Lawmaker Barbara Ehardt battles firefighter Connor Cook for Idaho Falls area
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IDAHO FALLS — Veteran legislator Barbara Ehardt is facing off against political newcomer Connor Cook to represent those in Legislative District 33A this May primary election.
Ehardt, who was first elected as a representative in 2017, is looking to return to Boise, while Cook, currently a firefighter for the Idaho Falls Fire Department, aims to secure enough votes to win the race.
EastIdahoNews.com sent the same eight questions to each candidate. Their responses, included below, were required to be 250 words or fewer.
The candidate who wins the primary will be on the general election ballot on Nov. 3. The primary election will be held on May 19.
Tell us about yourself – include information about your family, career, education, volunteer work and any prior experience in public office.
Ehardt:I’m so honored and humbled to serve as your Idaho State Representative! Thank you for entrusting me with this calling these past eight years. I’m excited to continue to serve and, as you would expect, NO ONE will outwork me. When I’m in Boise, I don’t “party.” I am there working hard for you!
I was born and raised in Idaho Falls, attended Idaho Falls High School (go Tigers!), played basketball at North Idaho College where we went to the NJCAA’s. Then I attended Idaho State on a basketball scholarship while studying English Education. My plan was to teach English literature and coach basketball in high school. But my life took a different course when I was offered an incredibly unique opportunity to coach college hoops. I spent 15 years coaching Division I Women’s basketball (and teaching at UCSB & BYU) at four fantastic intuitions: UC Santa Barbara, BYU, Washington State and then as the head coach at Cal State Fullerton.
Since returning home from coaching, I have been blessed to work at Club Apple as one of the Directors where I get to interact with our youth and our community on a daily basis. Prior to serving as a Representative, I also served on the Idaho Falls City Council.
I have kept my promises to you. But you know that because you know me. As I always like to say, we’re all in this together, we’re all running for this office. I’m just the name on the ballot.
Cook: I am a 10 year Firefighter/Paramedic here in Idaho Falls. I am a proud resident of the Numbered Streets, and have lived here for almost 10 years. I am a true Freshman in politics in all ways. I have spent many years of my career as a paramedic Field Training Officer, and have helped cultivate the upcoming generation of paramedics in my department. I am a third generation Idahoan, am a proud product of the public school system in Idaho, and I received my associate’s degree from The College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. In my career I have spent around 9 years Downtown at Station 1 which is one of our most dynamic service areas.
We deal with families in every circumstance, rural areas of the City and County, and population dense areas in the North End and Numbered Streets. I am a proud provider of prehospital healthcare in my service area, and I strive to give quality care to our constituents. I am a cautious mountain climber and adult recreation hockey league defenseman. My girlfriend, who is my biggest cheerleader, is an Idaho State Police Trooper. You can usually catch us running with a head strong Belgian Malinois named Fritz around the Greenbelt.
Why are you seeking political office within your community? Briefly explain your political platform.
Ehardt: My focus remains clear: Families First! Reduce the tax burden! Support our clean energy, especially our water and all it offers in our area.
First, families and parents need a voice in Boise. All the big lobbies in Boise represent everyone BUT the parents. No one will ever know or care for their children like their parents will. That is why I fight for our parents. Much of the legislation that I bring restores parental rights, strengthens the family and upholds our tried and proven, traditional family values. The family is the core unit of government, making the family central to successful communities. I will continue to be that voice for our families.
Second, I have supported all efforts to reduce our taxes. But the effort that needs more conversation is the piece of legislation I introduced after working with our Tax Commission for months. It is HB961 and it would eliminate property taxes for our primary place of residence. We would replace this with the fairest of all taxes, the user tax or rather an increase in our sales tax. The Tax Commission said that we would need to replace $932,000,000 if we eliminated property tax on our primary place of residence. Rasing the sales tax to 1.75% would achieve this. Let’s have that discussion.
Finally, we need the INL to continue to thrive and be that leader in future energy sources. We need to protect our vested interests in our water, both as a huge agriculture resource and
Cook: Idaho Falls has given me so much, and I have built a wonderful life in this community and I want to bring the representation of Legislative District 33A back to the people of Idaho Falls. I intend to listen, learn, and gain insight into what matters most, and to be an open ear to the citizens of Legislative District 33. They will be my priority– not outside interests. My platform focuses on supporting education focused on successful student outcomes, strong fiscal infrastructure that protects taxpayers from shortsighted decisions that cost more in the long run, and prioritizing public safety so our community can thrive.
What are the greatest challenges facing people in your district? What is your plan to meet and overcome those challenges?
