A Chance to Send a True Conservative Voice to Boise

By Cody Barr

For years, voters in Legislative District 6 have heard candidates promise conservative leadership, only to watch those same candidates soften once they arrive in Boise. This November, we have a genuine chance to change that pattern by electing Colton Bennett to represent District 6A in the Idaho House of Representatives.

Just take a look at Bennett’s résumé: he enlisted in the U.S. Army straight out of high school, served seven years on active duty and in reserve, deployed overseas as a combat medic, and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. He came home to Moscow (now Troy), built a career as a medical assistant at Gritman Medical Center, presently serves as a Firefighter/EMT at Kamiah Fire and Rescue, and started a family with his wife, Sydney. He didn’t wait for permission to serve his community — he’s been doing it as a precinct committeeman for the Latah County Republican Party.

Two years ago, running as a first-time candidate against sitting Rep. Lori McCann, Bennett came within a few points of unseating her outright, finishing at roughly 40 percent to McCann’s 44, with a third candidate splitting off just enough votes to save her seat. This time around, McCann bowed out early rather than find out whether Bennett could finish the job. Instead of defending her House seat, she opted to run for the District 6 Senate seat – where she lost anyway.

This year Bennett went toe-to-toe against a last-minute filing candidate – another moderate insider with name recognition, institutional support, and a deluge of campaign ads and mailers funded by special interest groups. What Bennett lacked in resources from wealthy cronies, he made up for in sweat and hard work: campaigning on foot, door-to-door, and face-to-face with his constituents. Bennett decisively won the Republican primary, taking nearly 62 percent of the vote. This is what professionals in politics call a mandate. Voters made it clear two years ago that the establishment’s time had passed, and now they’ve cemented it.

Voters are getting a breath of fresh air with a candidate whose platform matches his rhetoric. Bennett is unapologetically pro-life. He has also pledged to protect the Second Amendment without carve-outs or compromise, at a time when gun owners across the country are watching state legislatures chip away at their rights one “reasonable” restriction at a time. He supports a permanent cap on how much local taxing districts can raise property taxes each year, paired with real accountability for how governments spend what they already collect. Anyone who has opened a property tax bill in Latah, Nez Perce, or Lewis County the last few years knows why that matters – rising valuations have hit renters and homeowners alike, and young families are being priced out of the market his own generation is trying to enter.

Bennett has also talked about protecting the Snake River dams and our hydroelectric power base, rather than letting Idaho’s cheap, reliable energy get traded away in someone else’s political deal, while keeping an open mind toward next-generation nuclear power as a long-term complement, not a replacement. And he’s been clear that the emergency powers exercised by the government during COVID-19 should never again go unchecked by the legislature; if elected, he intends to make sure the branch closest to voters keeps that authority in check.

Idaho doesn’t lack candidates who call themselves “conservative”. What it lacks are representatives willing to actually vote that way once the elections are over and the lobbyists show up. Bennett’s military service, his decisive primary win, and his specific, uncompromising positions on taxes, life, the Second Amendment, and government overreach all point to a representative who will do what he says.

District 6 voters have a real opportunity this November to send someone to Boise who reflects our values instead of merely campaigning on them. I’ll be voting for Colton Bennett, and I hope you’ll join me.

Cody Barr is a Republican Party precinct committeeman from Moscow who owns the Refuge Cigar Lounge.

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The Gem State Chronicle brings you news and analysis that empowers you to make positive change in Idaho. Established 2022.

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