Judy Boyle

Judy Boyle: Republican incumbent seeking a tenth term in Idaho House District 9, Seat B

Judy Boyle, the Republican incumbent state representative for Idaho House District 9, Seat B, is on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot seeking a tenth term. She won the May 19, 2026 Republican primary with 5,270 votes (65.93 percent) to Gregg Diacogiannis's 2,723 votes (34.07 percent), a certified result. Diacogiannis had previously run against Boyle as a write-in candidate in the 2024 general election and lost; 2026 was his first head-to-head primary challenge against her. In November, Boyle faces Democrat Lupita Connor, who won her own primary unopposed with 632 votes.

Background

Boyle's hometown is Midvale, Idaho, and she has lived in the state for 50 years, according to her response to the 2026 general election survey from idahonews.com. Her official Idaho Legislature biography states that she attended Lassen Community College, Boise State University, and the University of Idaho, worked as an agriculture and freelance writer, and served as natural resources director for former Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth. In her survey response, she described herself as a "former business owner of a land leveling company & own a small farm," and listed prior work as a 4-H leader, a March of Dimes volunteer, and legislative director for the Idaho Farm Bureau, along with helping start Idaho's Ronald McDonald House. She has two adult children and two grandsons.

A long legislative career

Boyle first won the District 9 seat in the 2008 election, taking office in 2009, and is now serving her ninth term. She previously chaired the House Agriculture Committee but lost that post after an unsuccessful 2020 run for House majority leader, according to the Idaho Press. Her current committee assignments, all as a rank-and-file member, are Resources and Conservation, State Affairs, and Transportation and Defense.

Legislative record

In March 2023, Boyle, then the senior member of the House Education Committee, stepped down from the panel minutes after it voted 9-8 to hold House Bill 139, a bill to ban school and public libraries from distributing "harmful materials" to minors; Boyle had voted against holding it. "I'm not going to waste my time any longer in there," she told Idaho Education News, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. "This is Idaho, not San Francisco, and I'm a mom and a grandmom." Asked whether she would be reassigned to a different committee, she said, "He can put me wherever he wants, or I can have three hours to get all my other work done."

In 2025, Boyle presented House Bill 319, which would have barred state employees, paid or unpaid, from assisting in legal matters against the state, with violations punishable by firing and a civil penalty of at least $10,000. Presenting the bill, she said, "So the state's on one side, and they're being paid by the state. And then they are on the other side, being paid by a private party to fight the state," according to the Idaho Capital Sun. "They have to decide one or the other: They're a state employee, or they're a private contractor." Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d'Alene, objected on the House floor: "I swore an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the state of Idaho. I did not swear an oath of loyalty to this state." No lawmaker on the committee made a motion on the bill, and it effectively failed.

In 2023, Boyle co-sponsored House Joint Memorial 1 with Rep. Barbara Ehardt, urging discussion of moving Idaho's border to include disaffected eastern Oregon counties; the House passed the nonbinding memorial. "Eastern Oregon has been quite unhappy with their state," Boyle said, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. "Portland seems to run everything there, and they have been asking for quite some time if they could move the border and become part of Idaho." In 2012, she was House floor sponsor of the constitutional amendment establishing Idaho's right to hunt, fish, and trap, now Article I, Section 23 of the state constitution, which passed the House 63-4-3 and the Senate 31-3-1.

Where she stands

Her stated priorities, from her survey response, include upholding her oath to the Idaho and U.S. Constitutions, strengthening Second Amendment and private-property rights, growing the economy, keeping government small, and protecting water rights and natural resources. She named the underfunded Idaho Department of Lands wildfire budget as the biggest issue the Legislature hasn't addressed. "Depending on the federal government for firefighting is clearly NOT working," she wrote. On budget shortfalls, she opposes "a blanket percent reduction across the board" and favors zero-based budgeting.

Her candidate page with the Idaho Republican Party lists her top three issues as property taxes, parental rights, and illegal drugs. "The family is the glue holding society together," it reads. "A legislator's job is to stand between an intrusive government and a citizen's rights." The same page lists endorsements and ratings, self-reported by her campaign: Idaho Chooses Life, Right to Life Idaho, the Idaho Farm Bureau, a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union, and an "A plus" rating from the NRA.

For the 2026 election cycle, Boyle's campaign has reported $24,100 in contributions and $24,323.85 in expenditures, with an ending cash balance of $36,405.26 and no outstanding debt, according to the Idaho Secretary of State's campaign finance system.

Sources

• Idaho State Legislature, official 2026 profile for Rep. Judy Boyle
• Idaho Secretary of State, certified May 19, 2026 primary election results
• idahonews.com, 2026 general election candidate survey for District 9B
• Republican Party of Idaho, Judy Boyle candidate page
• Idaho Press, May 7, 2022
• Idaho Capital Sun, March 2, 2023, on her departure from the House Education Committee
• Idaho Capital Sun, March 7, 2025, on House Bill 319
• Idaho Capital Sun, February 1, 2023, on House Joint Memorial 1
• Idaho Secretary of State campaign finance system, 2026 cycle filings