Mirna Pleines

Mirna Pleines: Idaho Democratic Candidate for House District 5A

Mirna Pleines is a Democratic candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives District 5, Seat A, covering Post Falls and surrounding Kootenai County communities. She is challenging Republican incumbent Ron Mendive, who has held the seat since 2014. Pleines lives in Coeur d'Alene and is running in the May 19, 2026, Democratic primary, per the Idaho Secretary of State's candidate filing records. She has not previously held elected office.

Background

Pleines has lived in Coeur d'Alene since 2002, as noted on her campaign website. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Gonzaga University as an adult learner and a Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Her professional background is in healthcare compliance. She previously served as Risk, Compliance, and Privacy Officer at a Critical Access Hospital in Idaho. She currently works as a Senior Compliance Professional at a major healthcare organization, overseeing physician practice compliance with federal standards, per her campaign website. Pleines serves on the Spokane-Cagli Sister City Board and completed Leadership Spokane's Class of 2024, a regional leadership development program. Her husband is a physician assistant and 20-year United States Air Force veteran who lives with service-connected disabilities, as she describes on her campaign website.

Political Career

Pleines has never held elected office. The 2026 House District 5A race is her first campaign for public office, per Ballotpedia.

Policy Positions

Pleines has identified rural healthcare access, veterans' services, working family economics, education, public lands, and women's health as her primary issues, per her campaign website. On healthcare, she has drawn directly on her professional experience, stating on her campaign website that she saw state legislation limit care access and restrict what providers could offer at the Critical Access Hospital where she worked. She has called for protecting Critical Access Hospital funding, expanding behavioral health services, and expanding telehealth access, framing North Idaho's rural hospital network as vulnerable to policy decisions made in Boise. On women's healthcare, she has cited the departure of OB/GYN physicians from Idaho following state restrictions as a patient safety crisis. Her platform explicitly includes defending reproductive rights and access to women's healthcare. On veterans, Pleines has tied her position to her family's personal experience, calling for expanded access to VA services, mental health care, and disability benefits. She has framed her candidacy as an effort to honor veterans with action rather than words. On housing and wages, she has cited her own experience as a single mother who raised two daughters earning $17 an hour, arguing that wages have not kept pace with the cost of living in North Idaho and that the housing affordability crisis is squeezing local families. On public lands, she has called for protecting North Idaho's forests, waterways, and outdoor heritage for future generations.

Political Alignment

Pleines is a Liberal Democrat. Her platform combines rural healthcare advocacy and veterans' services — priorities with bipartisan resonance in North Idaho — with explicit support for reproductive rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ rights, reflecting a broader Democratic values framework. Her professional grounding in healthcare compliance and her personal biography as a single mother and military spouse give her positions a practical, lived-experience framing. No documented affiliations with progressive activist organizations were identified.

Campaign and Endorsements

Pleines's campaign website is mirnaforidaho.vote. No formal organizational endorsements have been publicly reported as of April 2026. Campaign finance records are available through the Idaho Secretary of State's Sunshine database.