Erin Bingham

Erin Bingham: Republican Incumbent for Idaho House District 32 Seat B

Erin Bingham, the Republican incumbent state representative for Idaho House District 32 Seat B, won the May 19, 2026 Republican primary with 3,673 votes, or 57.79 percent, over Brian McKellar's 2,683 votes, or 42.21 percent, according to certified Idaho Secretary of State results. She faces Democrat Kamber Weninger in the November 3, 2026 general election.

Path to the Legislature

Bingham has never previously run for elected office. Gov. Brad Little appointed her to the District 32 Seat B vacancy on January 9, 2026, after Rep. Wendy Horman stepped down to join the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and she was sworn in the next day. "I am deeply honored and grateful to be selected by Governor Little to represent my Idaho Falls community at home and in the Idaho Legislature," she said at the time. She then won the seat outright in the May 2026 primary.

Background

Bingham is an accountant with more than two decades of experience in financial management, budgeting, and business operations, according to her official Idaho Legislature biography. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She lives in Idaho Falls with her husband, Val, and their four children. Before her appointment, she was active in Republican Party organizing, serving as a Bonneville County Precinct Committee Officer for Precinct 57, Bonneville County State Committeewoman, and a member of the Idaho Republican Party Region X Rules Committee.

Committees

Bingham serves on the House Commerce and Human Resources Committee, the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, and the State Affairs Committee.

Legislative Record

In her first session, Bingham was the floor sponsor of House Bill 540, which extended juvenile-corrections records confidentiality to match protections already in place for adults; it passed the House 69-0-1 and the Senate 35-0-0. "There are certain safety procedures that are followed for adults, and we just included children in that," she told East Idaho News. "I feel like it's important to keep our children safe."

She voted for House Bill 800, addressing manufactured-home siting in residential zones, which passed the House 60-6-4 and the Senate 28-5-2. She described the housing-affordability problem behind it: "Right now the average family gets approved for about $310,000 to $320,000 for housing. But yet, in Bonneville County, our average sales price is $438,000." She voted for House Bill 542, the Stop Harms From Addictive Social Media Act, on its original House passage, 62-7-1, but was recorded absent for the final concurrence vote after Senate amendments, 62-5-3; the bill was signed into law.

Bingham voted against Senate Bill 1300, which shifted the power to appoint agency directors, including the Fish and Game director, from governing boards to the governor; the House passed it 41-29-0 and the governor signed it.

On proposed across-the-board budget cuts, she said: "I do not support across-the-board cuts that treat every agency the same. Responsible budgeting requires a careful, line-by-line review." On Medicaid, she said: "We're hearing a lot from our constituents regarding cuts, primarily for Medicaid, education, transportation, and public safety... I think people are really concerned about the cuts in mental health, and they are worried that it is going to shift into our emergency rooms, to our police officers."

On House Joint Resolution 27, a proposed legislative ethics-investigation process, she said: "I believe ethics investigations in the Idaho Legislature should be transparent while still protecting fairness and due process... One of my concerns with HJR 27 was that the individual under investigation would not have been allowed legal representation during the early stages of questioning." On House Joint Memorial 17, which asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider Obergefell v. Hodges, she said: "After careful consideration, I opposed that memorial... My vote reflected a belief that we should protect religious liberty, treat our neighbors with dignity and respect, and approach constitutional questions with seriousness and caution."

Stated Positions

Bingham's campaign website describes her as a small-business owner who went "from a modest upbringing to raising four kids on seven acres south of Idaho Falls." Her stated platform includes fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget, stable education funding, and addressing housing, healthcare, and cost of living — including removing regulatory barriers to housing construction while "protecting Medicaid for the Idahoans who depend on it." On water, she has supported the state's $30 million-per-year water-infrastructure investment and a 10-year plan to add roughly 750,000 acre-feet of additional water storage.

Campaign Finance

Bingham's 2026 campaign finance filings with the Idaho Secretary of State's Sunshine portal show a beginning cash balance of $12,842.62, total contributions of $60,745.00, and $40,000.00 in loans — two $20,000 loans from Bingham to her own campaign — against total expenditures of $87,318.38. The campaign ended the period with $13,426.62 on hand and $40,000.00 in outstanding debt. Her largest contributors, at $1,000 or more, include the Idaho Hospital Association PAC ($2,000), the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee ($2,000), James Petzke, Sean Coletti, fellow District 32 Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, the Amalgamated Sugar Company PAC, the Professional Firefighters of Idaho, the Idaho Credit Union League PAC, HFI Management LLC, the Idaho Forest Group, and Jeff, Vickie, and Britt Raybould of St. Anthony, who each gave $1,000.

Sources

• Idaho Secretary of State, certified results for the May 19, 2026 primary election
• Idaho Secretary of State, election canvass database
• Idaho State Legislature, official member page for Rep. Erin Bingham
• Erin Bingham for Idaho, campaign website
• East Idaho News, "New Idaho Falls legislator working to increase housing affordability and access to mental health care," March 17, 2026
• East Idaho News, candidate questionnaire, May 17, 2026
• Idaho Secretary of State Sunshine portal, 2026 campaign finance filings for Erin Bingham