Candidates file for Kootenai County races
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 month AGO
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | March 14, 2026 1:00 AM
COEUR d’ALENE — The deadline for filing for the May 19 primary election has passed, setting the stage for several contested races among Republican candidates.
The following candidates had filed for county races as of 5 p.m. Friday.
Julie Hensley, John Green and John Padula have all filed to run in the Republican primary election for Kootenai County Commissioner District 1.
Green is a former Idaho state representative from Rathdrum who was expelled from the Legislature in 2020 after a Texas jury convicted him of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Green received a sentence of six months in federal prison for the crimes.
Padula, a pastor at The Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, is back for round two. He ran unsuccessfully for the District 1 seat in the 2024 Republican primary election.
Sitting Commissioner Marc Eberlein had not filed for reelection as of Friday at 5 p.m. In 2024, Eberlein won a four-way Republican primary election for Kootenai County Commissioner District 1. He ran uncontested in the general election, retaking the seat he lost in 2016.
In District 2, incumbent Bruce Mattare is set to face challenger Steve Em in the Republican primary election. Mattare was first elected to the seat in 2022.
Em’s campaign website describes him as a former law enforcement officer and investigator who moved to Worley with his family in 2020.
Challenger John D. Samuelson will face Kootenai County Clerk Jennifer Locke in the Republican primary election.
Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson announced last fall that he wouldn’t seek a fourth term in office, leaving the Republican primary race wide open. Teresa Mallery, treasury specialist accountant with the treasurer’s office, will square off against Carlos Zamora in the primary election.
Kootenai County Assessor Bèla Kovacs will face fellow Republican Allyson Knapp in the primary election.
Late last year, Kovacs deemed Knapp ineligible for a homeowner’s exemption on the Rathdrum property she has owned since 2018, alleging that she does not reside there.
Knapp has been registered to vote at the Rathdrum address since 2022, according to public records, and her driver’s license lists it. She also provided commissioners with vehicle registrations listing the Rathdrum address and utility bills for the home in her name.
“He’s trying to say I’m not a full-time resident so I can’t run against him,” Knapp told The Press in December. “He’s wrong.”
Kovacs said he launched an investigation after several people told him they believed Knapp is a Washington resident.
Commissioners later overruled Kovacs’ decision and restored Knapp’s homeowner’s exemption.
Bob Scott has filed to run for assessor as an independent candidate. Now retired, Scott was the residential lead appraiser for the assessor’s office in 2022, when he challenged Kovacs in the Republican primary election. Though Scott lost the primary, he received more than 12,800 write-in votes in the general election, about 25% of the total.
Kootenai County Coroner Duke Johnson will run unopposed in the Republican primary election.
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