Doug Ricks

Douglas Ricks: Idaho Republican Incumbent for Senate District 34

Douglas Ricks is a Republican member of the Idaho State Senate representing District 34, which covers Madison County in eastern Idaho. Ricks lives in Rexburg and is seeking a fourth consecutive term in the May 19, 2026, Republican primary. He has represented the district in the Senate since December 2020 and served one prior term in the Idaho House beginning in 2018.

Background

Ricks was born and raised in Madison County and is a fifth-generation Rexburg resident, per his Idaho Legislature biography. He grew up on a potato farm and attended Madison High School. He earned an associate degree in general agriculture from Ricks College and a Bachelor of Arts from BYU-Idaho. After completing a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia, he returned to Rexburg and opened the first PC computer store in the city at age 25, operating it for approximately 13 years before selling it in 2000. He then joined BYU-Idaho, where he worked for more than two decades in information technology and disability services, providing assistive technology support for students with visual, auditory, and learning disabilities, per his campaign website. He retired from BYU-Idaho and currently works as a real estate investor. Ricks served as chairman of the Madison County Republican Party and currently holds the position of Idaho GOP Region 7 Chairman, per the Post Register candidate survey. He and his wife Melissa have five children and four grandchildren.

Political Career

Ricks first ran for the Idaho House in 2016, losing the District 34A Republican primary to incumbent Ronald Nate by 167 votes. He ran again in 2018, defeated Nate in that primary, and won the general election. In his 2016 campaign, Ricks criticized Nate's alignment with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, viewing the IFF's voting scorecard as an unreliable measure of legislative effectiveness, as documented by IdahoConservatives.com. After one House term, Ricks ran for the open Senate seat in 2020 following the retirement of Senate President Pro Tempore Brent Hill, as reported by the Rexburg Standard Journal. He defeated Jacob Householder in the Republican primary and ran uncontested in the general election, per Ballotpedia. He won re-election in 2022 and again in November 2024. Ricks currently chairs the Local Government and Taxation Committee and serves on the Judiciary and Rules Committee, per his Idaho Legislature biography. He has previously served on the Commerce and Human Resources Committee and as vice chairman of the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board. Ricks served as the Senate sponsor of House Bill 521, the landmark 2024 school facilities funding law. He described its impact in a 2024 East Idaho News candidate questionnaire, noting that Madison School District received $23 million and Sugar-Salem District received $7.3 million under the bill, characterizing the legislation as simultaneously increasing education infrastructure funding and reducing property taxes. Earlier in his Senate tenure, Ricks co-sponsored dyslexia screening legislation for early grades, drawing on his professional experience supporting students with learning disabilities at BYU-Idaho. He told the Post Register in 2022: "Because of my past work in higher education, over 15 years helping dyslexia students, I am excited to see more focus in K-12 where it is greatly needed."

Policy Positions

On taxes, Ricks has consistently supported income tax reductions and property tax relief. He wrote in the Post Register in 2022 that the legislature missed an opportunity to repeal the grocery tax, calling it a loss of over $300 million in would-be tax relief for Idaho families. He identified growth-driven property tax increases as among the most pressing issues facing Madison County, arguing in his Post Register candidate survey that new growth should pay for additional infrastructure through economies of scale rather than raising property taxes on existing residents. On education, Ricks has prioritized school facilities funding, early literacy, and broadband expansion in underserved areas. He has not publicly supported school voucher or education savings account proposals, and his record reflects a preference for directing state resources to public school infrastructure. In his Post Register candidate survey, Ricks stated that he does not cast votes based on scores or indexes from outside organizations, writing that he makes decisions "based on your needs, not someone in Boise." On rural broadband, Ricks served as vice chairman of the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board and worked on policy to direct federal grant funding toward underserved areas of eastern Idaho.

Political Alignment

Ricks is a Traditional Conservative Republican. His legislative priorities reflect the governing conservatism of Madison County's agricultural and education communities. His endorsements in 2020 from retiring Senate President Pro Tempore Brent Hill and from the National Rifle Association, the Post Register editorial board's characterization of him as "remarkably effective" in the House, and his sustained focus on school facilities, dyslexia screening, broadband infrastructure, and property tax relief are consistent with that classification. His explicit rejection of the IFF's voting scorecard as a basis for legislative decisions, documented across multiple election cycles beginning in 2016, further distinguishes him from the activist wing of the Idaho Republican Party.

Campaign and Endorsements

In his 2020 Senate campaign, Ricks received endorsements from retiring Senate President Pro Tempore Brent Hill and the National Rifle Association, along with a Post Register editorial board endorsement, as documented on his campaign website. Ballotpedia had not identified formal endorsements for his 2022 or 2024 campaigns, and no endorsements for his 2026 campaign have been publicly reported as of April 2026. Campaign finance records are available through the Idaho Secretary of State's Sunshine database.