Lori McCann

Lori McCann is a Republican state representative from Lewiston, currently serving in the Idaho House of Representatives for District 6 Seat A, who is running for the Idaho State Senate seat representing District 6. The district covers Latah and Nez Perce counties, including Lewiston and Moscow. She faces three-term incumbent Sen. Dan Foreman in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary and is vacating her House seat to do so.

Background

McCann, 65, was born in Portland, Oregon, and has lived in Idaho for 54 years, the last nearly 50 in the Lewiston / Nez Perce County area. She graduated from Lewiston High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Idaho. Her career has spanned education, law, agriculture, and small business. She taught and served as director of the Paralegal and Legal Assistant programs at Lewis-Clark State College for nearly 16 years. For more than 44 years she has co-managed family enterprises with her husband Bill, including his law practice (where she works as a paralegal with 47 years of experience), McCann Ranch & Livestock Co. (a Registered Red Angus cow-calf operation, where she drives the semi to haul cattle, serves as chief brander, and maintains DNA and registration records), and commercial and residential real estate. The McCanns have been married more than 44 years; they have four adult children and 11 grandchildren. She has served on the Tammany School Board, as president of the Idaho Association for Legal Professionals, and on the Lewis-Clark State College Foundation Board, the Idaho Community Foundation, and Idaho Business for Education.

Political Career

Governor Brad Little appointed McCann to the Idaho House in May 2021. She won full terms in 2022 and 2024 (unopposed in the 2024 Republican primary). Her House committee assignments have included Agricultural Affairs, Commerce and Human Resources, and Health and Welfare; she previously served as Vice Chair of Education and on Revenue and Taxation. In the 2026 session she sponsored House Bill 627, which amends Idaho's open meetings law to affirm the public's and press's right to record meetings; it advanced with strong committee support. She voted against House Bill 93, the 2025 private-school tax credit. She also voted against a joint memorial asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the federal same-sex marriage ruling, describing it as "not the proper means to get a law changed" and "a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."

Policy Positions

McCann's campaign platform emphasizes practical conservatism, public education, agriculture, transparency, and local control. She describes herself as a "passionate believer in public education from the early stages, pre-K through higher ed," and supports stronger funding for rural schools, rewriting the K-12 funding formula toward enrollment-based support, state-funded pre-kindergarten, and the Idaho Launch postsecondary workforce program. On the 2025 private-school tax credit she has called for monitoring first-year usage and accountability standards before expansion. On the budget, she has opposed across-the-board cuts and advocated using a portion of the Budget Stabilization Fund as a "line of credit" to avoid deficits after deep tax cuts. On immigration, she supports a secure border and removing undocumented felons from Idaho corrections facilities, but opposed mandating local law enforcement participation in federal 287(g) agreements as an unfunded mandate her local law-enforcement contacts opposed. In Idaho Capital Sun coverage, she has emphasized constituent service: "It's so important to me to listen and be the voice of the people. And that means all the people."

Political Alignment

McCann describes herself as a "Reagan Republican" who favors a "big-tent GOP," cross-aisle collaboration, and voting "for what is right for you, the people, and for the State of Idaho." Idaho Capital Sun has characterized her as a middle-of-the-road Republican focused on practical policy for education, agriculture, and business.

Campaign and Endorsements

McCann is challenging Sen. Dan Foreman in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary. Per Idaho Sunshine, she had outraised the incumbent through mid-April 2026 with approximately $35,000 in contributions and roughly $22,000 cash on hand. The general election is November 3, 2026.