CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — Residents of District 11 will see several new candidates for Seat A on the ballot this election season. Early voting is available until Nov. 1, with Election Day set for Nov. 5.
- This comes after the incumbent lost the Primary Elections to Kent Marmon.
- Anthony Porto representing the Democrats and Kent Marmon representing the Republicans will be facing off in this year's election for Seat A in District 11.
- Both Candidates are running for the first time.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Change is on the way for District 11, serving Caldwell residents in Canyon County.
Current republican representative Julie Yamamoto lost to Kent Marmon in the May primary — Marmon will appear on the ballot alongside the democratic candidate, Anthony Porto.
Porto tells me he was inspired to run for office after seeing recent legislative decisions lead to the closure of local schools and the labor and delivery unit at the West Valley Medical Center.
"We have our education system our maternity ward and delivery ward closed down. There's a lot of concerns in the area with the cost of living levies and bonds used to be supplemental,l now they are survival and so they won't let them advocate for them we are not getting the proper funding and we have schools closing and people wondering why," Porto said.
I reached out several times to republican candidate Kent Marmon for an interview but never got a response.
When it comes to educational funding, his website says he believes the money should follow the student allowing Idaho parents more options for free education.
Marmon also labels himself as pro-life, while Porto is focused on the safety of the mother.
I've talked to constituents that have lost their jobs good paying jobs a the hospital at the maternity ward because of these extreme laws in the legislature not allowing one not allowing an exception for the life or the health of the mother, let alone rape or incest.
Another huge topic for constituents in Caldwell is constant growth.
"I think we have to have mixed-used development we have to expand vertically versus expanding horizontally, we are losing a lot of our agriculture GDP to unsustained growth, we have a lot of developments being approved with not having plans," said Porto
Porto also wants developers to be a part of the financial future funding projects that make their projects sustainable.
"Continuing to just approve them without having all of the growth mapped out and having that transparency of who gonna fund the schools, the roads how are they getting water we want to make sure we are self-sustained with our agriculture so it's definitely a big concern," said Porto
