Jeff C. Agenbroad

Jeff Agenbroad never should have been voted out of office in 2022. After he cautiously voted against a bill that would have created a taxpayer-funded revolving loan fund for building charter schools — without any protection for taxpayers if a school failed — Agenbroad drew the ire of the far right, who didn’t like the fact that Agenbroad could think for himself and sometimes disagree with special interest groups. So in 2022, Agenbroad was the subject of an intense campaign to get him voted out of office. He got primaried, as they say. He lost to Brian Lenney, a California transplant who’s as far right as they come and, as Agenbroad points out, doesn’t represent the values of Idahoans or residents of District 13. He certainly doesn’t represent their interests.

In the Republican primary for District 13, state senator, both candidates have served as Republican state lawmakers.

But they come from different factions of the GOP: Hardline and establishment.

Sen. Brian Lenney, a first-term senator, is part of the Idaho Freedom Caucus. Jeff Agenbroad, a former state senator, served as co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful budget-setting panel, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

The race has drawn endorsements from top state Republican elected officials. Lenney was endorsed by Attorney General Raúl Labrador, and Agenbroad was endorsed by Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield, as reported by Idaho Education News.

The creation of a Nampa Auditorium District would add a 5% tax on hotel rooms to help two event centers: the Ford Idaho Center and Nampa Civic Center. Jeff Agenbroad, former president of the Snake River Stampede, the annual rodeo in Nampa, is helping to spearhead the effort. He said the district would save Nampa residents taxpayer dollars that would normally go to fund upkeep and repairs at the event centers. Agenbroad estimates the district would generate $1.2 million per year for the centers. The centers’ remaining needs would still cost property taxpayers.

The Republican primary race for the Idaho Senate District 13 seat will again see Brian Lenney running against Jeff Agenbroad, but this time Lenney is the incumbent and Agenbroad is the challenger.

Lenney, 45, is a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, and Agenbroad had been more of an establishment Republican before he was unseated. Lenney is finishing his first term after he defeated Agenbroad in the 2022 election. Agenbroad had previously served six years in the Senate.

Agenbroad, 59, is running again because he has been disappointed with how his opponent has represented the district.