Boise Democrats make gains in the Idaho Legislature by sweeping purple district

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — The Republican Party was on track to extend its decades-long supermajority in the Idaho Legislature through 2028 on Tuesday despite improved results for Democratic candidates in Ada County.

Locally, races broke along the normal battle lines, with one exception: West Boise’s District 15, a rare purple patch on Idaho’s electoral map, where Democrats won all three races.

In all, 11 legislative districts touch Ada County, each with one Senate and two House seats up for grabs every two years. Boise proper is reliably blue, and the rest of the county typically breaks red. The exception tends to be District 15, where votes mix as those boundaries meet on the capital’s western edge.

In the District 15 Senate race, Democrat Nancy Gregory defeated Desi Burbank with 54.5% of the vote in a race between two candidates looking to leap from school boards to state politics. The two candidates were vying to replace outgoing Sen. Codi Galloway, who is planning to leave the Legislature at the end of the year.

Elsewhere in District 15, four-term incumbent Democrat Rep. Steve Berch took 58.3% of the vote to win a fifth term in a House race against Republican challenger Steve Keyser. Meanwhile, his Republican counterpart, Rep. Dori Healey, lost in a bid for a third term against Democratic opponent Jae Etchart. Etchart won with 53.3%.

“My district is over two-to-one registered Republican,” Berch said Tuesday. “I can’t win unless Republicans and conservative Independents vote for me, and I’m just very humbled and very thankful for their support.

“I appreciate the efforts of people, and to make sure that people who didn’t vote for me … that they’re still my constituents, and it’s going to be my job to make sure I do the best I can to represent their best interests.”

Other open seats were clinging to historic party lines.

With all precincts reporting in District 16, spanning Garden City and part of Boise’s West End and West Bench neighborhoods, sitting state Rep. Soñia Galaviz will take over for outgoing Democratic Sen. Ali Rabe, beating Republican Geoffrey Surbeck with two-thirds of the vote. Megan Woller, also a Democrat, will move into Galaviz’s seat, defeating Republican Jackie Davidson with two-thirds of the vote.

District 22, which primarily covers south Meridian, stayed red. Republican Kelly Walton earned 58.4% of the vote against Democrat Loren Petty in a race to replace outgoing Rep. John Vander Woude.

All results are unofficial until the county commissioners canvass the ballots in an upcoming meeting.

Reporter Harllie Stevenson contributed.