Dan Foreman

Daniel "Dan" Foreman is a Republican member of the Idaho Senate representing District 6, which covers Latah and Nez Perce counties in north-central Idaho. Foreman has served three terms in the Senate, first representing District 5 from 2016 to 2018 and then winning District 6 in 2022. He is seeking a fourth term in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary against state Rep. Lori McCann and former Sen. Robert Blair. The general election is November 3, 2026.

Background

Foreman, 72, was born September 20, 1953 in Lake Forest, Illinois, and lives in the Moscow area. He earned a B.S. in Business Management and Administration from Bradley University in 1975. He is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with 30 years of service, including duty as a combat veteran on KC-135 jet tankers and C-130 cargo aircraft and as vice commander of the 168th Air Refueling Wing in Fairbanks, Alaska. He later served eleven years as a Moscow Police Department officer and has worked in commercial aviation. He is Catholic, is married to Maria, and has seven grown children and approximately 20 grandchildren.

Political Career

Foreman was first elected to the Senate in 2016 representing District 5, lost re-election in 2018, and returned to the chamber in 2022 representing District 6. He chairs the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee and serves as Vice Chair of Senate Judiciary and Rules, as documented on the Idaho Legislature website. He is a member of the Senate Gang of Eight Caucus. In the November 2024 general election he defeated Democrat Julia Parker with 50.07 percent of the vote, per Ballotpedia. In the 2026 session he introduced the Constitutional Courts Act, directing Idaho courts to remain bound by the U.S. and Idaho constitutions.

Policy Positions

Foreman has sponsored legislation classifying abortion as first-degree murder, authored the Idaho Medical Freedom Act, sponsored a bill prohibiting Idaho from enforcing World Health Organization mandates, and chaired the joint committee investigating alleged state constitutional violations during COVID, per his Idaho Republican Party candidate page. In 2024 he introduced legislation to remove rape and incest exemptions from Idaho's abortion law, per KTVB. In 2023 he supported Senate Bill 1056, which repealed Idaho's prohibition on groups parading in public with firearms, per the Idaho Capital Sun. He campaigns in 2026 on closing rape and incest exception loopholes in existing pro-life law, supports the Parental Choice Tax Credit, and has stated of his record, "I think when people look at my voting record they'll see 100% consistency," per Idaho Capital Sun. In a 2017 email to a constituent reported by the Lewiston Tribune, Foreman called climate change "a scam perpetrated by left-wing fanatics looking for an excuse to raise taxes and grow government." In a separate 2017 constituent message reported by the Spokesman-Review, he wrote, "I'm a Christian conservative Republican, which means I have a moral compass. I don't believe in the separation of church and state, it's a figment of somebody's imagination."

Political Alignment

Foreman's lifetime Idaho Freedom Foundation Freedom Index score is approximately 89 percent on Freedom and 88.1 percent on Spending, with prior individual sessions scored as high as 96 percent. Idaho Capital Sun reports his 2026 session score dropped to 66.9 percent Freedom and 56.5 percent Spending (an F grade) after he, as Commerce Committee chair, declined to advance HB 745, a bill restricting taxpayer support for teachers' unions that he had co-sponsored; he called the bill "poorly written," "too harsh," and "unnecessary," and described the procedural maneuvering around it as "overdone and borderline childish." Idaho EdNews reported the dispute split the Senate GOP. Idaho Capital Sun reporter Mia Maldonado documented that at an October 1, 2024 candidate forum in Kendrick, Foreman interrupted Nez Perce tribal member and Democratic candidate Trish Carter-Goodheart during her remarks on discrimination and white-supremacy history in North Idaho, used profanity to criticize the "liberal bent," told her to "go back to where she came from," and angrily left the event. Multiple attendees corroborated the account. In a March 2024 floor statement on a resolution denouncing racism after a North Idaho harassment report, Foreman said his vote "is in no way an apology on my own behalf, or on behalf of the great state of Idaho," as reported by Idaho Capital Sun. A 2018 ethics complaint was filed by Sen. Maryanne Jordan after Foreman canceled a meeting with University of Idaho students advocating for birth control and sex education and reportedly yelled "abortion is murder" at them in a hallway.

Campaign and Endorsements

Foreman is running in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary against Rep. Lori McCann and former Sen. Robert Blair. Independent expenditure filings on the Idaho Sunshine portal show 2026 backing from Idaho Summit PAC totaling approximately $476. Idaho Capital Sun's April 2026 race coverage frames the District 6 contest around the intra-GOP dispute over communication, constituent service, and Foreman's decision as Commerce Committee chair to hold HB 745. The general election is November 3, 2026.