Jim Woodward faces Scott Herndon in another rematch for Idaho senate District 1

Two candidates for Idaho’s northernmost state senate district who have traded the seat back and forth the last two election cycles are facing each other again.

Former state Sen. Scott Herndon is running against incumbent state Sen. Jim Woodward to represent Idaho State Senate District 1, which includes Boundary County and most of Bonner County, including Sandpoint.

Herndon unseated Jim Woodward in 2022, only to have Woodward reclaim the seat in 2024.

Herndon won the 2022 Republican primary with 56% of the vote. Then Woodward, who previously served in the Senate from 2018 to 2022, beat Herndon in 2024 with 52%. Just 613 votes separated them.

Since the district is reliably Republican, the May 19 primary is likely to determine the winner of the general election in November.

Woodward grew up in Bonners Ferry, spent 21 years in the U.S. Navy working in nuclear submarine propulsion and retired as a commander. He now owns Apex Construction Services, an excavation and marine construction business.

Woodward is running for re-election, he said, because of his ties to the community.

“I know what Idaho has been,” Woodward said. “Obviously we’re changing and growing, but at the same time we can still be the Idaho we always have been, which is a live-and-let-live type of place.”

As a lawmaker, Woodward said he always asks himself what the role of state government should be. The answer, he said, is to provide public safety, transportation and education. So, those are his legislative priorities.

The state has made lots of progress restoring public education since the Great Recession, Woodward said, such as improving teacher pay and health care, and school facility funding. Next year, Woodward plans to revise policy for how money is distributed to public schools, using the concept that “money follows the student.”

For public safety, Woodward wants to increase pay for Idaho State Police because the agency is struggling to keep enough troopers in the ranks.

And for transportation, he said the state has maintained its highways but has done little to expand capacity alongside population growth.

Herndon moved to North Idaho in 2004 after a career in finance and now owns a custom home construction business, Scott Herndon Homes. He is the chair of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee and has been endorsed by the Conservative Political Action Conference and the Idaho Freedom Political Action Committee.

While Herndon has taken criticism for his hardline stance on social issues, especially opposing transgender rights, abortion, COVID-19 restrictions and in support of school choice and parental rights, his top priority this round is to eliminate all property taxes.

In the Lake Pend Oreille School District, which includes Sandpoint, that would mean cutting around $12.7 million a year. That was 27% of the district’s budget this school year.

But Herndon said under his plan local taxing districts like public schools would be funded at the same level with the same annual increase limits, stopping excess state spending growth.

“We have a spending problem in Idaho,” Herndon said. “For the last six years, we have spent $600 per person in Idaho more than inflation and population growth. That means we have added $1.2 billion in annual spending above population and inflation just in the last six years. Had we taken that money and directed it toward property taxes, we would be able to pay half of the property taxes in Idaho currently.”

Woodward characterized Herndon’s proposal as handing local control to Boise.

“We make our best decisions closest to home and property taxes are a way to keep some of our local decision making in regards to what we are doing at the county and city level,” Woodward said.

Herndon insists local control would remain.

“You would still elect all of your local officials locally,” Herndon said. “They would be completely responsible for all of the authority and the responsibilities they currently have in Idaho code, and the only thing that would change would be their revenue source.”

Herndon said Woodward is out of sync with the district on a number of issues, including taxes, pointing to a vote Woodward made last year against a $253 million income tax cut that passed.

Woodward defended the vote, saying Idaho is now paying for the consequences. The reduction in revenues largely drew from the transportation budget.

“If we are wearing out the roads but we’re not taking care of the roads, really we’re living on the backs of our children,” Woodward said. “That’s not responsible leadership.”

Woodward also listed his record of supporting previous tax cuts, rebates, exemptions and tax relief.

“I have a track record of trying to keep Idaho citizens’ money in their own pockets,” Woodward said.

Woodward complained Herndon has misrepresented his record on campaign materials by purporting to know his motives.

Herndon said all of his campaign materials accurately report Woodward’s voting record and cited sources.

For an example of this debate, a clerical error on the Idaho Secretary of State’s Sunshine website for campaign finance misattributed to Woodward a $2,600 donation to the Idaho Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Before the mistake was corrected last month, Herndon sent out a campaign mailer that said Woodward donated to a Democratic political action committee.

Woodward said Herndon should have checked whether that was accurate first.

Herndon said it was reasonable to report since it was a public record, and that it is unfair to imply he knowingly lied about it.

“Jim could just explain to you why that campaign contribution appeared on the Secretary of State’s website, and instead, he decides to spin it as if I am lying about his record,” Herndon said.

Herndon said he stopped making that claim since he learned it was false.

Woodward said Herndon has yet to publicly correct the record.

“I think this election is about representation by someone who understands our community, someone who is working to support our local organizations, our towns, our counties,” Woodward said.

“I’m asking to represent the people; my opponent is telling people how to live.”

Herndon said the biggest issue facing the district and the state right now is affordability.

“People are concerned about the economy,” Herndon said. “They are also concerned about government overregulation and government spending. That all impacts affordability.”

With his background in finance, Herndon said he can “bring spending discipline to the state and relief to regular Idahoans.”