Ehardt: The number one issue in our district over the past five to eight years has been the high cost of property taxes, income taxes and taxes in general. Reducing taxes for families and businesses is a key Republican principle. It’s not new.
Middle to low-income wage earners were being taxed out of their homes while higher wage earners experienced drastic rises in their property taxes. Businesses were having a hard time making ends meet and ultimately passing higher costs onto all of us.
Property taxes have ALWAYS been a local government issue (such as cities, counties and school districts) as the state receives zero property tax dollars and zero ability to allocate or levy them. Some ways these can be levied include:
- 3% yearly local government increases
- growth monies
- foregone
- levies
- Bonds
The State stepped in to help provide notable property tax relief over the last five years by: 1) providing direct tax relief to all property owners; 2) providing direct relief to homeowners with the Homeowners Property Tax Account; 3) providing monies to all school districts with the School Facility Funds designed to relieve levy and bond necessities. Ultimately this fund will provide $2 Billion dollars against which districts can bond and not have to ask our communities to continue to increase their property taxes.
The second major step taken was to reduce the income tax rate from 6.925% to its current 5.3%. This has been a tremendous boost for our businesses, and it’s
Cook: The biggest challenges to our area are a failing budget process to the state level. We have had negligent tax cuts to our state, and it is showing. There is a mandate to cut 4% of all department budgets in 2026, and it’s 5% in 2027. So in essence we have a 9% decrease to services at the state level. Education has faced constant criticism from the Legislature. ISU was forced to lay off staff, CEI is consolidating class sizes, and Higher Ed took large budget cuts at a time when we need to be building our workforce. Idaho constantly ranks 50th in the nation as far as spending on education, and we celebrate a “break even policy”.
Our area has seen extraordinary growth and it’s critical that we continue to keep up on smart fiscal spending. The Idaho State Police cannot recruit and retention is difficult. That means longer wait times for your highway emergency, less narcotic interdiction on our highways, and less safe driving conditions on our highways. My plan is to ensure we do not compromise Idahoans through poor budget planning ever again, and to help get us out of this mess by carefully going through the budget to find the commonsense cuts rather than across the board. Families in Idaho Falls are facing very real issues– the cost of food, gas and healthcare is rising, wages are stagnant and I have heard from so many so far on this journey that they would like for the
How will you best represent the views of your constituents – even those with differing political views? How do partisan politics play into your role as an elected leader?
Ehardt: I ran as a conservative Republican who supports our Constitution, traditional family values and parental rights. Conservative values are the principles that I work hard to represent in Boise, as I promised. Too often, people run as a Conservative Republican in their districts but don’t carry those same values to Boise. That isn’t me. I think it is far more important to be the same person of integrity in Boise that I said I was in Idaho Falls.
My campaign has always spoken of “Principle Centered Leadership.” I believe that when one applies true principles to life, then everyone benefits, which is ultimately what I desire for everyone in District 33. Principles transcend politics.
Stephan Covey, the author of Seven Habits for Highly Effective People, explained what a principle is: “Principles are deep, fundamental truths that have universal application. They apply to individuals, to marriages, to families, to private and public organizations of every kind. When these truths are internalized into habits, they empower people to create a wide variety of practices to deal with different situations.
Principles are not values. A gang of thieves can share values, but they are in violation of the fundamental principles we’re talking about. Principles are the territory. Values are the maps. When we value correct principles, we have truth – knowledge of things as they are.
Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value. They’re fundamental. They’re essentially unarguable because they are self-evident.”
Cook: Having an open ear and an open mind as well as being accessible is my paramount priority. Different views and perspectives are what makes America great. We don’t all need to agree, but we all agree that Idaho and Idaho Falls are a fantastic area to live, work, and grow in. The issues being faced by the State are whether we can have a robust Education system where our children thrive and grow. Where our highways are safe and secure.
What parts of the Legislative budget could use more funding? Where are places in the budget where cuts could be made?
Ehardt: We need to add funding to ICAC, the Idaho Crimes Against Children department in the Attorney General’s office. I have long been a supporter of getting more funding for this department because it protects children from the worst predators among us. Both former Representative Wendy Horman and I pushed for the extra ICAC funding that allocated another position here in Idaho Falls serval years ago.
As for trimming funding, we need to do whatever is necessary to ensure the integrity of Medicaid and its original mission is not compromised by seeking out waste, fraud and abuse from the budgets of the various health and welfare programs. We must ensure that the original population for whom these welfare programs were created are protected, including our children, pregnant women, the disabled and the elderly. These are the truly needy and across the country these are the ones who are no longer receiving the help originally designated to assist their needs.
Passing HB913 was a huge first step to protecting Medicaid. Able bodied adults receiving Medicaid expansion must show they are working or volunteering, etc. to receive this benefit. Employers need employees and jobs are available. This legislation was passed on almost a party line vote.
