BOISE, IDAHO — On November 6, 2023, Senator Chuck Winder, the Idaho Senate President Pro Tempore, sent a letter to Senator Scott Herndon, which threatened “some action” could be taken by Senate leadership against Herndon.
Winder took offense to a newsletter penned by Herndon to his Legislative District 1 constituents. Herndon, who regularly posts direct communication to Idahoans via the “News” page on his campaign website, recently highlighted the budget process, and how, in his opinion, the majority in the Senate has not been a good fiduciary of the public trust. “For the past two years, not a single budget bill, out of 250 different bills, has been killed on the Senate floor, and returned to committee,” Herndon states in his October 26, 2023, message to constituents. “Saying ‘no’ just sends [the bill] back to committee with the request that we get this budget a little tighter, or get a better explanation for a line item. It doesn’t actually kill an agency, close a school, or shut down a highway project,” explained Herndon.
Herndon, and his fellow legislative members in the Idaho Freedom Caucus, contend Winder’s letter threatens “retaliatory measures.” The Idaho Freedom Caucus released an official letter on November 13, 2023, calling Winder’s actions, “an alarming act of authoritarianism.”
“This is a direct attack by one Senator to erode our ability to serve the people of Idaho who elected us,” asserted Herndon. “Our duty is to inform and give voice to the people of our districts, not to amplify the views of Senator Winder.”
Confidential sources in Boise have told the Kootenai Journal that Winder is part of the establishment, old-guard Republican structure who was caught off guard when fiscally responsible Republicans gained 15 of 35 Senate seats in the November 2022 Election. With Winder facing another primary in six short months, it is possible he could lose his control of the Senate if more seats are gained by voters sending additional fiscally conservative legislators to the Capitol.
In the May Primary of 2022, Herndon unseated the incumbent Republican Senator, Jim Woodward, who had sponsored bills to provide illegal foreign nationals with Idaho driver’s licenses, and had voted for every single spending bill brought to the Senate floor during his tenure. On September 7, 2023, Woodward announced he is challenging Herndon in the 2024 May Primary.
Winder represents Legislative District 20, a part of Boise, in Ada County, and is serving his seventh term. Previously, Winder sat on the Boise City Design Review Committee, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Idaho Transportation Board, all appointed positions.
