Megan C. Blanksma

Megan Blanksma: Idaho Republican Candidate for State Senate District 8

Megan Blanksma is a Republican challenger running for the Idaho State Senate in District 8 in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary. Blanksma, of Hammett, is a former Idaho House Majority Leader who previously represented District 8B in the House and is now challenging incumbent Sen. Christy Zito in a three-way primary covering Boise, Custer, Elmore, and Valley counties in southwest-central Idaho.

Background

Megan Blanksma was born and raised in Nampa and graduated from Nampa High School, where she served as a legislative page in the Idaho Senate during her senior year, according to her Wikipedia profile. She earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Idaho. After relocating to Hammett in Elmore County, she has operated an agribusiness and worked as a farmer for more than two decades. Blanksma and her husband Jeff live on a farm in Hammett. She has been active in Republican Party politics since her teenage years, serving as Precinct Committee Person, State Committee Woman, and Chair of the Elmore County Republican Party, as documented on her Ballotpedia profile. She also serves on the St. Luke's Elmore Community Board.

Political Career

Blanksma first won election to the Idaho House in 2016, defeating a 14-year incumbent in the Republican primary for District 23B. Following redistricting she represented District 8B, serving four terms in the House through 2024. During that time she rose to House Majority Leader, making her the first woman to hold that position in Idaho, as reported by KMVT. She served as majority leader from the start of the 2023 legislative session until February 2024. Her removal from leadership came mid-session in February 2024, an event the Idaho Capital Sun described as unprecedented in recent Idaho history. Blanksma had been the sole House leader to vote against a new "maintenance" budget process introduced by JFAC co-chairs, which grouped state agencies into bundled maintenance budgets before allowing consideration of new spending. She said the old system was easier for constituents to track and that the new approach made budget transparency more difficult, as she told Idaho Reports. In the 2024 Republican primary, Blanksma lost her House seat to Rep. Faye Thompson by a margin of 4,361 to 4,140 votes, in a race where a national PAC aligned with Young Americans for Liberty spent money opposing her, as covered by Idaho Education News. During her House tenure, Blanksma served on the Health and Welfare, Resources and Conservation, Transportation and Defense, and Ways and Means committees, per her official Idaho Legislature listing. She sponsored the Idaho Launch program, which provides post-secondary funding to high school graduates pursuing career and vocational training.

Policy Positions

Blanksma's Senate campaign centers on fiscal accountability, agricultural interests, and what she describes as representative governance for District 8. In a candidate profile by Idaho Education News, Blanksma said she opposes Zito's voting record on issues central to the rural district, including votes against agriculture extension offices and water storage funding. She said the private school tax credit enacted through House Bill 93 primarily benefits families in the Treasure Valley and does not serve District 8's constituents. Blanksma has expressed support for the Idaho Launch program, which she championed in the House. Becoming a licensed tradesperson is cost-prohibitive without employer assistance, she told EdNews, and Launch makes that path more accessible to students outside the four-year university track. She has also pushed back on broad budget cuts, arguing they have real effects on rural communities and that taking a broad approach to cutting programs can undermine local services. On abortion, she is affiliated with Idaho Chooses Life, an organization that advocates for abortion restrictions in Idaho. On budgeting, Blanksma has consistently argued that the shift to maintenance and enhancement budgets reduced public transparency. She repeated that critique in her 2026 Senate campaign, telling EdNews the previous process was easier for Idahoans to understand and track.

Political Alignment

Blanksma is a Traditional Conservative Republican. Her endorsements from the Idaho Farm Bureau and the Idaho State Fraternal Order of Police are consistent with that classification, as are her eight years of House service and her role in advancing tax reduction legislation, agricultural policy, and the Idaho Launch program. Her ouster from House leadership followed a disagreement over budget process rather than any break with conservative fiscal policy. Her 2024 primary defeat came at the hands of a candidate backed by the Idaho Freedom PAC, the campaign arm of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, further indicating that her record places her within conservative Republican governance rather than the activist wing of the party.

Campaign and Endorsements

Blanksma filed for the District 8 Senate seat at the end of the February 2026 filing period, as reported by the Idaho Capital Sun. She faces incumbent Sen. Christy Zito and former Rep. Terry Gestrin in the May 19 Republican primary. Blanksma has been endorsed by the Idaho Farm Bureau and the Idaho State Fraternal Order of Police. Democrat John Garrett is running in the Democratic primary for the general election seat. The general election is November 3, 2026.