MERIDIAN, Idaho — Casey Hess (D) is challenging one-term incumbent James Petzke (R) to represent District 21 seat A.
- Representative James Petzke's campaign page.
- Casey Hess' campaign page.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
District 21 includes a majority of Meridian — between Eagle and McDermott and Victory and Ustick Roads.
Casey Hess of Meridian is challenging Representative James Petzke, who is running for his second term.
“During my first term, I got a lot of bills through. One of the ones I am most proud of is to make financial literacy a requirement for all high school graduates. So every high school student in Idaho is going to learn the basics of personal finance before they graduate,” said Petzke.
The Hailey native tells me most of his work is on the budget committee, “Our goal is to create a balanced budget every single year. And we have to — it’s constitutionally required. Really, our one key job as a legislature [is to] do that every year,” said Petzke.
Hess grew up in Lewis County, and has lived in the Treasure Valley since the ‘90s. She tells me she has been interested in running for a local office for a few years and finally went for it when the Idaho Democrats encouraged members of their party to run.
“The Democratic beliefs about funding education and making sure we are raising good stewards of society shouldn’t be something that’s really a bipartisan thought, it’s really just the way it should be,” said Hess.
She disagrees with recent legislation passed that addresses social and moral issues, and she would like to focus on the funding for public schools. “Book bans are a terrible choice. The Medicaid ban on transgender care is one that I am completely against,” said Hess.
As well as the state's legislative response to the overturning of Roe V. Wade, “Here in Idaho they just went from 0 to 60 and went, ‘Okay, that’s it. Abortions are no longer on the table.’ And I think that doing that without some sort of ballot measure was a big mistake,” said Hess.
Petzke voted 'Yea' with senate amendments to pass a bill that prohibits abortion access for out-of-state minors without parental consent.
If re-elected, Petzke says he’d like to continue with the direction in which the statehouse is going.
“My goal is to make sure that we continue to balance budgets and keep taxes low. Give people the government services that they need and that are cost-efficient and effective,” said Petzke.
