Idaho voters will head to the polls Nov. 3 to choose who will lead the state for the next four years.
Gov. Brad Little (R-Idaho) is seeking a third term, but he faces several challengers, including Democrat Terri Pickens. Pickens is a Boise attorney who says it's time for a change in the state's leadership.
Pickens has made public education, affordability and health care central issues in her campaign. She's also been critical of the direction Idaho has taken on issues like reproductive rights and government spending.
We've also reached out to Gov. Little's office to request an interview, but so far, we haven't received a response.
Terri Pickens joined Idaho Matters to talk about her campaign and what she would do differently if elected.
In order to focus our interviews of statewide candidates, click here to see the rules that guided our outreach efforts. To see the full interviews for those who responded, click here.
Read a transcript of the entire conversation below:
Gemma Gaudette: From the studios of Boise State Public Radio News. I'm Gemma Gaudette. You're listening to Idaho Matters. Idaho voters will head to the polls November 3rd to choose who will lead the state for the next four years. Republican Governor Brad Little is seeking a third term. However, he is facing several challengers, including Democrat Terri Pickens, a Boise attorney who says it's time for a change in our state's leadership. Now, Pickens has made public education, affordability and health care central issues in her campaign. She's also been critical of the direction Idaho has taken on issues like reproductive rights and government spending. We've also reached out to Governor Little's office to request an interview. At this point, we have not received a response. Terri Pickens is joining us now to talk about her campaign and what she would do differently if elected. Terri, thanks so much for taking time for us and joining us today.
Terri Pickens: And thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here, Gemma.
Gemma Gaudette: Terri, I want to start just with the beginning. And this is the question, why are you running? Because you've been campaigning for this office for quite some time. You are running in a state where Republicans have dominated statewide elections for decades now. So, what convinced you that not only are you the person to lead Idaho? What do you think voters are looking for that they're not getting from our current leader?
Terri Pickens: So, there's quite a bit to answer that. First and foremost, the reason I'm running is because I'm a fourth generation Idahoan. My kids are fifth generation, and my daughter has told me that she doesn't want to be in the state of Idaho because she doesn't feel safe and welcome, because she's lost bodily autonomy. And the attacks on the LGBTQ community are just pretty much every single legislative session. So, I decided to run, you know, several years ago because Idaho was taking a very hard shift to the right and being a fourth generation lifelong Idahoan. I remember the days when we used to be a very centered state, when we respected people's fundamental freedoms and liberties. And when the government stayed out of our business. And with this shift, you know, 2020 present basically the entirety of Brad Little's term, the hard right shift has included, you know, stripping women of bodily autonomy, attacks on the LGBTQ community, punishing doctors for providing medical care, punishing librarians for putting a book in a certain area in the library, um, attacking and banning books and telling cities and municipalities what flags they can fly and counties, what agreements they have to make with the federal government. So, we've gone from the party of small government, which is what the GOP used to tout. They were to the party of govern every single thing you can do, but don't live up to our fiscal responsibility of passing a solid budget and the other constitutional responsibility of fully funding public education.
Gemma Gaudette: So, I do want to talk about quite a few of those issues you brought up. The first one I'd like to dig into is affordability, because, Terri, this is something we hear about constantly from Idahoans, and we're hearing it nationally as well. Housing costs have gone up, as you know. I mean, people are struggling with everything from groceries to property taxes. You've talked about making Idaho more affordable. So, what would you actually do as governor to bring some of those costs down?
Terri Pickens: So, there are three different ways to do it. The first thing that we need to do is pass a responsible budget. And so I'm going to walk in January 4th with that responsible budget that restores all of the lost revenue over the last two years of the Idaho supermajority GOP, that they have given away to the $750,000 and above tax brackets. I'm going to claw the revenue back because in order to make it more affordable for Idahoans, they have to have to access services, health services for health, access to health care, access to mental health funding, access to public schools. Basically everything that the gut, the budget, gutted, hurt everyday Idahoans and it pushes those costs back onto them. It's not like the costs and the. They go away. They get pushed off onto the people of Idaho. So, they're picking up an extra burden there because the government won't fund these programs. But then on the same note, they're not being they're not able to make a living wage. So, one of the other aspects of it is to do everything I can to raise the minimum wage and help people who are just starting out to have more money in their bank account so they can afford gas, groceries, childcare if necessary.
