Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, has announced that rather than seek a fifth term in the Senate, she'll run for Bonner County commissioner. "After talking to my family and at the urging of many constituents, I have decided it is time for me to focus my efforts on directly improving things here in Bonner County,” she said in a statement; click below to read her full announcement.

Broadsword, a member of the powerful Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee and vice-chair of the Senate Health & Welfare Committee, said, “As a county commissioner I will apply the same conservative principles.”

Senator Joyce Broadsword announces run for Bonner County Commissioner
     Sen. Joyce Broadsword announced today she will be seeking the Republican nomination for the District 1 Bonner County Commissioner seat.
     In contemplating a run for the Idaho Senate in the new District 7, Broadsword stated, “I am grateful to the voters of our region, including southern Bonner County, for allowing me to represent them in the Idaho Senate. I really enjoyed my work in the Senate and I am torn. But after talking to my family and at the urging of many constituents, I have decided it is time for me to focus my efforts on directly improving things here in Bonner County.”
      “I am running for County Commissioner because I feel the experience and knowledge I have gained as a state senator in the past eight years could be put to use to benefit Bonner County.   As a Bonner County native it is important to me to assure our county has joined the 21stcentury and is ready to meet the challenges,” Broadsword said.  
     Broadsword’s priorities include economic development, supporting local input in decisions made in Boise, providing common sense conservative values to local issues, and assuring our county lives within its means while addressing important functions of county government necessary to the quality of life we have all come to desire.  
     As a state senator, Broadsword has served for the past six years on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, making the tough decisions needed to balance the state budget without raising taxes.  
     “As a county commissioner I will apply the same conservative principles,” Broadsword said.
     She has developed a strong reputation of someone who says what she will do and does what she says.
     “Joyce has demonstrated her ability to take her private business experience into the public arena and use it to manage taxpayer dollars conservatively,” said fellow Senator Shawn Keough. “Joyce does the homework needed to know the nuts and bolts of running an efficient and cost-effective government that protects taxpayers' pocketbooks while providing the public services that are needed.”
     Broadsword is a graduate of Sandpoint High School.  She has been the owner of a courier service for a regional medical laboratory for over 20 years and the co-owner of a Log Homes manufacturing business here in Bonner County since 1978.