First a fruit farmer, then Congress. Former Idaho Republican senator dies at 86
Former Idaho U.S. Sen. Steve Symms died Thursday. He was 86.
Flags flew at half-staff Friday for the former Canyon County fruit farmer who represented Idaho for two decades: four terms in the U.S. House and two in the Senate. First elected to Congress with no political experience in 1972, the Republican went on to challenge high-ranking Sen. Frank Church in the 1980 election, toppling him in one of the most contested races in Idaho history and closing a door on Democratic Idaho lawmakers in the Senate that has not been reopened to this day.
At early campaign rallies, Symms would say that “we need to take a bite out of government” before chomping down on an apple from his family’s farm, Phil Reberger, who ran his Senate campaigns and served as his chief of staff in the Senate, told the Idaho Statesman by phone.
“He could uniquely identify with the average voter,” Reberger said.
Symms served in the Senate during Ronald Reagan’s presidency and channeled the conservative energy of the era and the Sagebrush Rebellion, a movement that pushed back against federal control of public lands in the West. The 40th president visited Boise for a Symms campaign rally in 1986, when Democratic Gov. John V. Evans challenged the senator for his seat in a competitive race.
While on Capitol Hill, Symms, a former Marine, often supported military spending and decreased regulation.
“If there was a vote to keep the government from having more regulations and restrictions, he usually was on that side of it,” Reberger said.
Symms helped boost funding for Mountain Home Air Force Base and programs at the Idaho National Laboratory, he added, and ensured funding for highway projects like the I-184 Connector and Idaho 55 through Horseshoe Bend.
In 1988, Symms made headlines for claiming that Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis’ wife, Kitty, had burned an American flag during an anti-war demonstration two decades earlier. He later said he had no evidence to make the claim, according to previous Statesman reporting.
Steve Symms was ‘a true patriot’
Born in Nampa, Symms grew up on a fruit farm, graduated from Caldwell High School and attended the University of Idaho. He spent three years in the Marine Corps and ran for Congress in 1972.
Eight years later, the former farmer set his sights on a seat in the Senate.
A conservative Republican, Symms ran far to the right of Church, the powerful head of the Foreign Relations Committee who had spent nearly a quarter century in Washington. He advocated for a national abortion ban and opposed gun control, consumer protection and labor unions. He also fought against limits on exploitation of public lands, a notable contrast with Church, who pushed to create more wilderness areas in rural Idaho.
Symms was one of six senators to vote against the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.
Sen. Jim Risch said in a statement that Symms’ “commitment to Idaho and conservative principles has stood as an inspiration for our state leaders.”
After two Senate terms, he chose not to run again in 1992 and retired. He became a lobbyist and lived in northern Virginia with his second wife, Loretta, who died last year.
Republican Gov. Brad Little called Symms a “patriot” in a Friday statement, and ordered flags in the state lowered to half-mast.
“Sen. Steve Symms was a true patriot — a military veteran and dedicated public servant whose roots in agriculture helped informed his decisions back in D.C. representing Idaho’s interests,” Little said. “Symms routinely pushed back on government overreach, stood up for the working people of Idaho, and defended the freedoms we hold dear as Americans.”