Secretary of State
Election Results
| Candidate | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Lawerence E. Denney (R) | 241,745 | 56.20% |
| Holli Woodings (D) | 188,431 | 43.80% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
About The Race
This contest is for an open seat due to the retirement of longtime GOP Secretary of State Ben Ysursa. Vying to take over are Republican Lawerence Denney, former speaker of the Idaho House, and state Rep. Holli Woodings, D-Boise. Four-year term. Position pays $101,150 a year.
The Candidates
Lawerence E. Denney
- Party:
- Republican
- City:
- Midvale, Idaho
- Occupation:
- State representative
Farmer and nine-term state representative. Denney served four years as majority leader and three terms as House speaker, before becoming the first Idaho House speaker ousted by his own caucus in 2013. As speaker, he sponsored Idaho’s Voter ID law, unilaterally killed bills, removed committee chairs who didn’t toe the line, and quashed long-sought financial disclosure legislation for lawmakers. After his removal as speaker, he chaired the House Resources Committee. A Vietnam veteran, Denney is a University of Idaho graduate.
Holli Woodings
- Party:
- Democratic
- City:
- Boise, Idaho
- Occupation:
- State representative
Renewable energy consultant, first-term state representative. Woodings co-owns a high-tech firm with her husband, Ryan; she got her start in politics through volunteering to run a successful campaign for a school levy. She is a fair-elections advocate who has pushed for making voting easier, including unsuccessful legislation to allow voter registration when Idahoans register for a driver’s license. Woodings is a Boise State University graduate.
Complete Coverage
Eye on Boise: Ysursa advises successor Denney to ‘stay the course’
Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, as he accepted a major civic engagement award from the City Club of Boise last week, had this message for his successor, Secretary of State-elect Lawerence Denney: “Folks will be watching.” Ysursa said, “My advice to him is stay the course” when it comes to Idaho elections. He noted that Denney already has decided to keep Ysursa’s current chief deputy, Tim Hurst, and as much of the current staff in the office as possible.
Otter retains office; Ybarra holds slim lead
BOISE – Idaho GOP Gov. Butch Otter won a rare third term Tuesday over Democratic challenger A.J. Balukoff after a hard-fought race, while the race for state superintendent of schools was too close to call at press time. First-time Republican candidate Sherri Ybarra narrowly led Democrat Jana Jones, a former chief deputy state superintendent, in early returns in the superintendent’s race, the state’s closest race.
Woodings challenges Denney to quit his state pension
BOISE – Idaho secretary of state candidate Holli Woodings is calling on her GOP opponent, former House Speaker Lawerence Denney, to give up his state pension, in light of his comments at a live debate last week that he doesn’t believe elected officials should be on the state pension system. “If we want a fair and honest person as our next secretary of state, that person should be willing to live under the same rules he or she wants everybody else to live under,” Woodings said.
Bill for Idaho federal land legal fees up to $61,375
BOISE – The bill for outside legal fees in Idaho’s long-shot attempt to take over federal land within the state has now swelled to $61,375, according to documents obtained by The Spokesman-Review under the Idaho Public Records Act. The law firm Holland & Hart has submitted invoices to the Legislature for work from April to August totaling $19,613; that’s on top of the $41,762 the firm already had been paid before then.
Timing of Denney committee tour raises eyebrows
The Federal Lands Interim Committee, a joint legislative interim committee co-chaired by Rep. Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, and Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, has scheduled a seventh public hearing, this one in Sandpoint on Sept. 12. That’s in addition to the six already scheduled during the next two months, including Sept. 11 in Kamiah and St. Maries; Oct. 9 in Idaho Falls and Soda Springs; and Oct. 10 in Twin Falls and Hailey. The swing around the state already has prompted a “jeer” from the Lewiston Tribune’s editorial page that Denney “just happens to be making a series of statewide swings at taxpayer expense, right in the middle of campaign season, including stops next month in Kamiah and St. Maries.” Denney, former speaker of the House and current House resources chairman, is running for Idaho secretary of state; he faces Democrat Holli Woodings in the November election.
Huckleberries: Aside from the humidity, it’s heaven on Earth
Ben Stein, the former Nixon speechwriter famous for his role as the economics instructor in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” feels our pain as he suffers from heat at his Sandpoint getaway. Before praising Pat Buchanan’s new book about Richard Nixon, Stein writes in the American Spectator: “The real problem is the humidity though. We left D.C. to escape the humidity. It was unbearable, like being in a steam room with your suit and tie on. We do not have much humidity in L.A., but we sure have plenty of it here in North Idaho this summer.” Conversely, Stein said he enjoys “the incredibly tasty kettle corn” and posing for photos with the friendly people at Sandpoint City Beach. Then, there’s “Lake Pend Oreille, limitless cool blue expanse of water, blue sky, clouds, and mountain forests.” In a parting salute to the region, Stein tells of his “brilliant, world-traveling sister” who had just concluded a trip to Tanzania. She told him that Tanzania is beautiful but no more beautiful than North Idaho – to which Stein adds: “No place is.” And all God’s over-heated children in our piece of paradise responded: Amen. A promise fulfilled: State Rep. Holli Woodings, D-Boise, has already fulfilled one campaign promise in her uphill battle for secretary of state against former House Speaker Lawerence “Boss” Denney. To her 3-year-old daughter, Mary. Rep. Woodings, who also has a baby son, was traveling with Mary last week when she visited Coeur d’Alene. Woodings told Huckleberries that she gets lonely for her family when she’s traveling around the state alone. On Monday, Woodings made her third campaign visit to the Lake City. During an earlier visit, Hollings promised her daughter that she could play in the new McEuen Park splash pad next time they visited Coeur d’Alene – weather permitting. The weather was outstanding on Monday. So the Boise Democrat kept her promise. Not many politicians do that.