Julianne Young

Julianne Young is a Republican former member of the Idaho House of Representatives seeking to return to District 30 Seat B, which covers portions of Bingham and Butte counties in southeastern Idaho. Young served three terms in the House from 2018 to 2024, first representing the former District 31B and then the redrawn District 30B, before losing the 2024 Republican primary to Rep. Ben Fuhriman by four votes after a recount in both counties. She is running in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary in a direct rematch with Fuhriman. The general election is November 3, 2026.

Background

Young is a sixth-generation Idahoan born in Moreland and a graduate of Snake River High School. She earned an associate degree from Ricks College and a bachelor's degree in education from Idaho State University, and she and her husband Kevin, an administrator at the State Hospital, raise ten children on a hobby farm near Blackfoot, as described on her campaign website. She has homeschooled most of her children, has served as a Webelos Scout leader, and is a volunteer chapter leader for the Freedom First Society in Blackfoot, an affiliation acknowledged on her Idaho Republican Party candidate page.

Political Career

Young was first elected to the Idaho House in 2018, defeating moderate Republican incumbent Rep. Julie VanOrden in the District 31B primary with 54.1 percent of the vote, as documented by Ballotpedia. She was reelected in 2020, won the redrawn District 30B in 2022, and served as Vice Chair of the House State Affairs Committee with additional service on Judiciary, Rules and Administration, Environment, Energy and Technology, and Ethics. During her three terms she sponsored House Bill 421 (2024), which defined biological sex in Idaho law and was later blocked in federal court, with the state ordered to pay more than $321,000 in plaintiffs' legal fees, and House Bill 668 (2024), which prohibited public funds for gender-transition health care. She also backed House Bill 337 (2021) restricting critical race theory in schools and House Bill 314 (2023) on library materials, which Gov. Brad Little vetoed. She lost the 2024 Republican primary to Ben Fuhriman by four votes after a recount in both Bingham and Butte counties, as reported by the Idaho State Journal.

Policy Positions

Young centers her platform on family, parental rights, and what she describes as cultural questions tied to faith. She told the Idaho Capital Sun that "government shapes culture, and culture shapes government," and that whether biological sex is "an inherent characteristic, or is it a preference or feeling" involves "moral and ethical questions… closely tied to people's worldview and the nature of God." On taxpayer funding of gender-transition services, she told the same outlet that "when the state is using taxpayer dollars to do things that people find morally offensive, that offend their conscience, then there's a question about whether that is an appropriate role of government." Her Idaho GOP candidate page lists fiscal prudence and tax relief, parental rights, and Idaho water rights under "First in Time, First in Right" as her top stated priorities.

Political Alignment

Young is Idaho Freedom Foundation-aligned. The Idaho Capital Sun reports her Idaho Freedom Foundation Freedom Index score at 86 percent and her ACLU of Idaho civil-liberties score at zero percent for the most recent cycle tracked. She has been endorsed by Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, identifies with the Idaho House Freedom Caucus on social-policy votes, and has publicly engaged with her affiliation as a volunteer chapter leader for the Freedom First Society in Blackfoot, a group the Post Register editorial board has described as a John Birch Society splinter organization.

Campaign and Endorsements

Young is running in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary against incumbent Rep. Ben Fuhriman in a rematch of the 2024 contest she lost by four votes. Independent expenditure filings on the Idaho Sunshine portal show 2026 backing from Citizens Alliance of Idaho PAC and Idaho Summit PAC, and Idaho EdNews has documented that Citizens Alliance of Idaho PAC draws substantial out-of-state money, including from a Virginia-based national affiliate and Pennsylvania gaming-related sources. A separate Idaho EdNews report documents approximately $16,848 in independent expenditures supporting Young by 36-18-1 Inc., a PAC funded primarily by Rep. Jordan Redman of Coeur d'Alene. The general election is November 3, 2026.