Mary Jo Durfee

Mary Jo Durfee: Idaho Senate District 24

Mary Jo Durfee, 83, was running for the Idaho Senate. The Democrat from Hagerman was the party's nominee in Legislative District 24, facing Republican Brent Reinke in the November 3, 2026 general election. She spent decades preparing taxes for others. Now she hoped to write state budget law herself.

Background and career

Durfee is a third-generation Idahoan, raised on a 280-acre dairy farm near Jerome, according to her own statement in the Twin Falls County general-election voter pamphlet. She attended Jerome High School and later the College of Southern Idaho, where she specialized in taxes, then continued her income tax education in Phoenix, Arizona with H&R Block.

Her working life covered several jobs. She retired after years as an H&R Block income tax supervisor. She also taught income taxes and bookkeeping, and earlier worked as a school bus driver and a special education teacher's aide. She has lived in Idaho for 60 years.

Her farm background shows up in her platform. "I know the value of hard work, and I know what it's like to find farming and dairy workers," she wrote in the voter pamphlet, saying she supports "year round visas for the immigrant workers."

Path to the ballot

Durfee won the May 2026 Democratic primary unopposed. Her general election opponent was Brent Reinke, a Twin Falls County commissioner who defeated sitting Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld in the Republican primary. District 24 had no incumbent on the November ballot.

Top three priorities

In her candidate survey for the Idaho Capital Sun, Durfee listed three priorities for her first term: year-round visas for the immigrant agricultural workforce, a "Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act," and the separation of church and state.

Housing and education

On housing, Durfee wants the state to restructure land use laws, and she calls for passing Senate Bill 1354. On the private school tax credit the Legislature passed in 2025, she opposes expanding it. Her survey answer, in her own words: "I don't believe my tax dollars should go to private or religious schools, period! Our Public Schools are 40th in our nation and one of the lowest in teacher pay."

Nuclear waste and the budget

Idaho is a finalist to host a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, a federal project that would require the state to accept spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Durfee is opposed. Her survey answer is direct: "No nuclear waste stored above our aquifer. Clean up the nuclear waste that has been stored in Idaho."

On the budget cuts the 2026 Legislature enacted, she opposes going further, arguing the cuts have served the wealthy at the expense of regulations and government employees who protect people and the environment, and that everyone should pay their fair share.

Campaign finance and reach

Her campaign has run on a small scale. According to her 2026 Sunshine campaign finance filing, she has raised $615 in contributions, received $1,012.25 in loans, and spent $1,402.56, leaving an ending cash balance of $224.69 and $1,012.25 in outstanding debt. Her largest contributor is the Twin Falls County Democratic Central Committee, which gave $300. The rest came mostly from small individual donors in Twin Falls, Buhl, Jerome, and Hagerman.

She has no standalone campaign website. Her public campaign presence is a Facebook page, "Durfee For Senate," based in Hagerman.

Where she stands on the November ballot

Two measures faced voters in the fall, and Durfee drew a hard line between them. Proposition 1 would end Idaho's strict abortion ban and enumerate rights around reproductive health, including access to contraception, IVF, and privacy in medical decisions. Her position, in her survey response: "I am 100% for Prop1 and 100% against HJR4." HJR4 is the legislative joint resolution that ran in opposition to the initiative.

Her voter pamphlet statement lays out the rest of her platform in her own words: religious liberty, separation of church and state, free speech, the right to bear arms, human rights for all, fiscal responsibility, and a balanced budget, along with increased funding for public schools and teacher pay. She also names the committee she wants if elected: "When elected I would like to work on the Income taxes and budget committee."

Sources

• State senator, District 24, Idaho Capital Sun Voter Guide: 2026 General Election
• Mary Jo Durfee candidate profile, Idaho Sunshine campaign finance portal
• Durfee For Senate, Facebook