Mike Moyle

Mike Moyle: Speaker of the Idaho House seeks a 15th term in District 10

Mike Moyle, the Republican Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives, is on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot for House District 10, Seat A. He faces Democrat Michael Hofferber. Moyle ran unopposed in the May 19, 2026 primary and received 7,297 votes, a certified result.

Background

Moyle is a farmer and rancher from Star who works in agribusiness, according to his official Idaho Legislature biography. He graduated from Meridian High School in 1983 and attended Brigham Young University. He and his wife, Janet, have three children: Kelsei, Jacob, and Preston. He is serving his 14th term in the House and is seeking a 15th.

Path to the speakership

Moyle represented District 14, Seat A from 1998 until redistricting moved him into District 10 in 2022. He served four years as assistant majority leader and eight terms as majority leader before becoming Speaker. When Scott Bedke left the speaker's office to run for lieutenant governor, House Republicans elected Moyle speaker in a private caucus vote, and the full House confirmed him unanimously on December 1, 2022, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. At that point he was the longest-serving member of the House, having served 12 terms spanning 24 years.

2025 session: tax cuts

Tax reduction has been Moyle's signature issue. In the 2025 session he introduced a combination of bills that, according to the Idaho Capital Sun, collectively reduced taxes by more than $400 million. Among them was House Bill 40, which cut Idaho's individual and corporate income tax rate from 5.695% to 5.3%, and House Bill 74, which provided a one-time $50 million transfer to the state's homeowners property tax relief fund plus $50 million a year toward local school facility costs otherwise covered by property taxes. "You are going to hear people say we can't afford tax relief," Moyle wrote on X during the debate. "I disagree. There's no better place for taxpayer dollars than in the hands of taxpayers." After the session, he said: "Those of you that know me know that the only reason I ran for the Legislature is to cut taxes. This is probably the largest income tax relief we've ever provided or offered to the citizens of Idaho."

2026 session and other legislative record

Moyle's most contested bill in 2026 was House Bill 896, which he backed with House Majority Leader Jason Monks. It would have let Attorney General Raúl Labrador sue to temporarily disqualify local elected officials and government employees who "willfully" violate state law, and was partly inspired by the city of Boise flying the Pride flag despite a state display ban. The Idaho Capital Sun reported the House passed it on a party-line vote, 60 Republicans in favor and all nine Democrats opposed, but the Senate rejected it 8-27 on April 2, 2026, the session's final day, after only opponents spoke. Sen. Treg Bernt, a Meridian Republican, said the bill "dramatically expands the state's power" and "effectively stripping communities of their ability to manage local affairs." Sen. Brian Lenney called it "a tool of potential weaponization."

As Speaker, Moyle was also the named lead petitioner, in his official capacity, in Moyle v. United States at the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the Idaho House intervened to defend the state's abortion law against a Justice Department challenge under EMTALA, the federal emergency-treatment law, according to the Supreme Court's own docket. The Court dismissed the case on June 27, 2024, on a 6-3 vote, restoring a lower-court injunction that allows emergency abortions to continue while the case returns to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

Where he stands

Moyle lists tax reform first on his Idaho Republican Party candidate page: "I have always been committed to reducing taxes in Idaho. It is the sole reason I ran for office... I helped write and I carried these bills." On education, the same page states: "My children attended and my grandchildren are attending public schools in Idaho. I will continue to support school choice and higher pay for our excellent teachers."

His 2026 campaign finance filings show $90,199 in contributions and $41,618.60 in expenditures, leaving $95,154.50 on hand with no outstanding debt, per the Idaho Secretary of State's Sunshine database. In the 2024 primary, the PAC Make Liberty Win spent more than $112,000 opposing him, its largest expenditure against any Idaho candidate that cycle, according to Idaho Education News. He won that primary with 54.4% of the vote and the general election with 81.4% over Democrat Nancy Parker.

Sources

• Idaho State Legislature, Rep. Mike Moyle official biography
• Idaho Capital Sun, "Rep. Mike Moyle elected new speaker of the Idaho House," December 1, 2022
• Idaho Capital Sun, "Legislative Notebook: Major income, property tax cuts proposed by Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle," February 1, 2025
• Idaho Capital Sun, "Idaho Senate rejects House speaker's bill to bar local officials from office for violating laws," April 2, 2026
• Supreme Court of the United States, docket for Moyle v. United States, No. 23-726
• Idaho Capital Sun, "U.S. Supreme Court ruling reinstates ability to perform emergency abortions in Idaho under ban," June 28, 2024
• Republican Party of Idaho, Mike Moyle candidate page
• Idaho Education News, on 2024 third-party PAC spending
• Idaho Secretary of State, Sunshine campaign finance database