GOP ‘rising star’ or behind ‘the worst legislation’ in Idaho? Meet Jordan Redman

BOISE – Jordan Redman was late for an Idaho House committee meeting.

The chairman, Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, called the morning Health and Welfare Committee meeting to order that day in March, with one member short. He paused, noticing the Coeur d’Alene Republican’s absence. “I’m sure he’s at another committee introducing another RS,” he said, a term for draft legislation.

In just a few months’ time, Redman, a newer 39-year-old North Idaho legislator, this year became known as the lawmaker whose name appears on a series of major, controversial bills this legislative session, ranging from teaching Bibles in schools, removing services for some immigrants, cutting Medicaid expansion, creating a DOGE task force, and eliminating candy from SNAP benefits – a promotion of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement under President Donald Trump. And those are just the bills that made the most headlines.

A commenter on the Idaho subreddit said Redman was “always associated with the worst legislation coming out of Idaho.”

Redman, who first ran for the District 3 seat in 2022, hasn’t always been so prolific with sponsoring bills. In 2023, his name appeared on around 11 of the 380 House bills introduced that legislative session. His proposals addressed topics like state park liability, tobacco taxes and some early attempts at cutting Medicaid.

This year, he sponsored almost 30 House bills. In late March, when lawmakers introduced a resolution to limit representatives to only 12 bills per session, lawmakers joked about it targeting Redman.

Majority Caucus Chair Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, characterized him as a “rising star” in the Idaho Republican Party.

“He’s very smart,” Crane told the Idaho Statesman. “He’s done great. Jordan has a large bandwidth and a lot of capacity. He’s very determined to get his legislation across the line.”

But some legislators have raised concerns that many of Redman’s bills were crafted by outside groups, and were unwanted with Idahoans.

With Trump’s re-election last year, Redman said he gained some momentum.

“I truly didn’t seek out to do controversial bills,” Redman told the Statesman, sitting in his office with a Ronald Reagan quote about the fragility of freedom framed on the wall. “Part of the reason I’m here is obviously for my children and their children. We’ve just seen government change and the function of government change, and freedom is probably one of the biggest things that I hold close to me.”

Redman recalls North Idaho roots, decision to run for office

Redman said his work this legislative session was inspired by his fundamental belief that government should help people get a leg up but not “lord over them” forever.

He was born and raised in Spirit Lake and now lives in Hayden. He had a rural upbringing, and was homeschooled and constantly outside – hiking, hunting big game, fishing on Lake Pend Oreille and “doing all the fun little boy stuff” with his dad, raised on the ideals of limited government, he said.

He had a “really great childhood,” he told the Statesman.

He attended North Idaho College and Whitworth University. He transferred to the University of Idaho and studied business management, but left early to start making money, employed by his dad’s insurance agency, after he got married at the age of 20.

Not long after, Redman was charged with his first DUI, and was charged with a second one later in his 20s. He told the Statesman they were “bad decisions” he learned from.

Redman met his future wife, Amy, while playing sports with the local high school she attended, he recalled. They connected through mutual friends after a game he played in. They were married for five years before having kids, Redman said. Now the couple has six children, ranging from ages 12 to a 1-year-old. Redman said he’d like more, but his wife will make the call.

“You don’t know you could love anything as much as you love your children, so it just changes your whole perspective on a lot,” Redman said.

Amy said her husband was somewhat interested in the Legislature, but had no immediate plans to run until he was asked to do so. Redman loves problem-solving, Amy said. Any time he hears of an issue, he wants to “jump in with both feet.”

“As much of a people person as he is, he really cherishes his time of peace and being at home,” Amy said.

The whole family, including two dogs, came down to Boise for the legislative session. Redman was spotted around the Capitol building with his children, who are home-schooled.

Redman said he saw how stressed his father, Eric Redman, was when he served as a state lawmaker, and didn’t plan to run for office. Ultimately, Jordan Redman said he prayed on the decision and kept “getting direction from the Lord to do it.” He told the Statesman he has no ambitions for higher office, and is happy to serve in the Legislature.

“I ended up doing this kicking and screaming,” Redman said. “And it’s been an excellent experience.”

Redman lauded by Idaho Family Policy Center

Redman sat on a patio in downtown Boise on a March evening, celebrating with Sen. Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, hours after their bill to limit the state’s Medicaid expansion passed.

