Eastern Idaho Political Fever Continues

On Saturday, state and federal representatives made stops in various parts of the region.

“When you don’t live at the state capital or in the Treasure Valley, you don’t get quite as much information,” said State Rep. Elaine Smith.

However, from what we’ve learned in the past week, that hasn’t stopped Eastern Idahoans from making their presence felt.

“We’ve seen great crowds come out. This is probably seven or eight town hall meetings that we’ve held in the last two years and we still see people coming out, asking questions and wanting to be involved,” said State Rep. Roy Lacey.

“When you have a group of people who come in with the kind of energy, that you feel in the room, it’s great. We hope to translate that energy into energy going into the election process,” said State Sen. Edgar Malppai.

That energy Malppai is talking about has turned into people showing up all over Eastern Idaho to show support for not only what’s going on here locally, but also nationally.

“Now, for the first time in about a half a century, we will actually be involved in choosing the Republican nominee for president,” said U.S. Sen. Jim Risch.

That is mostly due to the Republican caucus being moved up to this Tuesday.

“Idaho has now made the choice to move up and become part of the nomination process,” said Senator Risch.

Which is a big deal, given the fact that the Gem State has more delegates than both New Hampshire and Delaware.

“I hope every Republican in Idaho will participate and help choose the Republican nominee Tuesday,” said Senator Risch.