U.S. Representative

Outspoken conservative Rep. Raul Labrador has largely ignored his Democratic challenger, Boise attorney James Piotrowski, as he runs for a fourth term in Congress. But Labrador did hold 20 mini-town hall meetings around the district in August, which ostensibly were official, not campaign, events, answering questions from voters and staunchly defending his positions, including his advocacy for state management of federal lands and criticism of his own party’s leadership in the House.

Piotrowski has faulted Labrador for voting against the military budget and other key funding measures; and he’s been critical of Labrador’s “First Amendment Defense Act” that seeks to grant new federal protections to those who oppose same-sex marriage, calling it “dangerous and extreme.” “The 1st District needs a congressman who works for Idaho, not for his own ideology,” Piotrowski said. An avid outdoorsman and longtime volunteer with Trout Unlimited, he’s made public lands access a central issue of his campaign; this is his first run for office.

Labrador lists his top issues as opposition to abortion and Obamacare; supporting development of natural resources on federal lands; supporting civil liberties; cutting federal spending; and reforming immigration laws through a “step-by-step approach” rather than a comprehensive overhaul. This year, he co-sponsored legislation on criminal sentencing reform and state management of federal lands.