COEUR d'ALENE — Two Republican state candidates with deep Idaho roots were in Coeur d'Alene Thursday to spend time with the people of North Idaho and listen to what matters to them.

State superintendent of public instruction candidate Debbie Critchfield and secretary of state candidate Phil McGrane held a well-attended joint reception at Bakery by the Lake East, where they shook the hands of locals and shared conversations about education and elections in Idaho.

"It's something they have to do," said Dean Haagenson, a former state representative who attended the event. "The thing about campaigning, you got to go to every corner of the state."

Haagenson said he was already a supporter of McGrane.

"As you probably know, there's a lot of tension all around the country about elections and election security," he said. "Phil McGrane has been the county clerk in Ada County for a number of years. He's very knowledgable about the process. I think he'll do really good. That's a big part of the job of secretary of state, is elections."

Haagenson said he didn't know much about Critchfield ahead of the event, but was interested to learn.

"She's the candidate going up against the incumbent," he said. "I talked to her some today and I like what I heard."

Les Atchley also attended the reception and had not previously met Critchfield, "but I'm very impressed by her," he said.

"Clarity of thought, and her vision for Idaho's education future, I thought it was terrific," he said. "I was delightfully surprised."

Critchfield said she enjoyed talking with community members about how to create an education system in Idaho "that matches our needs and suits the needs of a growing state."

Critchfield has about 20 years of education experience, from kindergarten to post-graduate medical education. Critchfield was appointed to the Idaho State Board of Education in 2014 and served as president from April 2019 until April 2021.

When she spoke to the crowd, she shared three of her top priorities for leading education in Idaho: supporting local school boards, empowering parents/grandparents and preparation.

"The COVID experience showed us that parents want to have control and more say in the educational experience of their child, whether it's a private school, a charter, public traditional, all of those things," she said. "How we provide meaningful opportunities to participate in that process is critical to how successful we are across the state."

Critchfield said education, like everything else, is experiencing the biggest disruption of modern times.

"We have incredible opportunity to create something that we all know and feel that we want to go towards," she said. "With the right leader in the right place, with the experience and the ability to work with others, we can do amazing things together in this state."

McGrane said when he looked around at the attendees, he saw several people who are or formerly were involved in politics, "and you all recognize just how important these races are."

He said historically, the secretary of state office was an unknown to many.

"But we all know now," he said. "If there's one thing we've learned over the past two years, it's that elections matter and experience counts when it comes to our elections. And that's really what's motivated me to run."

He said Idahoans should be proud of many things, including how its elections are conducted.

"When we look at what's going on across the country, and we see the issues happening in states like Arizona and Georgia and Michigan, it gives us an opportunity to really reflect on our voting experience," he said. "We don't see the lines that you see in Atlanta. We don't see the challenges that are in Philadelphia, and it's because we have so many dedicated people working to make our system work well."

The primary election is May 17.