COEUR d’ALENE — Having only three months to pull the Republican Party together is both a challenge and a blessing of sorts, said the party’s new chairman, Steve Yates.

“We have a large party looking to find a way to work constructively through an election cycle and then get beyond the election cycle and figure out where to go from there,” Yates said.

The Idaho Falls businessman was in Coeur d’Alene for the recent gubernatorial debate. He is also on a statewide listening tour, where he is meeting with Republican leaders to discuss how best to repair the fractured party.

Yates was elected party chairman in August after a judge determined his predecessor was not legally elected at the GOP convention earlier this year.

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