Liyah Babayan

Liyah Babayan: Idaho Independent Candidate for House District 25B

Liyah Babayan is an independent candidate running for the Idaho House of Representatives in District 25B, which covers the Twin Falls area in the Magic Valley. A survivor of the anti-Armenian ethnic killings in Baku, Azerbaijan, who came to Twin Falls as a refugee in the early 1990s, Babayan is a small business owner, author, school board alumna, and longtime civic activist. As an independent, she bypasses the May 19 primary and advances directly to the November 3, 2026, general election. She will face the winner of the Republican primary between incumbent Rep. David Leavitt and challenger Cherie Vollmer, per Ballotpedia. No Democrat filed for the seat.

This is Babayan’s second run for District 25B. She ran as an independent in the 2022 general election and lost to Republican Gregory Lanting, per Ballotpedia.

Background

Babayan was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and survived the 1990 anti-Armenian ethnic killings that drove hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians from the country in the Soviet Union’s final years. Her family was resettled in Twin Falls, Idaho, through the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Program, arriving around 1992, as described on her campaign website. She began working at age 13 to help support her family, and graduated from Twin Falls High School in 2002.

She earned an associate’s degree in Political Science and U.S. History from the College of Southern Idaho and a bachelor’s degree — in fact, two bachelor’s degrees — in International Studies and Political Science from Southern Oregon University, per her campaign website. She began journaling at age 11, documenting her family’s experience in English as she was learning the language, which eventually became the basis for her memoir.

Babayan is the author of Liminal, a refugee memoir, published accounts of her family’s survival of the Baku killings and the experience of displacement and resettlement. The book has been described by reviewers as being told from a child’s perspective of war and genocide. She is also a social entrepreneur: she founded Ooh La La Boutique, a sustainable fashion shop, in 2007, and later launched MAKEPEACE, a skincare and bath line made from Idaho potatoes, which donates a bar of soap to a refugee camp for each product sold. She has built four small businesses over 19 years in Twin Falls, per her campaign website, and works as a business coach and public speaker.

Her civic involvement includes seven years on the Twin Falls Parks and Recreation Committee, appointed by Mayor Hall, and she served on the National Women’s Business Council in 2022, a federal advisory body to the President, Congress, and the Small Business Administration. She is also a Refugee Congress Delegate for Idaho.

Awards she has received include the Idaho Hometown Hero Award from Governor Otter (2018), the ACLU Civil Rights Service Award (2018), an Idaho Business Leader of the Year award (2026), and multiple Governor’s service to community awards, per the Refugee Storytellers Collective and her campaign website.

Political Career

Babayan served on the Twin Falls School District Board of Trustees from 2014 to 2017, making her the first refugee to hold elected public office in Idaho, per the Refugee Storytellers Collective. She received the “Service to Education” award from the Twin Falls School District in 2017. She has also run for Twin Falls City Council on multiple occasions, including in 2017, 2021, and 2023, per KMVT reporting, without winning a council seat.

Her 2022 independent candidacy for House District 25B marked her first bid for the state legislature. She lost the general election to Republican Gregory Lanting. She is now running again in 2026 for the same seat.

Policy Positions

Babayan has published a detailed platform on her campaign website. On government accountability, she is running a self-described 100% people-funded campaign, refusing contributions from PACs or corporations, and frames her independent candidacy as a check on partisan special interests.

On personal liberty and healthcare, she supports legalizing medical marijuana, opposes criminalizing addiction, and supports reproductive rights including access to reproductive healthcare, citing the principle that medical decisions belong to individuals, not government. She has stated she led the local effort to certify a reproductive freedom ballot initiative in Twin Falls District 25.

On housing and taxes, she supports expanding housing supply, reducing barriers to development, and reviewing the state’s sales tax allocation formula to better reflect regional infrastructure demands. She has identified affordable housing for seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities as the most urgent local need.

On public education, Babayan draws on her school board experience, calling for increased state funding for public schools, higher teacher pay, investment in school infrastructure, and protection of local curriculum control. She opposes the continued reliance on local property tax levies to fund school operations.

On natural resources, she opposes large industrial energy projects she views as harmful to the Snake River Plain and Magic Valley landscape — she notes having spoken out against the Lava Ridge wind turbine project — and supports protecting Idaho’s water, soils, and public lands for future generations.

On small business, she frames her 19 years of business ownership as direct qualifications for representing Twin Falls, and supports reducing bureaucracy and regulatory barriers for small businesses and family farms.

Political Alignment

Babayan is classified as a Progressive Activist running under an independent label. Her platform combines positions typical of the Democratic left — reproductive rights, medical marijuana, public education funding, Medicaid protection — with fiscally centrist and libertarian-inflected frames around limited government, individual liberty, and small business. Her explicit independence from both parties, refusal of PAC money, and emphasis on the American Dream as lived experience through refugee resettlement give her candidacy a distinctive populist-independent character. She has no documented party affiliation and describes her candidacy explicitly in terms of independence from partisan influence.

Campaign and Endorsements

Babayan’s campaign accepts donations via ActBlue, Venmo, check, and in person at D.L. Evans Bank branches under “The People’s Campaign.” She is active on Facebook and Instagram. A letter to the editor in the Magic Valley Times-News ahead of the 2022 race praised her community engagement and described her campaign as grassroots and community-minded. No organizational endorsements for her 2026 campaign have been publicly reported as of April 2026.

FAQ

Who is Liyah Babayan? Liyah Babayan is a Twin Falls independent candidate for Idaho House District 25B. A survivor of the 1990 Baku ethnic killings who resettled in Idaho as a refugee, she is a school board alumna, small business owner, author of Liminal, a refugee memoir, and Refugee Congress Delegate for Idaho.

What district is Liyah Babayan running in? Babayan is running in Idaho House District 25B, covering the Twin Falls area in the Magic Valley.

Is Liyah Babayan an incumbent or challenger? She is a challenger. Babayan has not held state legislative office. As an independent, she bypasses the May 19 primary and appears on the November 3 general election ballot.

Has Liyah Babayan run for office before? Yes. She served on the Twin Falls School District Board of Trustees from 2014 to 2017 and has run for Twin Falls City Council multiple times. She also ran as an independent for House District 25B in 2022, losing to Republican Gregory Lanting.

Profile published by IdahoVoters.com. Last updated April 2026. This profile will be updated as additional information becomes available.