Terri Pickens: And then other ways that we can make it more affordable. We can have private public partnerships for housing construction, for building workforce housing and low income housing. So, people can afford to get into a first time home. Right now, the average age is 40 years old to get into a first time home. So, all of those other folks are renting. And on the same time, we let a bunch of hedge funds come in and buy up all of the rental pool. And so now they're jacking up the rental rate so people can't one afford to buy a home if they have a home, they can't afford the property taxes and the mortgage. And then if they want to buy a home, they can't afford one because they've been priced out. So, there are so many different ways that we can address affordability. Um, and I think the final way that I would try to address it right out of the gate is repealing the tax on food. So essentially the grocery tax.
Gemma Gaudette: I want to talk next about public education. You have been a, a very strong and vocal critic of the state's approach to funding schools, including this private school tax credit program. So, if you become governor, what would you change and how would you make sure that rural districts in particular, have the resources that they need to fund their schools?
Terri Pickens: Yeah. So, you can tell a lot about a person by how they budget. And the Idaho GOP has shown everyone in Idaho who they are. They don't care about public schools. There is a constitutional requirement to fully fund public education across the board, no matter your zip code. So, what I would do right out of the gate again with my budget, that's going to restore and fully fund public education, it's going to make it easier for teachers to be recruited because they will have more, um, comparable pay. They don't have to go right across the state line and make almost twice as much. I'm also going to get go do away with the tax credit, the $50 million voucher tax scheme, because that's $50 million that was pulled from public school resources that could be used in in those rural areas. The rural schools are really hurting. And when they cut a budget in those rural areas, they have to cut programs like extracurricular activities, kids programs, programs, after school programs, things that help kids get further along and also teacher pay. It is so difficult to recruit teachers into those rural districts because they're not making enough money. They don't have now the protections of collective bargaining to get better working conditions, better pay, better benefits. And so, you know, frankly, I would rewrite the book on how we fund public education. And the people that I would rely on are the superintendents and the teachers in the schools and the not, um, you know, PragerU, not the people at the US Department of Education that have tried to do everything to gut public education. I'd rely on the people here on the ground. What do they need? And then I would craft a budget that shows and responsibly funds public education.
Gemma Gaudette: That all sounds wonderful, but we also know that it's a supermajority in our legislature. And if lawmakers want to keep the private school tax program, tax credit program, and they're unwilling to budge. Would you be willing to compromise at all on that issue?
Terri Pickens: No, I don't I'm not willing to compromise on the voucher scheme because what happens when you compromise, when you give these guys an inch, they take a mile and they're not getting an inch from me on this issue. This is an issue that is really important to Idaho. If you look at Arizona. Arizona did this voucher scheme and they started out with $63 million. It immediately the next year ballooned to $330 million. And last this last year, $450 million, Idaho exhausted its $50 million in the first 19 days of fiscal year 26, 19 days. So no, I'm not willing to compromise on it at all. How I will get it done, however, is I am counting on Idahoans showing up to the polls and giving me at least 7 or 8 more Democrats in the House and the Senate to break that supermajority. So, my veto is override proof.
Gemma Gaudette: So, you mentioned reproductive rights. In fact, you mentioned your daughter in particular with her saying that she doesn't even want to stay in Idaho anymore due to a lack of bodily autonomy. This is a big issue, significant issue. In fact, come November, proposition one will be on the ballot. You've expressed support for that initiative, but regardless of what happens at the ballot box, what do you as governor, what would you how would you address concerns about access to reproductive healthcare here in our state? And again, no matter what happens at the ballot box.
Terri Pickens: So how I would address it? Yes, I absolutely support proposition one. And I do have faith in the people of Idaho that they're going to show up and vote yes on prop one, and we're going to have reproductive health care restored to Idaho. It is critical that we have that done. If, for whatever reason, it passes in the Idaho legislature immediately attacks it like they say they are going to. Um, I will do everything in my power to veto any attempt to undo what the will of the people did. The will of the people in the state matters. Um, if they if it doesn't pass for some unusual reason, um, as governor, I will make sure that no doctor is prosecuted in the state of Idaho for providing reproductive health care, period. That is the power of the executive branch of the governor. I will make sure that no doctor is criminalized for the practice of medicine for providing reproductive health care. Um, and then I will work every single day to get, um, those exemptions built back into our, um, our abortion restrictions because we have the most draconian statutes in the country where women are dying because they can't access medical care and doctors are leaving the state. We are in a health care crisis in Idaho because of the trigger ban. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that doctors stay in Idaho, that women can access medical care and that, uh, that we start whittling away at all of these draconian restrictions on women's reproductive rights.
