C. Scott Grow

C. Scott Grow, Senate Finance chairman and JFAC co-chair, seeks a sixth term in Idaho Senate District 14

C. Scott Grow is the Republican incumbent state senator for Idaho Senate District 14, and his name appears on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot. He is seeking a sixth term in the office he has held since 2018. In the May 19, 2026 Republican primary, he won 6,817 votes, or 68.25 percent, against Mac Raslan's 3,172 votes, or 31.75 percent, according to Idaho's official primary results.

Background

Grow was born in Idaho and raised in Boise. He earned a degree in accounting and spent more than 30 years working as a CPA, small business owner, investment advisor, and business consultant, according to the Republican Party of Idaho's candidate page. His own 2026 candidate survey puts the accounting career at 40 years. He also served as audit committee chairman for a worldwide organization.

Before his Senate career, voters elected him to two terms as a trustee for the Meridian School District, now the West Ada School District. He served several years as chairman of that board. He also served as campaign treasurer for two Idaho legislators, one a state senator and the other a House majority leader.

Governor Butch Otter appointed Grow to the Idaho Senate on August 15, 2018, to fill a vacancy. Voters have elected him in every general election since. He and his wife, Rhonda, raised their family in Meridian and now live in Eagle.

Legislative record

Grow has served on the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee for his entire time in the Senate. He previously served on the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee. For the last four years he has chaired the Senate Finance Committee, and he co-chairs the Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee with Rep. Josh Tanner of Eagle. JFAC sets every budget for every state agency and department, which makes Grow one of the most influential lawmakers in the Statehouse when it comes to state spending.

His signature legislation is House Bill 304, which passed in 2025. Grow was the Senate floor sponsor. The bill directs $50 million per year into the School Facilities Fund and $50 million per year into the Homeowner Property Tax Relief account. It cleared the House 68-0-2 and the Senate 35-0-0, and it became law effective March 26, 2025. On his party's page, he describes that funding stream as a cumulative benefit, with each year's $50 million in homeowner relief stacking on the year before it.

The 2026 session tested his budget leadership directly. In response to revenue shortfalls, Governor Brad Little ordered 3 percent cuts to most state agencies last summer, and JFAC approved additional cuts of 1 percent and 2 percent on top of them. In February 2026, Grow and Tanner held a press conference to defend those cuts against criticism from agency directors who warned of long-term structural damage to state services. "Our goal is to have ongoing revenue match ongoing expenses," Grow said. "When you start dealing with one-time (fixes and transfers), then we put ourselves in jeopardy," according to the Idaho Capital Sun. Grow and Tanner said uncertainty over the cost of conforming to the federal tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act drove the need for the cuts. The co-chairs also opposed a Democratic proposal to withdraw about $533 million from rainy day accounts, arguing the state shouldn't spend reserves in a healthy economy.

Where he stands

On the Republican Party of Idaho's page, Grow lists his top three issues in his own words:

• Limiting government spending. As JFAC co-chair, he writes, "this year we were able to reduce the Idaho state budget and related spending for the first time since the Great Recession."
• Property tax relief for homeowners, citing the $50 million per year his legislation appropriates from the state sales tax toward that relief.
• School choice. He cites his role in passing "the first school choice bill in the history of Idaho" and the $50 million per year appropriated to fund it.

In an August 2026 candidate survey from Idaho News 6/CBS2, he named immigration reform, the tax burden, wildfires, and education as his top district priorities. On the budget shortfalls, he wrote: "Every year, Idaho has balanced the state budget. This year, the revenues for FY2026 were 165 million higher than estimated at Sine Die. We are conservative in our spending."

He has submitted the required affiliation statement to the Idaho Republican Party, affirming he supports the party platform as the standard for evaluating his performance as a candidate and officeholder.

The Richardson rematch

Grow's general election opponent is Kirsten Faith Richardson of the Constitution Party, who had no primary contest. This is the third straight general election the two have faced each other. In 2022, Grow won a three-way race with 81.2 percent, while Richardson took 8.5 percent and Libertarian Robert Imhoff took 10.3 percent. In 2024, Grow won 84.9 percent to Richardson's 15.1 percent, according to the Idaho Secretary of State's elections database. Richardson did not respond to the 2026 Idaho News 6 survey.

Grow has never lost a Senate contest. He won the 2018 general with 69.6 percent, the 2020 general with 73 percent, and has won every primary since, including an unopposed 2024 primary and a six-candidate 2018 primary in which he took 35.2 percent.

Campaign finance

Through filings with Idaho's Sunshine campaign finance system, Grow's 2026 committee reports $80,750.00 in total contributions and $58,084.23 in expenditures. The committee ended the reporting period with $143,565.97 in cash on hand and no outstanding debt, according to Sunshine, Idaho's campaign finance portal.

Grow's budget leadership is the frame for his sixth-term bid. He sets every state budget as JFAC co-chair, and his own standard from the February press conference is that ongoing revenue should match ongoing expenses. Voters in District 14 will decide in November whether he should keep applying it.

Sources

• Idaho Secretary of State, May 2026 primary results, Grow's 68.25 percent to 31.75 percent primary win over Mac Raslan
• Idaho Secretary of State elections database, Grow's full contest history and past margins against Kirsten Faith Richardson
• Idaho Capital Sun, Grow's February 2026 JFAC press conference and his budget-cut remarks
• Republican Party of Idaho, Grow's biography, committee service, and his top three issues in his own words
• Idaho News 6/CBS2, Grow's 2026 general election survey responses and Richardson's non-response
• Sunshine, Idaho's campaign finance portal, Grow's 2026 contribution and expenditure totals