Republicans voting in tomorrow's Idaho primaries could have a big effect on the future of their party because of one often-overlooked position: The precinct committeeman.
It's not usually a coveted office, but there's been a surge of Republican candidates this election cycle.
Spokane Public Radio's Owen Henderson spoke with Boise State political scientist Jaclyn Kettler about what's going on.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
OWEN HENDERSON: To start with, what is a precinct committeeman? I have a feeling a lot of listeners have seen that title on their ballots but most people might not know exactly what that office is for.
JACLYN KETTLER: Right, precinct committees often go overlooked, but they really are important entities in our party organizations, in that in many ways, they're kind of the building blocks of the party.
Whether it's recruiting volunteers, helping with campaign activities, registering, turning out voters, those types of things. But they also are key for making decisions that can affect the direction of the party. For example, precinct committeemen make up the county central committees, which then select delegates to the state convention, where they'll vote on things like the state party chair, the platform, as well as party rules.
OH: There seems to be a real push from both sides of the Republican party to get their people into these seats. Former Republican Lt. Gov. Jack Riggs called it “the most important race on the ballot” this year. Why do you think that is?
JK: I think that's a great question. So I think a variety of elements within the Republican Party have come to realize how important controlling these precinct committee positions are.
And I think it's not just about ideology. I mean, there's definitely that element, but it's tone and kind of approach to politics.
And so I think that's also where you've seen some previous elected officials or other kinds of former party officials get more involved in these races this year, saying they're really unhappy with the direction the state party has taken in the last few years.
And so you've seen some of those divisions play out on issues like school choice or other types of issues. But there's also, there seems to be conflicts over, again, kind of the direction of the party in a few different ways. Things like approaches in trying to either really restrict who can participate as a member of the party or punishing those who deviate from the party platform and what is included in the party platform.
It seems like maybe the kind of conservative establishment wing of the party perhaps got a little caught off guard over the last few election cycles and seeing some of the kind of farther right supporters become really active within the party, including at the local level.
And so now it seems like they're trying to play catch up a little bit in some of these areas and like, ‘Oh, these races are really important and we need to be contesting them. We need to be involved.’
OH: I went through the candidate listings from the counties in north Idaho and found that Kootenai County has 73 Precincts and 147 Republican candidates. Is this amount of competition unusual?
JK: Yes, it is unusual. Generally, you have maybe one candidate running for it.
Often, a lot of them are even vacant. And so then someone needs to be recruited and put into that position. So often the parties are struggling to even get people into these positions.
It's also really unusual to see such active campaigning in these races where we're seeing campaign signs for precinct committeeman positions, which is quite unique or unusual.
OH: For Republican voters in Idaho, how will the results of these elections affect them?
JK: It could affect the work that the precinct committees and then, as a result, the county central committees are doing — kind of the approach that they're taking, the types of activities they're engaged in, the types of candidates they're supporting and whether or not they are getting engaged in things like the primary election or trying to punish and push on elected officials.
It could also have an influence in what happens at the convention this summer, who's elected to state party leadership positions. Do we see changes in the party platform or some of these party rules? It can definitely have an effect on the party's operation and activities.
