TWIN FALLS COUNTY, Idaho — Republican State Senator Glenneda Zuiderveld represents rural Twin Falls, Gooding, and Camas Counties. This year, she has a challenge from Democrat Edward Easterling in the Nov. 5 general election.
- Zuiderveld (R) has served in the State Senate since 2022. She defeated a primary challenge this spring and faces her first General Election contest.
- Easterling (D) did not respond to several calls and emails for this story.
- Both Easterling and Zuiderveld attended a candidate forum in April, hosted by the College of Southern Idaho. Video of that event is available here.
- District 24 covers rural Twin Falls, Gooding, and Camas Counties
RELATED | 2024 Voter Guide
RELATED | RECAP: Idaho May 2024 Primary Elections
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
I asked Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld if she was more relaxed in October ahead of the general election than she was before the primary in May.
"One-hundred percent," Zuiderveld said. "The hard race is in the primary when the Republicans are trying to pick their quarterback to go onto the general and so that's really where you do a lot of the work."
District 24 incumbent Glenneda Zuiderveld is confident approaching the general election, even though Democrat Edward Easterling will also appear on the ballot.
She's already looking ahead to what lawmakers can accomplish next session.
"On the senate now we're probably up to 15 strong conservatives that are for less government, less spending, and just fighting against a lot of the woke agenda in our work," Zuiderveld said.
Her top two priorities for future legislation are repealing the grocery tax and bringing lessons on the Ten Commandments back into public schools.
Her opponent didn't respond to my request for an interview for this story, despite several voicemails, emails, and efforts to contact him through the Twin Falls County Democrats.
According to his website, however, Easterling has lived in Twin Falls County since 1965 and retired in 2005 after a career with the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
On his website, Easterling says he supports public education, women's rights, and Medicare expansion.
"I always remind them 'I'm your servant, not your savior,'" Zuiderveld said. "You don't always want Government to fix your problems. I want to be able to listen and help where I can. There's times where it's not a government fix. It's a church fix or something else that I can point them to."
"I can honestly say that the reason why I do this is for the love of the people and if I didn't have that, I probably won't be doing this today," Zuiderveld said.
