COEUR d’ALENE — For Idaho State Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, the fifth time’s the charm.

“Democrats can win where they don’t normally win or haven’t won in a long time,” he said Saturday evening, speaking as the keynote of the 17th annual North Idaho Democracy Dinner in the Best Western Plus Coeur d’Alene Inn.

“Anyone at any time — the person sitting next to you, a person you know — can win an election,” he said.

Berch first got involved in Ada County politics when the highway district wanted to take a two-lane road next to his house and turn it into a five-lane arterial through a residential neighborhood. He and other volunteers opposed.

“We worked two years on that, and guess what? We won,” he said. “We actually got the highway district to change their plans. It wasn’t by shouting and screaming, but by working with them to present alternate plans that were win-win. It was a great experience.”

Later on, he was asked if he had considered running for office. His experience with the highway project had stuck with him, and with a filing deadline at the end of the week, he threw his hat in the ring.

“Here was a window,” he said. “I enjoyed that process of working with people. This seemed like something really worthwhile to pursue.”

He said he wouldn’t be where he is today if it wasn’t for someone asking him to enter the political realm.

“The message here is be on the lookout. Take stock of people you meet, because you never know. You can have a change in life and experience, a situation asking the right person at the right time, and you can find the next Steve Berch, or whoever it might be,” he said. “But don’t try to talk them into running. That’s my advice, because if you’re a Democrat in a Democratic district when you win just for the letter next to your name, that’s fine, you can do that. It’s an easy win, just the way the Republicans run and win. But if you have to talk someone into running, chances are it’s not for them, especially when you’re trying to win where Democrats don’t win.”

Berch ran for Raul Labrador’s vacant seat in District 14 in 2010.

“District 14 was ‘District Impossible,’ there were over 80,000 people in District 14. It was Ground Zero of the Idaho Republican Party,” he said. “But you know what? I didn’t care. It was something I wanted to try, I wanted to do it.”

He did not win that year, or in 2012 when he went against 8-year incumbent Lynn Luker. He showed district maps of the election results from the years he ran on a projector screen, each election showing more blue.

“I got closer, ran again, got closer, ran again,” he said. “It didn’t seem like I was making much progress, and then I ran in 2018.

“Here’s the point: If you’re a first-time candidate and you see this map and you get discouraged, you say, ‘Oh my God, this is a Republican district, I can never win there,’ and if you stop, you’ll never be able to see that map on the right side. It takes time. It’s not easy to win where Democrats don’t win, but you can.”

The dinner, an event to support the Kootenai County Democrats, was attended by about 150 people.

The evening also featured two awards — Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan English, who has a long history in public service, was honored with the Art Manley Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 and Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee Vice Chair Courtney Beebe is the 2019 Rising Star.