SANDPOINT — All District 1 legislative candidates attended Monday evening’s candidate forum, where those in contested primaries fielded questions on the race’s most controversial issues.

The forum, hosted by local media companies, was fairly calm and put Republican candidates in the hot seat on topics like public school funding, local control and tax cuts. All the primary races are rematches from the 2024 election, with Scott Herndon challenging Jim Woodward, Jane Sauter challenging Mark Sauter (no relation), and Chuck Lowman challenging Cornel Rasor. 

State Senate seat: incumbent Jim Woodward vs. Scott Herndon   

Familiar foes, Woodward and Herndon spent most of the forum on the opposite sides of nearly every issue. The recent tax cuts and state budget deficit were just one of the battlegrounds for the two exchanged words on. 

Woodward said he voted against the most recent cuts because he felt the state was putting itself in a bad position to fund its core responsibilities, like education and fire. Herdon continuously emphasized his number one position of eliminating property taxes and shrinking the state budget. 

“The reality is we're going to have to decide what we want the government to pay for,” Herndon said. “We're going to have to decide how much of our time we want to give away each year to fund government, or we're going to have to decide whether we want free markets. I prefer free markets and lower taxes.” 

Local control was another area where split views were seen as Woodward stood in firm support of the issue, saying he feels it’s almost always best for communities to decide what is best for them. Herndon said it depended on the subject, but that there should be limits on what cities can do, like what flags a city can fly on its property. 

“While I was trying to amend that [flag] bill, Scott Herndon was texting senators down there, telling them that the other solution would be for the city to lease that property and let the city do what it wanted to do,” Woodward said. “Now, if you think about the festival and the analogy there, do you notice the hypocrisy?” 

At the forum, both candidates said they were committed to keeping public lands available to the public and hoped to work with the new administration at the United States Forest Service on an improvement management plan.  

The commitment marks a reversal for Herndon, who said in 2022 that the federally controlled lands could be used for development to bring down housing costs and increase supply, which Woodward pointed out during his time answering the question. 

State Representative 1A: incumbent Mark Sauter vs. Jane Sauter  

The discussion between Mark Sauter and Jane Sauter mirrored much of the Woodward and Herndon debate. Unlike the two other races, Mark Sauter and Jane Sauter shared differing perspectives on where public school funding should go. 

In his response to the question, Mark Sauter said the funding formula needs to be rewritten, and there needs to be more allocated for special education and transportation. Jane Sauter said she’d like to see more money allocated for school choice and would get rid of the Idaho LAUNCH program, which gives students grants to pursue secondary education in Idaho and costs the state around $75 million annually. 

On the topic of the state budget, Jane Sauter said she would push for continued cuts to the state’s budget. She said she’d work with Idaho’s Department of Government Efficiency office to find “unnecessary” programs and named the state’s Hispanic Affairs Commission as an example. 

"You're going to want legislators in those positions who are not big spenders, who are not special interest people, who are going to see the necessity of trimming the budget,” Jane Sauter said. "We do have a large chunk of our budget covered by federal money. We all know that's fiat money. That is money that is being added like bricks on top of our children and grandchildren.” 

Mark Sauter said next year should be better for the state revenue-wise and that the legislature learned valuable lessons this session. He added he is an advocate of local control, using his opposition to House Bill 583, which deregulated short-term rentals statewide, as a prime example. 

“In our local situation, Sandpoint had a short-term rental policy that they're in the process of changing. I supported the idea that our city council here can make up their own decisions and do it locally,” Mark Sauter said. “I don't think that the short-term rental issue or the [accessory dwelling unit] issue is one that should be settled in Boise. One size doesn't fit all.” 

Jane Sauter said she was in favor of local control but felt the state should step in when there are discrepancies, like in the case of H.B. 583.  

When discussing public lands, Jane Sauter said that the federal government isn’t doing a good job managing the lands it should be given back to the states. She added that she believes some of the land should be lightly developed upon, to bring housing prices down. 

Mark Sauter said he fully supported keeping public lands in the hands of residents and said that he’d work with the USFS to bring more Good Neighbor Authority agreements to the region. 

State Representative 1B: incumbent Cornel Rasor vs. Chuck Lowman 

During the night, Rasor and Lowman found common ground on public school funding, with both saying the funding formula needs to be reexamined to provide rural schools with more funding. However, they found themselves on opposite sides of several subjects, including tax cuts.  

Rasor said that he felt the legislature handled tax cuts well and would continue to push for more trimming of the state’s budget. He said if elected looking at things like eliminating unfilled full-time employee positions. 

Lowman criticized the tax cuts for the negative effects they’ve had on the state budget, leading to broad and detrimental cuts last session. Lowman proposed adding a 0.25% local option tax statewide as a way the state could continue to generate revenue and provide property tax relief. 

Lowman also hammered home the need for far more local control in the state legislature, drawing on examples from his days in the United States military. 

“We're drawing power further up the chain, when power should be pushed down to the lowest level,” Lowman said. “Top down, leadership doesn't work. It's bottom up, courage and tenacity to fight and make it through the problems together with the people next to them.” 

Rasor’s theme for the night was ‘I read the bills,’ promising transparency to his constituents and independent decision-making when voting.  

“I think I probably read 400 bills this [session],” Rasor said. “I do the very best I can to read the bills, to spend the time necessary to understand them and to vote accordingly, so that I advance the cause of liberty, freedom, liberty and not attacking your pocketbook.” 

On public lands, Lowman made a firm commitment to maintain access to public lands and work to address issues with the National Environmental Policy Act. Rasor criticized the federal government’s management of Idaho’s public lands and said he would push to move the control down to the state level, so it can be managed properly.  

All candidates urged voters to come out on May 19 to cast their vote in the Republican primaries.  

The forum was recorded and broadcast by KRFY and can be heard in full on KRFY.org.