Scott Herndon

Scott Herndon: Idaho Republican Nominee for Senate District 1

Scott Herndon won the May 19, 2026 Republican primary for Idaho Senate District 1 with 8,155 votes (53.55%) to Jim Woodward's 7,075 (46.45%), per certified results from the Idaho Secretary of State. He is the Republican nominee on the November 3, 2026 ballot, facing Independent Steve Johnson. Herndon previously represented District 1 from December 2022 through November 2024.

Background

Herndon resides in Sagle in Bonner County. Before his Senate service, he sued the City of Sandpoint over gun restrictions at a private festival where he wanted to open carry. He lost the case; per Bonner County Daily Bee coverage, Sandpoint taxpayers paid more than $300,000 in legal defense.

Political career

Herndon defeated then-incumbent Sen. Jim Woodward in the May 2022 Republican primary and took office December 1, 2022. He served one term as Idaho Freedom Caucus chair during his Senate tenure. In May 2024, he lost his Republican primary rematch with Woodward by 613 votes. As a sitting senator in 2024, Herndon ran legislation to retroactively override the court decision he had previously lost as a private citizen in the Sandpoint festival gun-restrictions case. On November 6, 2023, Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder wrote to Herndon requesting he apologize for and retract an editorial critical of nine fellow Republican senators; Herndon refused, per the Coeur d’Alene Press. He signed the May 14, 2024 Hazlitt Coalition withdrawal letter, the public break by Idaho legislators from Young Americans for Liberty's Hazlitt Coalition.

Policy positions

In January 2023, Herndon sponsored Senate legislation to remove the rape and incest affirmative defenses from Idaho's criminal abortion ban. When Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, asked in a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing whether the bill would force a 13-year-old rape victim to carry a pregnancy to term, Herndon replied: “Some people could describe the situation that you’re talking about as the opportunity to have a child in those terrible circumstances if the rape actually occurred,” according to the Idaho Capital Sun. The committee voted to return the bill to Herndon rather than schedule a full hearing, effectively rejecting it. He has sponsored gun-rights legislation including SB 1374 (2024) to expand concealed carry on public property, voted to make the Idaho ballot-initiative process harder in 2023, and ran on a platform of property-tax elimination during his prior Senate tenure.

Political alignment

Herndon scored 96.2% on the Idaho Freedom Foundation scorecard during his 2022-2024 Senate term and served as Idaho Freedom Caucus chair during that same period. His campaign endorsements include Rep. Heather Scott, Pastor Paul Van Noy of Candlelight Christian Fellowship, Rep. Mike Nielsen and the Stop Idaho RINOs PAC. Across cycles his direct donor record includes Doyle Beck ($1,000 in 2024 plus $1,500 in 2022), Brent Regan ($1,000 in 2024 plus $1,000 in 2022), Smith Driscoll & Associates PLLC ($1,000 in 2024), Bryan Smith personally ($1,000 in 2022) and Idaho Freedom Caucus PAC ($1,000). Herndon chairs the Bonner County Republican Central Committee, and per the Idaho Sunshine portal that committee made independent expenditures of $8,056.94 supporting his campaign and $1,947.16 opposing Jim Woodward. An Idaho EdNews report lists Herndon among 20 candidates supported by Rep. Jordan Redman’s 36-18-1 Inc. PAC, which Redman seeded with $250,000 of his own money.

November 2026 election

Herndon is the Republican nominee for Senate District 1. He faces Independent Steve Johnson in the November 3, 2026 general election. The district covers Boundary County and most of Bonner County in northernmost Idaho.

Sources

Ballot status and certified results from the Idaho Secretary of State. Campaign finance from the Idaho Sunshine portal. For deeper background on Herndon's legislative record, lawsuit history and donor ledger, see the IdahoExtremism.org dossier on Scott Herndon.