As part of our coverage of the 2018 election, we’re bringing you conversations with each of the candidates running for governor who face a primary challenge.
James Dawson spoke with Dalton Ben Cannady, a 38-year-old single father of two from Boise who is running his campaign without much of a budget.
On addressing the estimated 62,000 Idahoans who earn too little to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to get a health insurance subsidy:
Cannady breaks with most members of his party in advocating for a taxpayer-funded, universal healthcare system.
“Everyone pays for Medicaid out of their [paychecks] so why is it that everyone can’t use Medicaid?”
“I know that everyone calls it socialism, but I really don’t look at it as socialism because everyone’s already paying into it. Why not use it?”
How he would bolster Idaho's low high school graduation rates and prepare students for in-demand, high-skill jobs:
He notes Idaho needs to fully restore the cuts made to public education during the 2008 recession. As of 2015, the latest data available as of last year, Idaho's per pupil spending was 18 percent lower than what it was 10 years ago, according to the left-leaning think tank, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“In my eyes, that’s criminal. It never should have happened. It should’ve been taken from other places. Other places could’ve done with less.”
How he would balance preserving Idaho's proud western heritage while also embracing its identity as the fastest-growing state in the country:
“We can’t stop that or even [try to] pause it, we’ll die as a state. But at the same time, we need to keep our lands public. If people from out of state want to come in and buy some land, we’ve got to make sure that it’s in the contract that they can’t close off that land … and if they do, make them pay for it.”
Copyright 2018 Boise State Public Radio
