Chuck Lowman, District 1B

Full name: Charles “Chuck” George Lowman

Profession: General Contractor

Educational background: B.S. Wildlife Resources – Cum Laude – University of Idaho – 1995, Master of Divinity – Multnomah University – 2007, Clinical Pastoral Education – Queens Medical Center, HI - 2011

How many years as a Bonner County resident: 7

Marital status: Married

Family: 4 children

Website: chucklowman.com 

QUESTIONS:

1. Protecting and Empowering Local Government. The ongoing pressure to shift decision-making and taxing authority to the state level undermines local government — the government citizens have the most influence over. As the 2024-2026 Idaho GOP Platform states, "all government is financed by taxing its citizens”, and the “the most effective, responsible, responsive government is government closest to the people”. The Idaho Freedom Caucus is pushing to eliminate property tax, replacing it with income and sales taxes controlled by legislative appropriations — stripping local bodies of their ability to fund local priorities. Instead, we should create local option sales taxes combined with property tax reforms, similar to legislation proposed by the Idaho Sheriff's Association to address aging infrastructure needs.

2. Education Funding – Families should have the flexibility to send their child to schools which best meet their needs. I also agree with taxpayers who need assurances that those funding dollars are being used for education purposes. - Funding Essential Government Services – Idaho has grown in population by 23% from 2020 to 2025, yet funding for essential services (fire, education - locally, police, military) has decreased. - Reducing regulations which drive up costs. For example, Medicare/Medicaid programs are some of the most highly regulated programs, driving down efficiency and driving up costs. Reducing reporting requirements will bring down the administrative program costs.

3. Education Funding – Public education funds require periodic standardized testing, with results and national comparisons shared with parent; ensuring students actually exist, receive equal benefits, and taxpayers are assured education is being delivered.

- Funding Essential Government Services – The Legislature should fund constitutionally mandated programs while cutting unnecessary expenses — just as every Idaho family runs their household budget. That is not a radical position. It is the Idaho State Republican Party Platform, and it is my commitment to taxpayers.

- Reducing regulations – Reducing administrative burdens will bring down program costs like the aforementioned Medicare/Medicaid Issue. Our education system drew dozens of new bills this year which will drive up costs of public education.

4. Home Ownership - The Bonner County Republican Central Committee has made a point of opposing fire protection levies in our county — and the consequences are already hitting our neighbors. An elderly widow in my own neighborhood recently lost her homeowners insurance after our fire protection district's rating dropped from 10 to a 4. That is not fiscal conservatism. That is abandoning our neighbors. A blended local sales tax and property tax levy would be a creative solution to maintaining our fire districts.

5. Immigration - I support the deportation of criminal illegal aliens. But the Idaho Freedom Caucus championed bills (HB 659, HB 764) that pursued that goal by directly eroding 1st, 6th, and 10th Amendment protections — the same protections that safeguard your pastors in their ministries, your lawyers in their duties, and your sheriffs in their authority. Enforcing immigration law does not require dismantling the constitutional framework that protects the inalienable rights endowed to all people by our Creator. I will defend our constitutional rights without exception.

6. As a veteran who was deployed for 48 months overseas, I learned this lesson – don’t demonize your enemy. Doing so enables you to mistreat them in horrible ways. The same goes for politics. When I demonize my neighbor, it excuses me to disregard their needs, press my own agenda, and sow strife and division instead of clear thinking and benevolence. I endeavor to treat people as a friend and neighbor – to seek out their good, to live sacrificially, to treat them with dignity and respect. As Micah 6:8 calls, “…to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

7. Empower Local Government – Governing authority belongs closest to the people. My opponent's plan to eliminate property taxes hands control to the state, reducing local governments to hollow bodies that simply distribute state money rather than serve their own constituents' priorities. We must keep that power local.

Federal Lands Stewardship Funding – Our public federal lands are not for sale. In return for that stewardship, our state deserves payment for stewarding those lands. Programs like PILT and SRS funds exist precisely to offset the burden federal lands place on counties and should not be rejected.

8. The state should decentralize power rather than consolidate it through legislation. Local governments need more tools to govern effectively — including local sales tax options that offset property taxes, stronger 10th Amendment protections, and greater flexibility in setting their own priorities. At the same time, constitutionally mandated programs like education and public safety must remain fully supported.

9. Local government is where your voice carries the most weight — but only if local governments can actually govern. That requires the ability to raise their own revenues. Without it, they become mere extensions of the state, which runs counter to the federalism principles enshrined in both the Idaho and U.S. Constitutions. Our sheriff should set priorities based on constituent needs, not federal agreements that turn deputies into federal agents. Our commissioners and school board trustees should answer to the people who elected them — not go hat-in-hand to the nanny state for permission and funding.

10. What is your philosophy of life that translates into how you govern?

Good leaders never ask others to do what they themselves wouldn't. Take the property tax elimination proposals circulating in our legislature. Replacing property taxes with increased sales and income taxes sounds simple — but for a homeowner with a mortgage, it means paying their taxes roughly 2.5 times over. I wouldn't ask a working family to carry that burden. I wouldn't ask the construction worker who built our schools and roads and homes to bring less home to his family. And I wouldn't ask young families to sacrifice their needs so that wealthy newcomers can enjoy our community without contributing to it.

11. I show up. As an Eagle Scout, missionary across eight countries, and Army Chaplain deployed four years in combat zones, showing up has always defined me. My wife and I chose to plant our roots here — and this community gets my best every day. I show up as a local contractor investing in our economy. I show up on the Bonner County Historical Society board. I show up on the track coaching your kids. And I show up in classrooms alongside children with serious emotional and behavioral challenges, because they need adults who don't quit. That is my commitment to our voters- I will show up.