Marla Palmer

Marla Palmer: Idaho House District 25, Seat A

Marla Palmer won the May 19, 2026 Democratic primary for Idaho House District 25, Seat A unopposed, receiving 726 votes, or 100 percent, per certified Idaho Secretary of State results. She advances to the November 3, 2026 general election, where she faces Republican Grayson Stone, who won a four-way GOP primary with 52.94 percent of the vote. Palmer is a Twin Falls business owner who has worked in disability services for most of her career.

Background

Palmer grew up on a ranch in eastern Montana as the fourth generation of a ranching family. "My brother still operates our family homestead today," she writes on her campaign site. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Eastern Montana College in 1989, per her voter pamphlet submission, and planned to become a clinical psychologist. She was not accepted to any of the graduate programs she applied to.

Needing work, she took the first job she was offered, working with people with disabilities. She began in institutional care, at a time when many people with disabilities lived in large facilities apart from their communities. As deinstitutionalization changed how services were delivered, her job in Montana was ending. She chose to follow the work into community-based care and moved to Idaho.

In Twin Falls, she "helped build community-based disability services through a nonprofit agency," supporting people in homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces rather than institutions, according to her campaign site. She stayed. "Twin Falls became more than the place I moved for a job," she writes. "It became my community... where I built a life, raised my daughter."

When she became a mother, her employer would not let her bring her child to work, and she prepared to leave. A family she worked with offered her a different arrangement: help develop a program supporting individuals 24 hours a day in their own homes, with the flexibility to work primarily from home. She took it and built the program while raising her daughter.

Business career

Palmer has owned and operated MDC Magic Valley, a home care and disability services provider in Twin Falls, since 2003. The business is a trade name of Midnight Oil Ltd., an active Idaho corporation. Idaho's business registry lists her as the corporation's registered agent, and the Better Business Bureau lists her as manager. Her voter pamphlet submission lists her occupation as "Business Owner" with no organization name or title given.

Why she's running

Palmer describes years of advocacy for disability services funding before she decided to run. "For years, I have advocated for funding and support for services that vulnerable Idahoans rely on," she writes on her campaign site. "I called legislators. I emailed legislators... Too often, I did not get answers." Her answer, she writes, was to run for the seat herself. She frames the campaign around representation that listens and responds, and on wanting an Idaho where her daughter wants to stay and build a life.

In her voter pamphlet statement, she says she is running "to serve the people of Twin Falls with practical leadership," citing rising costs and naming "supporting local agriculture and small businesses, strengthening access to quality health care, improving infrastructure, and protecting our natural resources" as priorities.

Platform

Palmer's platform, laid out on her campaign site, centers on what she calls ALICE families: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, but Employed. She describes them as working families who are "living one unexpected bill away from crisis."

On housing, she writes that "when families compete against large corporate buyers for single-family homes, local ownership becomes harder to achieve," and she supports increasing housing availability, reducing unnecessary barriers, and more transparency in building costs and public bids.

On education, she supports "investing in public education, including the basic maintenance and facilities needs that too many districts have been forced to delay," arguing that "Idaho cannot keep asking schools to do more with less and then act surprised when problems get worse." She frames deferred maintenance as a cost that grows: "Deferred maintenance does not disappear. It becomes more expensive, more disruptive, and more unfair to students and taxpayers."

On healthcare, her longest platform section, she writes: "I support protecting Medicaid for elderly Idahoans and people with disabilities," calling those services "lifelines for families who are already carrying more than most people see." She also supports preserving Medicaid expansion and improving access to health insurance, and argues that preventive care, including dental care, costs less than emergency treatment. Her campaign site ties the position to her career: "I know what community-based support can do, because I have seen it change lives."

On budgeting, she writes that "Idaho should spend taxpayer dollars carefully, transparently, and with attention to outcomes," and that underfunding services often costs taxpayers more later. On democracy, she supports protecting the right to ballot initiatives and backs term limits. "Five terms, or one decade, is enough time to serve, lead, and make an impact," she writes.

Public appearances

At a March 2026 meet-and-greet event for local Democratic and independent candidates covered by KMVT, Palmer spoke about what she was hearing from voters. "Pretty consistently, people want to have healthcare. And then would like to see Medicaid protected. I think both with expansion and for people with disabilities," she said. She also described the campaign as a listening exercise: "I'm finding out what people are wanting from their candidates and what changes they want to see."

Campaign finance

Through her most recent filing, Palmer's campaign reported $8,892.39 in contributions, $10,000 in loans, and $7,797.12 in expenditures, leaving $11,095.27 cash on hand and $10,000 in outstanding debt, per the Idaho Sunshine financial disclosure database. Her largest contributor is herself, at $1,000. Other top donors include Kelly Head-Halladay of Chubbuck ($1,000), Hilary Western of Twin Falls ($1,000), and Kay Palmer of Culbertson, Montana ($700). Party committees have also given: the Idaho Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Gem State Victory Fund gave $500 each, and the Twin Falls County Democratic Central Committee gave $300.

Nearly all of her money is in-state: $7,686.39 of the $8,892.39 raised, with $1,206 from out-of-state and no company contributions itemized.

Sources

• About Marla Palmer, Marla Palmer for Idaho, campaign biography
• Marla Palmer's Policy Platform, Marla Palmer for Idaho
• Candidate Profile: Marla Dawn Palmer, Idaho Sunshine financial disclosure database
• Idaho Secretary of State, certified May 19, 2026 primary results