Ben Toews

Ben Toews, Republican incumbent for Idaho Senate District 4

Ben Toews is the Republican incumbent for Idaho Senate District 4, which covers Coeur d'Alene in Kootenai County. He won the May 19, 2026 primary unopposed with 5,225 votes and is on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot against Democrat Carissa Brewer, a rematch of the 2024 race, which Toews won. He is in his second Senate term and serves as Senate Majority Caucus Chair, according to his official legislative profile.

Background

Toews is a native Idahoan who attended Lake City High School. He earned an Associate of Arts in political science from North Idaho College and a degree in international business from Gonzaga University. He spent 17 years at his in-laws' specialty construction-tools company, rising to vice president and then president and CEO before the business was sold in 2019. He and his wife, Elisha, have five children. He is a founding member of a homeschool co-op, where he taught economics, government, and leadership and coached the debate club. He sits on the Local Government and Taxation and State Affairs committees.

HB 752, the 2026 restroom law

Toews's most prominent 2026 legislation was House Bill 752, for which he served as Senate floor sponsor. The bill prohibits knowingly and willfully entering a restroom or changing room designated for the opposite sex in government buildings and places of public accommodation. A first offense is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison; a second offense within five years is a felony punishable by up to five years. It includes exceptions for medical assistance, law enforcement assistance, and cases where no other facility is reasonably available.

HB 752 passed the House 54-15 and the Senate 28-7, with Toews voting yes. Gov. Brad Little signed it, and it took effect July 1, 2026. Defending the bill on the Senate floor, Toews said: "The Legislature has a fundamental duty to protect the bodily privacy and safety of Idaho citizens. House Bill 752 provides a clear, proactive tool to secure sex-separated private spaces in our state, while accommodating common-sense realities." Earlier, in committee, Sen. Melissa Wintrow had pressed him on how law enforcement would verify someone's claimed "dire need" to use a restroom of the opposite sex. Toews replied: "I have the utmost faith in our law enforcement to do an investigation and figure out whether or not there was really an emergency."

Only three states, Utah, Florida, and Kansas, had similar criminal bathroom bans at the time, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group. Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Idaho called HB 752 "the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom ban in the nation." The Idaho Fraternal Order of Police also opposed it; its president, Bryan Lovell, wrote that officers "would be placed in the difficult position of determining an individual's biological sex in order to enforce the statute." Nikson Mathews, chair of the Idaho Democratic Queer Caucus, told a House committee the bill would force him to use the women's restroom: "Every single day when I'm out in public, I have to decide: Do I feel like going to jail today, or do I feel like being attacked." Sen. Jim Guthrie was the only Republican to vote against the bill in the Senate, calling it "harmful."

Housing bills

Toews sponsored a package of housing bills in 2026 that grew out of the Legislature's Interim Committee for Land Use and Housing, created the prior year at the urging of Rep. Jordan Redman and Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise. He told reporter Mark Dee: "The reality is that regulations created at the local level have gotten us to where we are today." The median list price for a house in Idaho reached $569,000 in January 2026, about 119% higher than in January 2016, according to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data cited in that report.

The package would have struck local and homeowners-association bans on duplexes and "twin homes" in single-family zones, allowed accessory dwelling units by right, created a path for religious organizations to build housing on church land, and lifted restrictions on small-lot "starter-home subdivisions." Toews said: "Personally, my primary focus is to make it possible for the next generation to own a house." His two lead bills, SB 1353 and SB 1354, allowing duplexes and accessory dwelling units by right, were co-sponsored with Sen. Tammy Nichols. Both passed the Senate on March 20, 2026, and were referred to the House Business Committee, where neither advanced further.

Stated positions and recognition

His campaign site lists priorities including constitutional rights under the Second and Tenth Amendments, lowering the cost of living, property rights, lower taxes, school choice, and what it calls strengthening families and protecting children. In 2025, Idaho Family Strong, a family-policy advocacy group, gave Toews its "Champion of the Family" award.

Sources

• Idaho State Legislature, official member page for Sen. Ben Toews
• Idaho State Legislature, House Bill 752 legislative history
• Idaho Capital Sun, March 23, 2026 committee hearing coverage
• Idaho Capital Sun, March 27, 2026 coverage of Senate passage and opposition
• Bonner County Daily Bee, republishing reporter Mark Dee's February 15, 2026 report on Toews's housing package
• Idaho Family Strong, 2025 Champion of the Family award