NAMPA, Idaho — One-term incumbent republican Jaron Crane is facing his first contested race in Idaho's District 12B against democrat Don Benson
- Crane says there's a lot he still wants to accomplish in the House including introducing legislation around crime and illegal immigration.
- Benson's primary concerns are affordable housing and expanding the Housing Authority for renters.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Republican Jaron Crane is seeking re-election for State Representative in District 12 seat B. He says there's a lot he still wants to accomplish in the House including introducing legislation around crime and illegal immigration.
"(This) would allow law enforcement to, in the case of an illegal immigrant, they'd be able to give them a misdemeanor on their first criminal offense. And then if they commit another one, then we talk about deportation," Crane explains.
Crane would also like to see tax credits created for adoptive parents.
"Pre-Roe v. Wade is different than post," Crane says with a smile, "And so I got to thinking about if we're going to say that we're pro-life, then we got to have a place for these kids to go. And we've got to have families that want to adopt and have the ability to actually adopt them."
Crane's democratic challenger, his first since joining the Idaho political arena, is Don Benson, whose primary concern is affordable housing and expanding the Housing Authority for renters.
"And a lot of it is controlled by the state legislator on these housing authorities," Benson says, "So that's what we need to look at —expanding to bring affordable housing, especially for renters. Paying $1,000, $2,000 a month for someone that's only making $20 an hour, they can't afford it. That's taking up most of their income."
Housing and expanding opportunities for middle and high school vocational training are among Benson's top priorities, along with looking at ways to readdress House Bill 710, centered around access to certain materials in public libraries.
"I'd like to look at actually finding a way to repeal it. HB 710 originally came back out a couple of years ago where it was pretty drastic, where back then they were going to jail time for librarians, and then also a large $2,500 fine. The governor, at that time, didn't sign it. He thought it was too dramatic. A year later, it got watered down and it's still uncalled for," Benson says.
