Larry Nostrant

Larry Nostrant: Idaho Democratic Candidate for House District 7A

Larry Nostrant is a Democratic candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives District 7A, which covers Lewiston and surrounding Nez Perce County communities. He is running in the May 19, 2026, Democratic primary and will face Republican incumbent Kyle Harris in the November 3, 2026, general election. Nostrant lives in Lewiston and has not previously held elected office.

Background

Nostrant has lived in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley region since 1987 and in Lewiston specifically since 2018, per his campaign website. He is married to Vickie Whitinger Nostrant, who serves as his campaign treasurer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Finance and Economics, earned while working as a commercial bank lending officer, and completed postgraduate studies in Construction Management in 2002, per his campaign website. Nostrant is a decorated veteran of the United States Coast Guard. After his military service, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a hydrology technician. He then entered a bank management training program through the Veterans Education and Placement program and spent approximately 12 years as a lending officer at four commercial banks while completing his undergraduate degree. In 1986, he returned to the construction industry, where he worked as a journeyman carpenter, job foreman, and project manager until his retirement in 2012. After retiring, he acquired an Idaho Outfitter and Guides license and operated guided fishing trips in several western states and in Costa Rica and Panama, tailoring his offerings to working-class sportsmen, as described on his campaign website.

Political Career

Nostrant has not previously held elected office. The 2026 House District 7A race is his first campaign for the Idaho Legislature.

Policy Positions

Nostrant's documented positions draw from his campaign website and his About page. On housing costs and property taxes, Nostrant supports adjusting the homeowners exemption for primary residences to reflect market conditions, arguing that using ever-inflating sales values to tax properties of homeowners who are not selling their homes is unfair. On the grocery tax, he supports full repeal, citing ongoing food inflation that he estimates has added approximately $300 per month to the typical family of four's grocery bill, with a corresponding increase in state tax collected from those purchases. On education, Nostrant calls for increasing K-12 funding and opposes the state's school choice tax credit program. He argues that directing funds to homeschooling families at ten times the per-pupil rate provided to traditional public schools is an unjustifiable shift of resources away from public education. He also supports expanding apprenticeship, mentorship, and career and technical education programs as a pathway to building Idaho's skilled workforce, and calls for reducing restrictions on part-time employment for high school students. On public lands, Nostrant has stated explicitly that he supports protecting and preserving federal public lands and opposes transferring them to private interests. He cited former Idaho Senator Frank Church, author of the Central Idaho Wilderness Act, as having the right approach to public land stewardship. On governance, Nostrant has stated on his campaign website that he will not be influenced by the Idaho Freedom Foundation or the American Legislative Exchange Council and will not sponsor legislation connected to any ideological group regardless of political affiliation. He has described his decision-making standard as what is best for the greatest number of Idahoans, to be informed by regular, well-advertised town hall meetings.

Political Alignment

Nostrant is a Mainstream Democrat. His positions on public lands protection, grocery tax repeal, homeowners exemption reform, K-12 funding, opposition to school choice diversion, and support for trades education are consistent with that classification in the context of rural Idaho Democratic politics. His explicit rejection of both IFF and ALEC influence, combined with his working-class career history as a union carpenter, Coast Guard veteran, and Forest Service employee, reflect the labor-rooted Democratic tradition of the Lewiston area. His framing emphasizes pragmatic problem-solving and constituent responsiveness over ideological alignment.

Campaign and Endorsements

Nostrant's campaign website is larrynostrant4idaho.com. No formal organizational endorsements have been publicly reported as of April 2026. Campaign finance records are available through the Idaho Secretary of State's Sunshine database.