Kootenai Republican Faces Primary Challenge Over Health Budget Vote

Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, stood on the Idaho Senate floor on March 12 and called across-the-board budget cuts to the state's health and human services programs "a defining moment," debating specifically against Senate Bill 1375, the fiscal year 2027 health and human services maintenance of operations budget. His words carried the chamber: 19 Republicans joined the six Senate Democrats in voting against the budget, sending it down 25-10. Now those same words are fueling a Republican primary challenge against him.

Incumbent Jim Guthrie and David Worley are running in the Republican primary for Idaho State Senate District 28 on May 19, 2026. Conservative GOP figures, including activist Ryan Spoon, have rallied behind Worley as Guthrie's bipartisan vote on the health budget drew renewed scrutiny from the right flank of the Idaho Republican Party.

Spoon is the former chairman of the Idaho Freedom Political Action Committee and the current First Vice Chairman of the Ada County Republican Party Central Committee. The Idaho Freedom PAC is linked to the political machine of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a historically influential think tank that purports to separate true conservatives from "Republicans in Name Only." Spoon's backing of Worley signals that the primary challenge carries organized institutional weight, not just grassroots discontent.

Worley, a Southeast Idaho husband, father of five, and Army National Guard infantry officer, is a Pocatello High School graduate who earned a bachelor's degree in Government and International Politics from George Mason University and a Master of Arts in Statecraft and National Security Affairs from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. He has served for 23 years in the armed forces, including 14 years on active duty, and is a combat veteran with three deployments to the Middle East, including two tours to Iraq.

Guthrie, meanwhile, grounded his Senate floor argument in his 16 years of legislative experience and drew a pointed contrast with the Great Recession-era cuts he lived through at the start of his career. He told his colleagues that today's budget pain "couldn't be further from that. Today's financial pain, in my opinion, is in large part self-inflicted." Guthrie blamed the budget crunch on tax cuts and spending decisions approved during the so-called good years when Idaho was posting state budget surpluses.

Guthrie also called out legislators for not cutting their own pay and benefits while cutting programs that will impact working Idaho families. "We're not tightening our belts at all. We're not taking a pay cut, we're not compromising our benefits. We are tightening the belts of Idaho citizens, and the feedback from my constituents is that they are not happy about it," he said.

The budget fight is not resolved. The Idaho Legislature's budget committee introduced a new health and human services budget that includes $21 million in additional cuts to Medicaid disability services, replacing Senate Bill 1375 after the Idaho Senate killed the original. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said she still isn't happy with the new budget, as she and Democrats have been pushing to restore funding for peer support services and Assertive Community Treatment services. "I still am very disappointed in this motion because I see a really hard cut for residential habilitation," Wintrow said.

Guthrie's friction with the conservative base predates the health budget vote: he voted against House Bill 93 last year, which created the $50 million Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit. Campaign finance figures show Worley has raised $3,000 compared to Guthrie's $24,825. The fundraising gap is steep, but in Idaho Republican primaries, ideological positioning and activist networks have repeatedly proven more decisive than war chests. Worley previously ran for Idaho Senate in District 29 in 2022, losing the general election to Sen. James Ruchti by eight points.

In District 28, incumbent GOP Sen. Jim Guthrie is facing the primary challenge from Worley, while Democrats Mandy Peace and Rosann Mathews are squaring off in the District 28 senatorial primary, with the winner to face either Guthrie or Worley in November. The May 19 primary will determine whether a 16-year senator's moment of bipartisan conscience costs him his seat.