State Senate
Election Results
| Candidate | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Shawn Keough (R) | 17,264 | 76.29% |
| Steve Tanner (D) | 5,365 | 23.71% |
* 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
Sen. Shawn Keough has been elected by this district to serve in the Senate every two years since 1996 and has risen to co-chair the Legislature’s powerful joint budget committee. Keough has long made her priorities in the Legislature education, transportation, and issues that help rural Idaho.
Her Democratic opponent this fall, Steve Tanner, previously ran against her as a Republican in 2010. She bested a challenger from the right in the primary. Tanner, whom local Democrats disavow, is a tea party conservative who opposes Idaho’s current system of public education, which the Idaho Constitution makes the Legislature’s No. 1 job; distrusts the nation’s monetary system; and believes states can nullify federal laws.
The Candidates
Shawn Keough
- Party:
- Republican
- Age:
- 64
- City:
- Sandpoint, Idaho
Education: Graduated from Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1978. Attended North Idaho College and Lewis-Clark State College.
Political background: Incumbent state senator, seeking re-election for an 11th two-year term. Elected to the Senate every two years since 1996.
Work experience: Executive director of the Associated Logging Contractors for the past 16 years. Previously worked for 12 years as timber information program manager for the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. Before that, managed restaurants and bars in North Idaho.
Family: Married. Has two adult children and two grandchildren.
Steve Tanner
- Party:
- Democratic
- Age:
- 71
- City:
- Bonners Ferry, Idaho
Education: Graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1971. Holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Idaho, 1975.
Political background: Ran for state Senate in 2010 as a Republican; ran for state House in 2014 as a Democrat. Lost in the primary both times.
Work experience: Worked as a self-employed logger for about 12 years; has been self-employed in log home building, timber frame construction and wood products manufacturing for about 40 years.
Family: Married. Has eight grandchildren and 15 grandchildren.
Complete Coverage
Lawmakers may consider expanding tax incentive for boosting jobs in small, rural towns
Idaho lawmakers may consider expanding a jobs incentive that state officials say already is generating hundreds of new jobs in the state; Sandpoint Sen. Shawn Keough says it could do more for small, rural communities like those in her North Idaho district. You can read…
Pols: Harassment claims ‘believable’
Claims of election-related intimidation and harassment in North Idaho’s Bonner and Boundary counties haven’t been confirmed by authorities, but for some local politicians, both Republican and Democrat, the claims are believable and reflective of hardened political views, writes S-R reporter Eli Francovich in today’s Spokesman-Review.
District 1: Politics heat up in Idaho’s northernmost legislative district
In Idaho’s northernmost legislative district, the legislator who made headlines when she displayed the Confederate battle flag at a local parade and visited occupiers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff in Oregon is fighting for re-election in a race that’s drawing attention across the state. Controversial Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard…
Politics heat up in Idaho’s District 1 legislative races
Controversial Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, a first-term lawmaker who made a splash by visiting the occupiers at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff in Oregon and displaying a Confederate battle flag during a local parade, is being challenged by Kate McAlister, president of the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, and the contest has focused much attention on Idaho’s northernmost legislative district.
Huckleberries: Idaho’s driver’s license rules ageist
Councilman Dan English of Coeur d’Alene consoled himself last week while waiting and waiting – and waiting –for his turn to renew his driver’s license. At least, Dan thought, he would pay extra and receive a license that was good for eight years, instead of four. But that’s an option in Idaho only if you’re under age 62. Dan no longer is. So, like a teenager getting his first license, Dan was rewarded for his long wait with a four-year one. “I hope some ‘seasoned’ legislator is reading this and plans to right this (wrong) next session,” lamented Dan on his Facebook wall afterward. “Haven’t they heard that the sixties are the new forties?” No, but we now know that for those 62 and up four is the new eight at the DMV. Also tired of waiting
Huckleberries: Closed Republican primary in Idaho attracts Democrats
The strategy by conservative hardliners to close the Idaho GOP primary may have backfired.
Three North Idaho lawmakers backed by Idaho Freedom Foundation lose seats in Idaho primary
Three North Idaho lawmakers lost their seats in Tuesday’s primary election. The three – Reps. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton; and Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood – have something in common: They’re all among the top 10 scorers in the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s “Freedom Index.” The conservative lobbying group launched a new campaigning arm this year, Idaho Freedom Action, and pushed hard to boost lawmakers like these three and take out other Republicans it deemed too moderate. But the push largely failed.
Of District 1 legislative races, the ‘American Redoubt’ and politics in North Idaho…
In Idaho’s northernmost legislative district, Republican Party politics has been pulled farther to the right in recent years with the rise of the tea party. But now a new element is pushing the party farther still: the arrival of conservative Christian “preppers” fleeing more populated states, who see the region as a “redoubt” – a place to…
Redoubt movement helps push North Idaho politics to extreme right
In Idaho’s northernmost legislative district, Republican Party politics has been pulled farther to the right in recent years with the rise of the tea party. But now a new element is pushing the party farther still: the arrival of conservative Christian “preppers” fleeing more-populated states, who see the region as a “redoubt” – a place to settle and defend themselves when the whole country goes bad.
Repeal of Idaho’s fee on hybrid cars may be dead
Legislation to repeal an unpopular $75 annual fee on hybrid vehicles that Idaho lawmakers passed last year may be dead for this year, unless House Transportation Chairman Joe Palmer belatedly decides to give the Senate-passed bill a hearing.
Idaho Senate passes bill to limit homeowner’s exemption
Idaho’s long-prized homeowner’s exemption from property tax would lose its inflation index, under legislation that won final passage in the state Senate late Tuesday and now heads to the governor’s desk.
‘All business’ approach will compete with pre-election posturing in Idaho Legislature
BOISE – When the Idaho Legislature convenes Monday, it will face a push-pull between two competing goals for the session: A desire for a quick, “all-business” session that wraps up well before the May primary election, versus a desire to roll out hot-button issues on which lawmakers want to stake out stands before they seek re-election.