Multiple Medicaid bills were introduced this session, including House Bill 58 by Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, which would have repealed the expansion program outright. One of Redman’s versions, House Bill 345, made it over the finish line.

The final attempt passed along party lines and removed a previous bill’s trigger to repeal Medicaid expansion if it couldn’t overcome nearly impossible hurdles, according to previous Statesman reporting.

“I would rather address the issue head on and try to reform it rather than get rid of it all together,” Redman told the Statesman.

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, told the Statesman that many of the bills Redman sponsored this legislative session came from outside influencers and were “at odds with the interests of the people of Idaho.” She pointed specifically to Republicans’ efforts to cut Medicaid, when voters overwhelmingly supported its expansion in a citizen-led ballot initiative in 2018.

Redman worked on the Medicaid and the SNAP bills with the Florida-based conservative think tank Foundation for Governmental Accountability. The Idaho Family Policy Center, a conservative lobbying group that helped craft some of Idaho’s anti-abortion laws, pushed for the bill on Bible teachings. He also introduced a bill to classify abortion pills as controlled substances, a measure that became law in Louisiana last year. The proposal didn’t make it far in Idaho.

Rep. Ben Fuhriman, R-Shelley, a freshman legislator, told the Statesman generally he was surprised so many pieces of legislation this session came from “bill mills” and “had national agendas trying to push themselves in Idaho.”

“We have solutions looking for problems,” Fuhriman said. “I don’t know that half the time, the bills that come out of these groups are actually things that our citizens are even worried or concerned about.”

Redman said he believes it’s good to learn from think tanks “and other experts in the fields we legislate” to craft the best laws they can for the state.

He has also been criticized for having a financial interest in health care measures, including those that involved Medicaid. Redman is the owner of a private equity company – some of that work involving the health care industry – pharmacies and a private insurance agency. He said only 1% of the agency’s portfolio is health insurance.

His father, 79-year-old Eric Redman, said his son is “not afraid to present bills that he feels are important.” Eric served District 2 from 2014 to 2018, and is perhaps most well-known for his attempts to ban Idaho courts from deciding cases based on Sharia law, despite no evidence of that happening, according to previous Statesman reporting.

Many of his son’s bills are “a challenge with some people,” Eric said, but even with controversial bills like Medicaid, his son was able to help put together a compromise. Eric spoke to the Statesman while attending a Heritage Foundation conference in Florida.

A number of Jordan Redman’s bills faced internal backlash from his party, including a personal bill he cosponsored – with Rubel – to legalize medical marijuana. Rubel asked him to join the bill to honor Jeremy Kitzhaber, a retired U.S. Air Force sergeant who has been battling cancer, Jordan Redman said.

In a narrow scope, medical marijuana could benefit people, Redman said. But he acknowledged medical marijuana is more popular outside the Statehouse than in.

GOP lawmakers also knocked his bill that would have mandated public schools to teach the Bible.

“This country was settled by people that weren’t moving to religion, they were moving away from state-mandated religion,” said Rep. Jack Nelsen, R-Jerome, according to previous Statesman reporting. “To me, this picks a particular religion’s Bible, and I am not for advancing this.”

The bill never received a hearing. But his work with the Idaho Family Policy Center awarded him the 2025 Christian Statesman of the Year, President Blaine Conzatti told the Statesman.

Redman attended the center’s Statesmen Academy program for new Christian legislators in 2023, Conzatti said. The training program is offered through the Family Policy Alliance, a national partner of the Idaho center, Conzatti told the Statesman. Other legislators who attended the program include Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, and Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, according to Conzatti.

The Idaho Family Policy Center has been looking to work with Redman on legislation ever since his training, Conzatti said.

“He boldly stands for biblical values in government and in schools and in the public square,” Conzatti told the Statesman. “We were really excited to work with him and we look forward to continuing to work with him.”

Redman said he got a lot of phone calls against that proposal.

But he contended that the Bible is part of Idaho’s history and tradition.

“Trust God” is printed one of the bracelets he wore during the Statesman interview, as well as “I love you Dad,” and other messages from his oldest daughters.

“I believe that this is the right path of the state, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to agree,” Redman said. “If it’s not a good bill, it’s going to get voted down.”