Traditional Republicans fail to win majority of seats needed to control Kootenai County Republican Central Committee

Self-described traditional Republicans who accused the official Republican Party in Kootenai County of extremism failed to win control of the party in Tuesday’s primary.

Thirty candidates backed by the North Idaho Republicans won Kootenai County Republican Central Committee positions in the election. It takes 37 seats to win a majority of committeeman positions and establish control of the party, but North Idaho Republicans co-founder Jack Riggs still considers it a victory since they started with only two committeemen.

“This is a big step back to having reasonable voices on the committee,” Riggs said.

The North Idaho Republicans is an association and political action committee that was established to push back against KCRCC’s influence on nonpartisan races – in particular, the boards of North Idaho College and the Community Library Network. They endorsed 70 candidates out of the 73 precincts. These races often go unchallenged.

A North Idaho Republicans radio ad accused the KCRCC of becoming a breeding ground for extremism that has brought chaos and disgrace to the community.

But KCRCC leaders have accused the North Idaho Republicans of being “RINOs,” or Republicans in name only.

KCRCC Chairman Brent Regan won his individual precinct race against David Patzer with 58.7% of the vote.

“The predictions of my demise were greatly exaggerated,” Regan Tweeted.

In an interview, Regan said that because the committeemen are elected by their precincts, the committee is a representative cross section of the county.

“I want to thank all the folks that ran,” Regan said. “Win or lose you put yourself out there and showed you are concerned for the community.”

While the KCRCC didn’t endorse precinct candidates, it shared on social media a list of “conservative MAGA precinct committeemen.”

A reorganization meeting where the new committeemen will be seated and elect a chairman is scheduled for May 30.

Riggs is hopeful that the new committeemen will find common ground with the others and that the influx will have a moderating effect on the committee as a whole.

He said he knew the campaign would be tough. Many of the races were close.

Four of their endorsed candidates lost by fewer than 10 votes.

A few won by similar margins.

This shows “voters want committeemen to be conservative, but reasonable,” Riggs said.

Of the two sitting committeemen the North Idaho Republicans endorsed, Bob Thornton lost to Michael Jehnichen, while Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin ran unopposed.

The North Idaho Republicans supported many prominent Republicans who won, including former state Sen. Mary Souza, Coeur d’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond, former Sheriff Pierce Clegg and former County Commissioner Todd Tondee.

Looking toward the next election in November, the North Idaho Republicans will focus on the races for the North Idaho College board, Riggs said.

The college is at risk of losing its accreditation by next year if the board does not fix various governance issues. The North Idaho Republicans blame the yearslong crisis on KCRCC-backed NIC board members, two of whom are also precinct committeemen: Todd Banducci and Greg McKenzie.

Banducci held on to his precinct committee seat against Patty Ransom, though he has indicated he doesn’t plan to run for the NIC board again.

McKenzie lost his committee seat to former Coeur d’Alene School Board member Casey Morrisroe, which Riggs called a hopeful sign for his group.

In at least one race, a candidate won who is neither an incumbent nor endorsed by the North Idaho Republicans. In a three-way race, Daniel Fry beat incumbent Will Amaya and Vicky Jo Carey with just 37.8% of the vote in a Post Falls precinct.