Convention Concludes With Conservative Sweep

From the moment that Dorothy Moon took the gavel in Twin Falls two years ago, the old guard has been scheming to get it back. They launched personal attacks, op-eds, and even lawsuits in their bid to regain control of the Idaho Republican Party. They spent a lot of money on precinct committeeman races hoping to take control of the county and legislative district committees, and with them, the state convention.

Dorothy Moon won election in Twin Falls over Tom Luna 434-287, giving her a margin of 147 and a share of 60.2%. Today in Coeur d’Alene, she defeated Mary Souza 376-228, giving her a margin of 148 and a share of 62.3%.

Moon’s victory ended up the closest race of the day. Despite some nasty text messages sent during the nomination process and an attempt to forcibly insert Sen. Chris Trakel as an alternate candidate for national committeeman, the conservative slate held strong.

The new Idaho Republican Party officers are Chairwoman Dorothy Moon, 1st Vice Chair Mark Fuller, 2nd Vice Chair Viki Purdy, Treasurer Steve Bender, Secretary Maria Nate, National Committeeman Bryan Smith, and National Committeewoman Vicki Keen.

I will have a lot more to say about the events of the convention over the next days and weeks. I will examine the vote counts to see what we can learn about the continuing evolution of Idaho conservatives within the party, take a look at the amended platform and the resolutions that came out of the convention, and figure out the next moves of both the Republican Party and the Gem State Conservatives.

A few stray thoughts before finishing this article:

Mary Souza apparently left upon learning the outcome of the chair race, not even staying for the announcement. Sour grapes indeed!

Trent Clark made a very classy statement of support for Dorothy Moon after she implored him by name to unite the party. Maybe there is hope for a united front going forward.

I want to give a special shout out to Rep. Steve Miller and Sen. Kevin Cook. We disagree on some things, but both men were there for the entire convention and participated in debate within the Platform Committee.

It was my honor to serve as secretary of that committee on short notice, which is why there was no article last night. I needed to prepare the Platform Committee report so that delegates could read through it this morning.

Dustin Hurst did a great job recapping each day of the convention on Twitter.

It was so much fun to meet so many of my online friends (and antagonists) over the past three days.

I’ll write more about this soon, but a major theme of the Gem State Conservative officer candidates was that they all looked backward. Nearly every one invoked Ronald Reagan, and they all talked about things that occurred 20, 30, or 40 years ago. Voters and activists are ready to look forward.

Finally, Sen. Brian Lenney summed up another major theme on Twitter this evening. The results of this convention prove that 2022 was not a fluke. The events of the past four years have awoken a sleeping giant and filled it with terrible resolve. The American people are taking their country back, and it is a movement that is here to stay.

I’ll have more analysis soon. Thank you to everyone who reads and shares my work. It was so gratifying to meet so many people this week who value what I do. Thank you!

Gem State Chronicle is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.