Republican YES: 59 House, 28 Senate
Democrat NO: 8 House, 6 Senate
I was disappointed that the cuts made to the Medicaid budget, prior to the legislative session, was cutting the original Medicaid population. Again, we must trim spending responsibly to protect the truly needy.
Cook: Education K-12 and higher education desperately need more funding as well as the Idaho State Police. In Eastern Idaho we’re critically low on Troopers which once again means we’re critically low on highway security. Idaho is run lean. There is minimal excess spending and as of now even less discretionary spending. We need to hold legislators accountable for the detrimental tax cuts to the state. On the Senate Floor a senator pointed out that we are making recession era level cuts to our state and we’re not in a recession. I do not have a deep knowledge base of the budget, or funding levels for all state departments.
I do know that we should not be making recession level cuts while our economy is thriving. How did we get here? How did this happen? What I lack in knowledge I plan on making up in motivation to have a palatable solution that doesn’t punish the tax base for their mistakes.
Do you believe ethics investigations in the Idaho Legislature should be kept secret from the public, or do you believe they should be open and transparent? Why or why not?
Ehard: Yes. Once it has been determined that an actual ethics violation has been committed, then I believe it should be public. As elected officials, I do believe that we should be held to the highest standards.
Cook: As elected officials we’re held to a higher standard, and I believe we are beholden to open and transparent ethics investigations. Our constituents have chosen us to be their voice, and with that to some extent privacy goes by the way side. I strongly believe it follows my ethos of being open and honest. We’re all human and we all make mistakes, but for this desired position we need to be held accountable more than ever.
Water availability and management are critical for eastern Idaho agriculture and growth. What specific strategy or legislation would you support to protect groundwater and surface water resources, and what is your timeline for measurable improvements?
Ehardt: A multi-pronged effort will always be needed to effectively manage water both in Southeastern Idaho as well as the entire State of Idaho. There currently are strategies in place, and I support them. But some key things have occurred that helped to highlight our dire situation.
For starters, I personally believe that we need to change how the current “water judge” is selected. The current judge is in the Twin Falls area and is elected by the Twin Falls people. This creates a huge conflict of interest when mitigating water needs for our area. Something needs to change.
When Matt Weaver, the Director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources, made the formal curtailment call on our water, it was devastating. But our community came together. A water meeting was held at the Melaleuca headquarters where over 1200 people attended. This caught the attention of all the “key players” in Idaho who were surprised at the show of support in our area.
Key players rose up to help bring attention to this, including Brian Murdock. Besides his Facebook posts, he was on national television addressing our dire situation. And then there was the tractor parade. It was amazing. Over 80 tractors participated from all over Southeast Idaho to show unity and support.
I supported SB1128 which secured $30 million in ongoing funding for water infrastructure projects. I support Senator Kevin Cook’s idea of exploring a new dam, so we aren’t sending tons of water out of state when our reservoirs are full.
Cook: Water is one of our biggest challenges in Eastern Idaho, especially this year. Our first priority is to recharge the aquifer, and then identify more storage options. The Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer which is not only our life blood for agriculture, but for all of us who depend on it everyday. I support strong collaboration with all stakeholders and will advocate for best practices to be implemented to more efficiently manage our water as we work to secure more storage and recharge potential.
In March 2026, the Idaho House passed House Joint Memorial 17, requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Do you agree with the majority opinion of the Idaho House? Do you oppose same-sex marriage in Idaho?
Ehardt: This vote was a statement about the egregious overreach by the Supreme Court that decimated the separation of powers with the Obergefell decision. This sort of decision should reside with the people. Idaho’s own current law even states that marriage is between a man and a woman. Idaho’s elected officials have the unique responsibility to protect the family. To maintain our Republic, we must maintain our Federalism. The Idaho House of Representatives used the one tool available to them to seek redress by voting to ask for reconsideration from the overreach by the Supreme Court.
Also of huge consideration was marriage and the role it plays in the eyes of God. Marriage was ordained of God. Marriage was instituted for men and women and was designed to bring children into a loving home with a mother and father. Parents have a responsibility to raise their children in love, to teach them correct principles and to provide for their physical and spiritual needs.
This vote was not a commentary on our LGBT friends and community. It was a response to government overreach as well as a recognition that it is not the government’s right to redefine what God has instituted. I will always fight to protect ALL of our rights, regardless of one’s affiliation or identification.
Cook: The Supreme Court had a chance to overturn this ruling last year and they did not. It’s time to come back to Idaho and Idaho issues. I have zero desire to enact legislation against this ruling.