“It’s no longer public lands and the Sagebrush Rebellion, it’s about freedom now,” said Boyle, the Republican lawmaker, referring to the Western lands movement that began in the 1970s. Bundy expanded those grievances to target state government as well. I’m tired of our freedoms being taken from us, and I’m tired of the corruption that is rampant in our state government,” Bundy said in one video.Īnimosity toward the federal government has a long history in the rural West. “I’m running for governor because I’m sick and tired of all of this political garbage - just like you are. In videos on his campaign website, Bundy criticized Little’s COVID policies, railed against the “deep state” and “federal tyranny” and warned about the loss of gun rights, parental rights and religious freedom. He later switched his candidacy to independent as he left, he called the state Republican Party “corrupt and wicked.” In 2021, Bundy, 47, announced that he would run for governor as a Republican. He was twice convicted of trespassing at the Idaho Statehouse. “They think kooky things are less scary than someone who takes away their freedom.”Īfter rallying supporters to his father’s ranch near Bunkerville, Nev., in 2014, where they engaged in a month-long stand-off with federal agents over the Bundy family’s refusal to pay over $1 million in grazing fees, the younger Bundy led a 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon in 2016.īundy and his band of armed occupiers were protesting federal control of vast swaths of Western public lands.ĭuring the pandemic, Bundy re-emerged as founder of People’s Rights Network, a group that was behind nationwide protests over COVID restrictions.īundy led raucous protests in Idaho, where he was arrested multiple times for trespassing, including as recently as this March. Can they overlook that? Apparently, they are,” Boyle said. Judy Boyle (R) agreed that Bundy, who was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to jail for contempt of court, was able to tap into a vein of discontent over pandemic-era restrictions along with fears of government encroachment. “If it wasn’t for all the COVID fallout, Ammon wouldn’t be at 17 percent, I’ll tell you that,” said Jason Lehosit, a longtime Republican strategist in Idaho. “This to me suggests that there is a non-trivial share of the conservative electorate in the state of Idaho that has a fairly deep frustration with establishment conservative politics,” said Jeffrey Lyons, a political science professor at Boise State University.īundy’s showing in the election also appeared to reflect lingering resentment from Little’s handling of the pandemic. Little took 60% of the vote to skate to a second term, but Bundy’s double-digit performance signaled a deep discontent among arch conservatives in a corner of the Mountain West. Brad Little (R) and ran well ahead of Democratic nominee Stephen Heidt in more than half of Idaho’s counties. A far-right activist who has participated in armed standoffs with federal agents in two Western states received more than 100,000 votes to be Idaho’s next governor on Tuesday.Īmmon Bundy, the son of anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy, received 17% of the vote in his bid to challenge Gov.
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