Karen Matthee

Profession: Writer

Education: BA from UC Berkeley, Masters in Journalism, Northwestern University

Residency: 5 years, Bonner County resident

Contact: [email protected], kmattheeforidaho.com 

1. 1. Healthcare: Protect Medicaid Expansion and reverse provider reimbursement rate cuts that are putting rural hospitals at risk of closing.

2. Affordability: Raise the homeowners’ property tax exemption to keep pace with home values and charge no property taxes for seniors on fixed incomes. Also eliminate the tax on food and stop turning away federal childcare dollars.

3. Education: Support efforts to change the funding formula for our public school districts from an attendance-based model to a modern enrollment model.

2. 1. The influence of out-of-state money and influence on our lawmakers. Legislators should be loyal to their constituents, not outside groups.

2. The need for a more balanced Legislature with Democrats and Republicans working together across the aisle to pass laws that benefit the majority of Idahoans.

3. Term limits are needed to bring new voices and ideas to the Legislature and break the stranglehold of outside moneyed interests.

3. 1. We need to elect more Democrats and Independents to achieve a more balanced Legislature.

2. Lawmakers need to put divisiveness aside and tackle issues of concern to the majority of Idahoans, rather than spend so much time fighting culture wars.

3. Term limits will keep lawmakers accountable to their constituents

4. Support smart-growth strategies, investing in infrastructure, and balancing housing needs with open-space conservation. Focus on concentrating new development toward city centers and urban areas to prevent sprawl and travel times. Also encourage a diversity of housing while keeping neighborhood character, and the use of conservation easements, transfer of development rights and conservation subdivisions to protect farmland, wildlife habitats and natural scenery.

5. Idaho ended the Family and Personal Care Services program in 2025, which had allowed parents and spouses to be paid as direct caregivers for disabled family members. The dilemma is that Idaho faces a major shortage of direct support workers, who typically earn between $11 and $15 an hour. When a parent must return to work, outside agencies cannot fill the void, leaving families in rural areas with no providers at all.

6. Hold regular town halls while in office to gather input from constituents, answer emails and phone calls as much as possible, and seek the advice of a variety of stakeholders on various issues, taking care to listen to those on both sides of an issue.

7. I don’t think I have changed my mind on any significant stance, because if a matter is critical enough, I make sure to research thoroughly, weigh the pros and cons carefully and think about the far-reaching effects of my decision.

8. I think no property taxes is a pie-in-the-sky campaign promise. Some local candidates suggest the money can come from the state to pay for local infrastructure and public services, but that hasn’t worked too well for public education. Homeowners are left to fill the funding gap through bonds and levies.

Still, I support reinstating the homeowner’s property tax exemption index which was based on the sales price of Idaho homes but was capped at $100,000 by the Legislature in 2016. The exemption hasn’t kept up with inflation and I will work to ensure that it does.

9. Because I will always be loyal to my constituents first and foremost, rather than big money, out-of-state interests and corporations. And I will never take money from outside groups. Additionally, I will make myself available to all my constituents, no matter their party affiliation. And I will reach across the aisle in search of solutions that benefit the majority of Idahoans, including our working families, seniors, veterans and persons with disabilities.