Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad announced his candidacy for governor of Idaho on Monday, becoming the second Democrat to join the 2022 race.

Rognstad, 47, returned to his Lewiston roots to make the announcement. Speaking to about 30 people at the Lewis Clark Hotel, he noted he is a fourth-generation Idahoan, born and raised in Lewiston, where his great-grandfather opened Rognstad Insurance.

“My family cultivated values in me — values like hard work and service,” he said. “They taught me the importance of family and community. They also shared with me an entrepreneurial spirit.”

After graduating from the University of Idaho, Rognstad moved to Sandpoint, where he opened a bookstore, a restaurant and a music venue. He later served on the Planning and Zoning Commission, and then on the city council.

He was elected mayor in 2015. Four years later he became just the second person ever — and the first in half a century — elected to a second term as mayor of the town.

“I share this history with you because I want you to see me for who I am,” Rognstad said. “I’m committed to service. I’m committed to community. I’m committed to Idaho’s shared values.”

Rognstad noted he grew up in a conservative family, “but in a time when political views didn’t separate us from our friends and neighbors.”

“We had a shared set of values that held strong in times of challenge,” he said. “But Idaho politics has changed.”

Today, Rognstad said, the Republican Party has become a party of extremists. So extreme that “basic, lifesaving public health measures go ignored.” So extreme that it has essentially abandoned the state’s investment in public education, leaving it to local communities to fill the gap with supplemental levies.

“For the better part of a generation, Idaho has effectively been a one-party state,” Rognstad said. “There are no checks and balances, no compromise, no accountability. This is dangerous. The most extreme voices now go unopposed. Common sense leadership has been replaced by authoritarianism and culture wars.”

Now more than ever, he said, Idaho needs leadership.

“Right here, at the historic Lewis Clark Hotel, John F. Kennedy gave a famous speech,” Rognstad said. “Right here, (future four-time Gov.) Cecil Andrus was inspired by Kennedy’s words to run for office. Right here, right now, we can restore the balance of power in Idaho. We can stand up to extremism and work together on the issues that unite us. We can bring common sense leadership back to Idaho.”

Rognstad is the second Democrat to announce his candidacy for the 2022 gubernatorial race. The first, Melissa Sue Robinson, is a transgender woman from Nampa who has previously run for several local and legislative offices.

More than half a dozen Republicans have thrown their hats in the ring. That includes Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, anti-government militant Ammon Bundy and former financial adviser Ed Humphreys, of Eagle.

Gov. Brad Little hasn’t formally announced his reelection plans, but he is expected to run for a second term.

Democrats haven’t fared particularly well in Idaho’s gubernatorial elections in recent years, earning an average of 36.6 percent of the vote in the past three election cycles.

Rognstad said the continued rightward tilt of the Republican Party gives him an opening.

“Their extremism is overtaking Idaho and the nation,” he said. “They’re so far off track, they’re threatening the democratic core of the nation. Reasonable Republicans need to jump off that sinking ship.”

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.