Pickens, Stegner pledge policy changes in Idaho gubernatorial candidate forum 

Democrat Terri Pickens and independent John Stegner pledged during a gubernatorial candidate forum Tuesday night to undo many of incumbent Gov. Brad Little’s policies if they are elected Nov. 3. 

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Little, a Republican, did not attend the gubernatorial candidate forum, which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Idaho and other nonprofit organizations. 

Officials with the League of Women Voters of Idaho said Little did not respond to their invitation to participate in the forum, though they left an empty chair open for him on the stage at South Junior High School in Boise in case he decided to participate. 

Pickens, a trial attorney and small business owner, said her first action if she is elected governor will be to present a state budget that restores the tax revenue and many of the budget cuts that Little and the Idaho Legislature cut during the 2026 legislative session. 

“It’s going to restore mental health funding,” Pickens said. “It’s going to restore Medicaid expansion. It’s going to restore full funding for public education, and that is critically important because the one thing I’ve heard across this state is Idaho families and the Idaho working class are hurting.”

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Stegner, a retired Idaho Supreme Court justice, said his first action in office as governor would be to repeal the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit, which Little signed into law as House Bill 93 in 2025. 

“I think my first executive action would be to try to bring legal litigation against the vouchers as best I could,” Stegener said. 

“I continue to believe that it’s unconstitutional that we are funding private school students and homeschool students when we’re not adequately funding our own public school students,” Stegner added. 

Little, Pickens, Stegner, Libertarian Paul Sand, a Constitution Party candidate who legally changed his name from Marvin Richardson to Pro-Life and independent write-in candidate named Jacob Burnett are all running for governor in the Nov. 3 general election. 

Tuesday’s candidate forum lasted 90 minutes and featured a question-and-answer format, with some questions submitted by audience members in attendance and others written by event organizers.

“This is not a debate, it is a forum, an exchange of ideas, related to the issues confronting our beautiful state of Idaho,” League of Women Voters of Idaho President Jean Henscheid said at the beginning of Tuesday’s forum. 

Pickens, Stegner agree on many policy and budget issues

Pickens and Stegner largely agreed on several of the issues, from supporting Proposition 1, the ballot initiative seeking to restore the right to an abortion in Idaho, to unanimously opposing both of the Idaho Legislature’s proposed constitutional amendments, House Joint Resolution 4 and House Joint Resolution 6. 

House Joint Resolution 4 would amend the Idaho Constitution so that only the Idaho Legislature could legalize marijuana, medical cannabis or other drugs. In doing so, House Joint Resolution 4 would also remove Idaho voters’ rights to run a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, like voters in Oregon, Washington and several of Idaho’s neighboring states have done. 

House Joint Resolution 6 would amend the Idaho Constitution to make English the official language of Idaho.  

Pickens and Stegner said they will vote for Proposition 1 and implement it if it passes and will  vote against HJR 4 and HJR 6.

Idaho gubernatorial candidate forum ends with shared history between two candidates

During her closing remarks, during the final seconds of the forum, Pickens said a case she argued in front of the Idaho Supreme Court while Stegner was a judge had a huge impact on her. 

“In 2021 … in a published Idaho Supreme Court decision, I was called ‘brazen’ for making a legal argument that the judge disagreed with,” Pickens said, leading some members of the audience to audibly react. “Brazen.”

“That decision had such an impact on my career that I wanted to give up the practice of law, and the person that wrote that position is sitting right next to me,” Pickens said, referring to Stegner. 

Stegner had already completed his closing remarks when Pickens made the revelation, and did not get to respond. 

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Courtesy of Idaho Capital Sun