Gemma Gaudette: Reproductive rights are not the only issue when it comes to health care. Access to, to health care is critically important. And again, being a rural state, we are we know that it's difficult to get access. What role should the state play in keeping health care services available, and what would you do about the future of Medicaid?
Terri Pickens: So again, back to when you look at people, look at their budget, tells you who they are. Again, the Idaho GOP and Governor Brad Little do not care about the health and well-being of Idahoans. They would not have gutted Medicaid expansion. They would not have gutted all of the programs for mental health services, for school counselors, school nurses, all of those things that keep our population healthy. Um, but they did. So, what I plan to do is to really focus on restoring Medicaid funding, Medicaid expansion. In 2018, Reclaim Idaho was very effective at getting a very large majority of this state to agree that Medicaid expansion should be passed in Idaho, and the legislature has done everything in their power to whittle that down. And this year, they finally succeeded in creating this reporting requirement. That makes it nearly impossible for anybody to get Medicaid expansion. I'm going to undo that red tape and make sure that people can actually access their Medicaid, because we know when people can access their Medicaid, they can go use those rural clinics, and those rural clinics operate in volume. And if they lose that Medicaid expansion funding by those patients not visiting the clinics, they don't have the revenue to keep Medicaid medical personnel on staff. They can't pay their doctors and their staff. So those clinics close. The only way to keep those clinics open is to continue to protect Medicaid expansion and others access to health care.
Gemma Gaudette: I have about two minutes left with you, and I do want to talk about the fact that you've talked about reversing some of our state's tax and budget decisions. Let's be clear there are Idahoans, though, who believe that lower taxes and smaller government are really important to our state's success. So how would you convince those voters that your approach would leave them better off?
Terri Pickens: My approach would not have, would have, would have no impact on them at all. Zero impact on the working-class families of this state. My tax plan is to go after the wealthy corporations and the individuals of $750,000, and above that is a very small minority of the state that are not paying their fair share. And I will start with the meta facility in Ada County. They are capped at a $4 million property tax exemption rate, and they provide no employees, virtually no fiscal, um, positive impact on the community, just stripping us of our resources. And they are benefiting from these large tax breaks. Those corporations should not be benefiting at the behest of Idahoans. So when people are concerned about me raising taxes, my statement to them is it's not going to affect you at all. In fact, I'm going to try to reduce yours by getting rid of the grocery tax, by dealing with the homeowners exemption, and by scaling the circuit breaker to more adequately impact those working-class families, those families who are unlimited incomes, and our Idaho seniors and veterans.
Gemma Gaudette: Before I let you go, Terri, you are well aware that Idaho has not elected a Democrat for governor in more than three decades. How do you convince someone who has never voted for a Democrat who may. Um, but is listening today and wondering, you know, should I, should I give you a chance? What do you say to an undecided voter?
Terri Pickens: I say to them, don't look at the party. Look at the person. Because when you look at the people running for governor of Idaho, there is one person that stands out that really, truly represents Idaho values, and that's me. I've lived in North Idaho, I've lived in eastern Idaho, and I've lived here in the Treasure Valley. I have a unique experience of knowing the demographics and what issues matter to folks all across this state, and I treat them equally important. I also care about the good people of Idaho, and it is my number one priority to make their lives easier and to keep Idaho, the Idaho where you say Welcome to Idaho, don't change Idaho. Let Idaho change you because we are a unique state. 61% of our state is public lands. That's why people are coming. Here it is. I'm the one person on the ballot that has vowed to preserve and protect what makes Idaho amazing. And that's our public lands make life easier for the people who live here and make it more affordable so folks can stay here.
Gemma Gaudette: Well, Terri, I want to thank you so much for taking time to talk with us. We've been speaking with Terri Pickens. She is the Democratic nominee for governor. The election again is November 3rd. Terri, thanks so much, so much.
Terri Pickens: Thank you so much, Gemma. It's been a pleasure talking with all of you. Thanks.
