Typically, most folks don’t pay a lot of attention to the Lieutenant Governor’s race during election seasons. That will likely be the case for this cycle in 2018, but it pays to look into the race since those that are elected to the position of Lieutenant Governor often end up moving on to higher office or other political positions. Case in point, the current Lieutenant Governor, Brad Little is running for Governor in 2018.

If you are wondering what the officeholder does, technically, Idaho’s lieutenant governor presides over the state Senate and serves as Governor when the elected Governor is out of the state.

With Brad Little jumping into the race for Governor, the prospect for an open Lieutenant Governor’s seat has drawn several candidates into the race so far.

The list of candidates includes former State Republican Party Chair Steve Yates from Idaho Falls, Republican State Senator Marv Hagedorn of Meridian, Republican State Representative Kelley Packer of McCammon, and Idaho Falls businesswoman Janice McGeachin. In addition, you have former Constitutional gubernatorial candidate Steve Pankey, who is running as a Republican. No Democrats have yet filed for the seat as far as we can tell.

If you were to ask anyone who might be the frontrunner in this race, they would struggle to find an answer. None of the candidates have much in the way of name ID, except for around their legislative district or hometown. Steve Yates might have a bit of an advantage from his days as the State Republican Party Chairman. However, his name ID is probably only higher with those active in the Republican Party, versus those that don’t tune it much except for when they show up to vote.

Only time will tell if a leader of the pack can be observed. Judging by past history, that might be very difficult until right before the Republican primary vote in May of 2018.

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