Idaho

This webpage houses the responses to 8 questions crafted by the Idaho Stance on Science team.

Only official candidates who will appear on ballots were contacted.

Candidates were contacted in October 2026 (with a follow-up to those who did not initially respond) and given the opportunity to answer the questions selected for their race. Only the responses of candidates who answered the questions are included. None of the candidates' responses were modified in any way before being published on this resource page.

For the November 2026 General Election, only candidates in the following elections were contacted:

Note: not every question below was posed to every candidate. The race or races each question was asked of are listed beneath it.

If you want to know how a candidate would answer a question they were not asked, we encourage you to reach out to that candidate directly. Contact us at idahostanceonscience@gmail.com if you need help reaching out.

1. In 2026, the Idaho Department of Water Resources projected a 181,600 acre-foot shortfall for senior surface water users and ordered curtailment of 924 junior groundwater rights on the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, affecting farms, cities, businesses, and school districts. The 2024 groundwater mitigation plan is scheduled to be renegotiated in 2027. What policies, if any, would you support to manage Idaho’s aquifers sustainably, and how would you balance competing demands from agriculture, growing communities, industry, and the environment? (see "Environment")Asked of: State Senate, State House of Representatives candidates.
2. Proposed data centers in Kuna, along with Micron’s planned expansion, could require a large share of Idaho Power’s current generating capacity. In 2026, the Legislature passed laws requiring data centers to recycle cooling water and to cover the full cost of the electricity they use, but left existing data center tax incentives in place. How should the costs and benefits of large data center development be divided between developers and the public, and what further requirements on power, water, or tax incentives, if any, would you support? (see "Energy")Asked of: State Senate, State House of Representatives, Governor candidates.
3. By mid-August 2026, nearly 700,000 acres had burned in Idaho, including about 580,000 acres in Owyhee County’s Big Grass Fire, and the state’s fire suppression fund was depleted in June. What policies, if any, would you support to reduce wildfire risk on Idaho’s forests and rangelands, and what role should scientific research and monitoring play in those decisions? (see "Climate")Asked of: US Senate, US House of Representatives, State Senate, State House of Representatives, Governor candidates.
4. Idaho has one of the highest school vaccine exemption rates in the country, 15.9% in the 2025-26 school year, up from 7.9% in 2019-20, and the state has recorded measles cases in 2026 as national cases reached their highest level since 1991. As a policymaker, how do you approach engaging with communities that have concerns about infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety, and what policies, if any, would you support related to these issues, and why? (see "Public Health")Asked of: State Senate, State House of Representatives, Governor candidates.
5. Many rural Idahoans now travel an hour or more for specialty care. What policies, if any, would you support to improve access to health care in rural Idaho, and what evidence would you use to measure progress? (see "Public Health")Asked of: US Senate, US House of Representatives, State Senate, State House of Representatives, Governor candidates.
6. Idaho National Laboratory, the University of Idaho, Boise State University, and Idaho State University rely substantially on federal research funding; the University of Idaho’s research funding reached a record $140 million in 2024. As a member of Congress, you would vote on appropriations for federal science agencies, including the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What priorities, if any, would guide your decisions on federal science funding, and why? (see "Science Funding")Asked of: US Senate, US House of Representatives candidates.
7. Electricity demand in Idaho is rising, driven in part by proposed data centers and new semiconductor manufacturing, and Idaho National Laboratory is the Department of Energy’s lead laboratory for nuclear energy research, including the testing of advanced reactor designs. What role, if any, do you believe sources such as nuclear, hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind, and geothermal should play in the country’s future energy mix? What federal policies, if any, would you support related to energy development, regulation, and/or research, and why? (see "Energy")Asked of: US Senate, US House of Representatives candidates.
8. Since H5N1 avian influenza was first detected in Idaho dairy cattle in 2024, Idaho has had among the highest numbers of affected dairy herds in the nation, with dozens of herds placed under quarantine in southern Idaho in 2025. Outbreaks can reduce milk production, disrupt farm operations, and expose farmworkers to infection. What federal policies, if any, would you support to strengthen agricultural disease surveillance and outbreak response, and what evidence or considerations would inform your approach? (see "Agriculture")Asked of: US Senate, US House of Representatives candidates.