-year incumbent.
As above with District 1, Mike Simpson simply needs to be voted out. He has responded to some emails but only with generic, copy-and-paste responses that serve to say "I'm going to stay the course." But Mike Simpson has been in politics longer than I've been alive. Let's all help Mr. Simpson retire sometime soon. Lastly, the politician known as "Idaho Law" is probably not fit to hold office.
State Senator - D18
Janie Ward-Engelking (i)
Both of these candidates ran unopposed in the primary, and I think they are both fine options. I voted for Ward-Engelking in 2022 because I was concerned about Dan Bridges' support for the Idaho Republican Party Platform, which I find troubling in places. But now, I understand that this "support" may just be a procedural thing for him to get funding from the party; he may have differing opinions and seems to be a good guy who will use common sense. I'm voting for Bridges this time because Ward-Engelking, while also decent, has been in this office for a decade.
State Representative - D18 (A)
Ilana Rubel (i)
Unopposed in the primary, unopposed in the general. Nothing to see here.
State Representative - D18 (B)
Brooke Green (i)
Same as above, no opposition this year. I hope that means they're doing a good job, but it probably just means it's a solidly-liberal district.
County Offices and ACHD
Ada County Commissioner - D1
Ryan Davidson (i)
Jonathan Lashley
Both of these candidates seem like great options, so this is really a tie. The incumbent, Davidson, has been in Republican politics for almost two decades, but in various roles so I kind of see that as a good thing rather than a "career incumbent" thing; he's very experienced, accomplished, and versatile. The challenger, Lashley, has largely worked in education administration, but his accomplishments listed online are also varied and impressive. He would be a great successor if he wins, but either way the runner-up in this race will probably have a solid future ahead of them.
Ada County Commissioner - D3
Tom Dayley (i)
I liked both of these candidates in their respective primaries (though Gutierrez ran unopposed), and they both seem to be qualified and decent people who represent their parties respectably. I do have a tie-breaker here, though: Tom Dayley's campaign signs are just a rip-off of Donald Trump's usual format (you'll know what I mean if you see one) with only a Republican elephant avatar at the bottom. These are both annoying campaign strategies to me. Gutierrez gets my vote by virtue of not being annoying, though again, they both seem qualified and competent.
Ada County Sheriff
Matthew Clifford (i)
Doug Traubel
Here's a weird one. This would have been a three-way race after the primaries but the Democratic candidate withdrew after receiving a prestigious appointment in Hawaii. So we're down to a Republican, Clifford, and a Constitutionist, Traubel. Clifford seems to have been doing a decent job in the role for the last few years, so I feel like he has a good case for keeping the job. And unfortunately, his opponent Traubel has literally written a book claiming that "Marxists" have infiltrated and corrupted all areas of law enforcement, so probably not the most stable option for a sheriff.
Ada County Prosecuting Attorney
Jan Bennetts (i)
This one was hard to pick, because the incumbent, Bennetts, seems to have been doing a decent job. She cares about victims of crime, and she has good experience. But her challenger, Baldauf, is running on a platform of focusing on the root causes of crime and preventing people from offending, and re-offending, in the first place. As someone who has spent over a decade working in the criminal justice system, I can really relate to these priorities. Nothing against Bennetts, but I really hope Baldauf gets this position so he can work on those goals.
Ada County Highway District - Zone 1
Antonio C. Bommarito
This race has no incumbent, and is another tough one for me. Both candidates seem like great options who could bring good, new ideas to the table and help transportation in the area. Bommarito, for example, partly focuses on the terrible timing of some traffic lights in recent years, which is a big pet peeve of mine. But Nilsson is getting my vote for two reasons: One, I voted for her for a different position two years ago because she seemed great, but she lost; and two, she specifically wants to make roads safer for bicyclists, and my own mom spends a lot of time on the road riding her bike. I don't mind voting to help keep my mom safe out there!
Fourth Judicial District Court
For this section, I'm just going to list which magistrates I'll be voting against retaining, since there are a lot of these. I won't list my reasoning for each one, because it was very cursory research and probably won't matter much. I'll be voting "YES" for any that are not labelled "NO". But I don’t even know what you would do with this information, honestly. Feel free to skip this section if you plan to skip it on your ballot; no judgement!
Ransom Bailey - NO
Susan Clark
Danica Comstock
Kira L. Dale - NO
Michael Dean
Andrew Ellis
Laurie A. Fortier
Theresa Gardunia - NO
Cathleen MacGregor Irby - NO
Regan C. Jameson
Joanne Kibodeaux
David D. Manweiler - NO
Michael McLennan
Kyle Schou
Diane M. Walker
Abraham E. Wingrove
State Ballot Measures
Idaho Constitutional Amendment
Vote - NO
The United States Constitution has had 27 amendments in 237 years. The Idaho Constitution has had 135 amendments in 134 years. I think maybe the Idaho Constitution is either deeply flawed, or far too easy for an overly reactive legislature to amend at the slightest provocation.
This proposed amendment is ostensibly to prevent non-citizens from voting, but this is already against the law both in Idaho and federally. So it seems that this amendment is not only unnecessary, but is more likely some tactical move for the crafters as a means to add more red tape to an already-convoluted system that should probably be simpler.
We don't need this amendment. We need to have fewer laws and amendments like this. No thanks.
Proposition 1
Vote - YES
I've researched Proposition 1 quite a bit and written at length about it. I am fully in support of Proposition 1, both for the open, top-four primaries and the ranked-choice general election voting. I love it all, and it's well worth the cost that is much lower than detractors would like you to believe. I've wanted something like this for Idaho for quite a while before I signed the petition, and I hope it passes.
If you don't like Proposition 1, or you don't know enough about it to know if it's a good choice, I would love to have a conversation with you about it, if only to explain why I think its downsides are overblown and why it can help our state significantly going forward. Vote "YES" on 1 if you want healthier politics!
Well, that's it! Quite a lot, but I hope it does someone some good. I obviously don't expect that anyone should agree with everything I've put here. But this could be a good jumping-off point for someone who's been putting off their own election research. Feel free to hit me up with any questions or advice on these candidates; I'd be grateful if someone points out something important I've overlooked before Election Day!
And make sure you’re ready to vote when the time comes! States have been making a lot of changes to elections for the last few years, and you don’t want any surprises when the time comes, so it never hurts to check!
As someone who has been putting off their own election research, I super appreciate this! All in such a clear and easy-to-read format to boot.