More than a Democrat, I’m your neighbor. Although we may not share the same ideology, we are much more than these differences. Idaho is the home because we have worked together across party lines, counties, and generations. The soil we stand on, the water we protect, and the towns we raise our families in have never asked us what party we belong to. They ask that we care.
Idaho’s public lands will soon be sold to the highest bidder. The Big Beautiful bill will reshape millions of acres throughout the West, using our public lands for housing and community development. Congressman Russ Fulcher voted against the amendment that would have blocked the land sale. Governor Little has not taken any opportunity to stand up early on and defend our public lands; he has praised President Trump and the Big Beautiful bill on social media.
Idahoans need leadership that will act with urgency, not passively, while accepting endorsements for a candidacy that does not exist yet.
As we take on this next fight for our public lands, we must lock arms once again. We must understand that it is not about winning an argument as a community. Idahoans unite to preserve the open spaces, rivers, and forests that define our way of life. It’s about ensuring that our children and grandchildren can walk the same trails, hunt the same elk, and paddle the same waters we grew up with. Conservation doesn’t belong to one party—it belongs to all of us. Idaho lands benefit all Idahoans well beyond our recreation.
Politics may color our views, but they should never paint over our humanity. We do not need to mirror the poor behavior of our sister states, demonizing and villainizing a way of thinking.
The noise from outside Idaho may try to divide us, but our roots are deeper than that. We know our neighbors by their handshakes, not their hashtags. We show up to sandbag flood zones, raise our families, and help glean potatoes—not to score political points, but because that’s who we are. Rural or urban, red or blue, we share a duty to protect the land that sustains our economy, health, and heritage.
Idaho’s governors have traditionally fought to maintain the idea that Idaho does not answer to the whims of the federal government. Governor Andrus stood on the train tracks, stopping nuclear waste from coming into Idaho. He stated, “They are not going to make Idaho the nation’s nuclear toilet.” Governor Otter drove the public lands transfer to regain control of Idaho’s land under federal control, reminding all Americans that Idahoans, “We are not tenants. We are the landlords.” It was not a battle of left or right, it was a battle for our way of life.
So yes, I’m a Democrat. But I’m also a parent, a taxpayer, a volunteer, and a proud Idahoan. And I believe we’re strongest not when we agree on everything, but when we decide that our state is worth fighting for—together.
Dan Barker, Master of Human Resource Management, is a leadership consultant and the chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.