OPINION: On Tuesday, the GOP’s brand turned toxic

The Nez Perce County Republican Central Committee wound up being its own worst enemy in Tuesday’s Lewiston City Council election.

The candidate it wanted lost.

The candidates who thumbed their nose at the local GOP won.

Here’s what happened.

Incumbents John Spickelmire and Jim Kleeburg came in first and second, respectively.

Filling the remaining open seat was Jessica Klein, a self-employed property owner and landlord.

Klein and Kleeburg distinguished themselves as the only two of eight candidates who refused to answer the central committee’s questionnaire that read like an ideological purity test. Rather than talking about obvious municipal issues, such as the failure and repair of the city’s High Reservoir or finding a permanent fix for 21st Street, the GOP focused on its own radical agenda — interfering with women’s reproductive rights, diverting public school dollars toward the tuition of privileged private school students and building a wall along the southern border, for instance.

Argued Klein: “The questions didn’t seem to pertain to City Council, but were trying to figure out how (Republican) I am. City Council is a nonpartisan race. I’m here to serve the needs of the community. It doesn’t matter how I feel about the rest of the government.”

Kleeburg added: “I thought it was totally inappropriate for a nonpartisan election.”

The one candidate carrying the GOP’s endorsement, Maureen Anderson — also co-founder of the Nez Perce County Chapter of Moms for Liberty — ran a distant fourth.

What explains it?

The central committee filled a political vacuum marked by lackluster campaigning, a fragmented media and a field of relative unknowns. It became the defining issue.

Voters recoiled at the idea of a central committee — which had already demonstrated its extremism by censuring Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, for having the temerity to think for herself — injecting itself into a nonpartisan election.

And on this political turf, the GOP was at a disadvantage.

City elections tend to veer toward the middle — or even left of center — compared to partisan contests for county, legislative, statewide or congressional offices. People who choose to live in cities do so because they want more government services and they’re willing — within reason — to pay for them.

In most city elections, the base isn’t ideological partisans. The base is the city’s workforce — cops, firefighters, public works employees and administrators — as well as their families and friends. In a low-turnout election, that base’s influence is magnified.

The pattern played out across much of Idaho on Tuesday night:

As the Spokesman-Review’s Ellen Dennis reported, Brent Regan’s Kootenai County Republican Central Committee came up short in all three of its Coeur d’Alene City Council picks.

Incumbent Christie Wood got 58.3% over central committee-endorsed Brian Winkler.

Incumbent Dan Gookin pulled off a 20-point win over committee-backed Clark Albritton.

And incumbent Dan English carried 50.8% in a three-way race against the committee’s choice, Roger Garlock, and Rob Knutson.

“A lot of people were really on edge because they didn’t want the city government to follow in the footsteps of some other local entities, like the library board,” English said.

As Idaho Falls Post Register columnist Carrie Scheid noted, the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee’s picks failed by big margins. Incumbent Idaho Falls City Councilor John Radford carried 71% against central committee-supported Dawna Howard. Kirk Larsen won 67% against the local GOP’s choice, Barbara Miller.

“These landslide wins happened in spite of (or maybe thanks to?) the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee’s ‘Official Recommendations’ advertisement, which they circulated on social media listing Miller and Howard as their recommended candidates,” Scheid wrote.

Party labels were no secret in the Boise municipal election, where Mayor Lauren McLean not only won a second term with 55% over former Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson, but saw the election of a supportive city council.

“I wrote early on in the race that Masterson was going to have to overcome the false perception that he’s a Republican in a liberal city. With support from far-right, anti-McLean factions and some statements of his own, I don’t think he was able to do that in the end,” wrote Idaho Statesman opinion editor Scott McIntosh.

Compounding the GOP’s problems in Lewiston was Nez Perce County Republican Central Committee Chairperson Nick Woods’ inability or unwillingness to explain the party’s intentions.

Add it up and you find a GOP brand dominant everywhere else in Idaho politics has become toxic in city elections. For Nez Perce County Republicans, at least, the message ought to be clear enough: Haven’t you got enough on your plate? Stick with what you know. Leave the city elections alone. — M.T.