COEUR d’ALENE — In an unprecedented move, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee voted over the weekend to give half its funds, totaling about $64,000, to the Idaho State Republican Party, days before newly elected precinct committeemen are scheduled to vote on new leadership.

The majority vote took place during a closed-door meeting Saturday afternoon. The central committee announced the decision Sunday in a public Facebook post. 

“It’s happened before,” KCRCC Chair Brent Regan said Tuesday. “Not at the KCRCC, but others have.” 

In 2024, outgoing members of the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee voted in an executive session to all but empty the bank account. East Idaho News reported that the central committee donated more than $55,000 to the Idaho State Republican Party, leaving the incoming committeemen with $100. 

At the time, according to East Idaho News, the BCRCC’s outgoing leadership said the reason for transferring the committee’s money to the state party was to fight a ballot initiative that sought to end closed primary elections and bring ranked-choice voting to general elections. 

The BCRCC’s decision came a week after an election in which Republican voters elected 38 precinct committeemen from the “Empower Bonneville Voters” coalition, creating a new majority bloc on the central committee and setting the stage for new leadership. 

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee had a shakeup of its own last week. 

A 38-seat coalition is needed to take majority control of the local GOP. Candidates backed by Kootenai Freedom Caucus, a political action committee bankrolled by the KCRCC, secured 37 seats, while candidates supported by rival PAC North Idaho Republicans picked up 33 seats. 

The remaining four seats on the central committee were won by Republican candidates unaffiliated with either group. 

When the new iteration of the KCRCC meets Thursday night at the Kootenai County Administration Building, they’ll vote to choose the central committee’s chair and other officers.

According to the KCRCC, the central committee gave half its cash to the state party to “help fund the fight” against the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act. This measure would decriminalize abortion in Idaho. 

“The committee can vote to do whatever they want,” Regan said. “I think it was equitable.” 

The central committee regularly donates money to other organizations, Regan said. 

Public records show the KCRCC gave $14,000 to the Idaho GOP in 2023 and 2024, and two donations of $14,706 in 2025. The KCRCC reported a $3,000 donation to the state party in April of this year.