‘Champion of the underdog’: Boise Democrat battles cancer while substitute serves in House

After 18 years in the Legislature, Rep. Sue Chew, D-Boise, has not been at the Capitol for her last session so far this year as she battles pancreatic cancer from the hospital.

The 65-year-old announced she planned not to run again last year, almost two decades after she was first elected to represent the Boise Bench. She has since served nine consecutive terms. Her final two-year term ends at the end of this year.

Chew was diagnosed with cancer last year, Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, told the Idaho Statesman, and was admitted to intensive care this week. She has been receiving chemotherapy, Rubel said.

The longest-serving Democratic lawmaker, a pharmacist originally from Oakland, California, has advocated for reform on indigent health care, disability rights and the Add the Words campaign, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as classes protected against discrimination in state law.

“She is the champion of the underdog,” said Rubel, who has worked with Chew since joining the Legislature in 2014. “Health care was really her signature item.”

Rubel said Chew has been an inveterate door-knocker, and assisted Reclaim Idaho in gathering signatures for the ballot initiative that expanded Medicaid in 2018.

“A lot of the people who need help the most don’t have paid lobbyists to come speak up for them at the Capitol,” Rubel said. “And the only place you’re going to find them is at their doors. Nobody knocked doors like Sue.”

Chew in 2015 co-sponsored anti-bullying legislation, according to previous Statesman reporting, which mandated anti-bullying training in school districts and required staffers to intercede.

Earlier this month, Chew received a letter from President Joe Biden wishing her well after a request from Betty Richardson, a Democratic activist and former U.S. attorney.

“You have embodied the best of Boise and the state of Idaho by working to do what all noble public servants do: make life better for our neighbors by giving them a bit more breathing room; promoting fairness and opportunity; and leaving a better, healthier world for the next generation,” Biden said.

Marjorie Wilson has been serving in her stead as a substitute since January. Chew has endorsed her as the Democratic candidate to replace her for District 17, which covers the Boise Bench and Southwest Boise, Rubel said.

In an interview with the Statesman last year, she said the Legislature has become less civil in recent years.

“With good legislation, I find that it’s made much more powerful with a diversity of voices,” she said. “Willingness to listen to each other is important and, I would say, is a prerequisite before you start running your bill, before you start testifying. Can you do your homework?”