Brandon Shippy

Brandon Shippy: Idaho Republican Incumbent for Senate District 9

Brandon Shippy is a Republican member of the Idaho State Senate representing District 9, which covers a rural stretch of southwestern Idaho including Payette, Washington, and Adams counties. Shippy lives in New Plymouth and assumed office in July 2024 following his appointment by Governor Brad Little to fill the vacancy left when Senator Abby Lee resigned. He won the November 2024 general election to secure his first full term. In 2026, he faces a Republican primary challenge from Michael Erwin and a Democratic primary with Rachel Buck and Janice Martell vying to oppose him in November.

Background

Shippy is a Payette County native raised in New Plymouth and Fruitland, where his family has lived for multiple generations. He owns and operates Shippy Sprinkler LLC in New Plymouth. He is a church deacon and volunteers with Narrow Path Prison Ministries, as noted in Governor Little's appointment announcement. He and his wife Rakel have three children and serve as foster care providers. Before entering the Senate, Shippy served as a precinct committeeman, the Payette County Republican Central Committee Youth Chairperson, and on the board of Idaho Virtual Academy, a statewide public charter school, as reported by the Idaho Press.

Political Career

Shippy won the May 2024 Republican primary for the District 9 Senate seat, earning 51.7% of the vote against Scott Syme. He was then appointed to serve the remainder of Abby Lee's term beginning July 18, 2024, and won the November 2024 general election over Democrat Rachel Buck to secure a full term of his own, as reported by the Idaho Capital Sun. He currently serves as vice chair of the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee and also sits on the Health and Welfare and State Affairs committees, per the Idaho Legislature's committee listings. His legislative record in the 2025 session drew significant attention. In February 2025, he introduced Senate Bill 1059, the Idaho Prenatal Equal Protection Act, which would have established fetal personhood from the moment of fertilization and allowed homicide and battery charges in connection with the death or damage of a fetus or embryo, including removing existing rape and incest exceptions from Idaho's abortion law. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to introduce the bill but committee chair Sen. Jim Guthrie announced it would not receive a full hearing, partly at the request of Attorney General Raúl Labrador, as reported by the Idaho Press. When asked at the hearing whether the bill would require rape victims, including children as young as 12, to carry pregnancies to term, Shippy replied: "A baby conceived in rape is still a human being equal to you and me." He also introduced Senate Bill 1036 in the 2025 session, which would have established a ten-year moratorium on mRNA vaccines and gene therapy products. The Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law noted that the bill incorrectly classified vaccines as gene therapy, a characterization medical experts have disputed. That bill was not enacted. In the 2026 session, Shippy introduced a revised version, Senate Bill 1346, proposing a two-year moratorium on gene therapy-based immunizations for children under 18 and pregnant women. The bill passed the Senate Health and Welfare Committee in March 2026 before being recommitted to committee on March 30, per legislative tracking records. He also supported a 2025 bill adding a $300 fine to misdemeanor marijuana possession charges.

Policy Positions

Shippy's stated priorities center on abortion abolition, medical freedom, parental rights, fiscal conservatism, and limited government. On abortion, he supports establishing fetal personhood at fertilization and criminalizing abortion without exception for rape or incest. He framed his 2025 bill in explicitly theological terms, opening his committee testimony with a reference to the Imago Dei — the theological concept that human beings are made in the image of God — as the basis for equal legal protection of the unborn, as reported by the Lewiston Tribune. On vaccines, he supports state legislative oversight of mRNA and gene therapy products, contending that regulatory agencies have failed to protect children. His 2026 bill cited VAERS adverse event data as a basis for the moratorium, as noted in the bill text. On education, he told the Idaho Press that he supports empowering parents but opposes public funding for private, religious, or home schools, arguing that directing public money to private curriculum "perverts the free market." On gender and authority, he posted on social media that when a woman takes her husband's name she is "claiming to be under his authority," as documented in an Idaho Statesman editorial board review of his public accounts ahead of the 2024 primary.

Political Alignment

Shippy is a Far-Right Extremist. His abortion abolition legislation framed in theological terms of divine justice, his repeated introduction of bills banning FDA-approved vaccines based on disputed medical premises, his publicly stated views on marital hierarchy and gender authority, and his endorsement and financial support from the Idaho Freedom Foundation network place him at the outermost right edge of Idaho Republican politics. He is affiliated with the Citizens Alliance of Idaho and was supported by Idaho Freedom PAC, Think Liberty Idaho PAC, and Stop Idaho RINOs, as documented in campaign finance records and reporting by the Idaho Capital Sun.

Campaign and Endorsements

Shippy faces Republican primary challenger Michael Erwin in the May 19, 2026 primary. On the Democratic side, Rachel Buck and Janice Martell are competing in a primary for the right to face the Republican nominee in November. No formal organizational endorsements for Shippy's 2026 campaign had been publicly reported at the time of publication. The general election is November 3, 2026.