Update: See who’s pulling in thousands in donations for Nampa, Caldwell races
Political fundraising for candidates for mayor, city councils and school boards in Canyon County is reaching its peak with the 2023 general election occurring Tuesday.
For the first time, voters in Nampa will choose council members by district, not citywide. In Caldwell, a school board race is seeing donations coming in from both sides of the aisle.
Candidates have raked in over $85,000 for Nampa and Caldwell city council and school board races alone.
In Middleton, a former mayor has donated thousands to back one challenger.
Caldwell City Council
Candidates have raised $42,693 so far.
Geoff Williams, the incumbent in Seat 4, has raised $14,850 from 20 donors since Aug. 24. His challengers, Becky Mitchell and John Carter, have not brought in any donations this election.
Williams has had several donors who gave the maximum contribution amount of $1,000 including from developers CBH Homes, Brighton Corp. founder and chairman David Turnbull, and New York-based private equity firm Lexington Partners.
Chris Allgood, the incumbent for Seat 5, has gathered $11,600. Ramzy Boutros, who is also seeking Seat 5, has brought in $2,785. The remaining candidates for the position, Christopher Mortenson and Florina Ruvio, have not reported any donors.
Allgood shares many of the same donors as Williams, including CBH Homes, Brighton Corp. and David Turnbull, which each donated $1,000.
Mike Dittenber leads in funding for Seat 6, bringing in $8,499 from 34 donors. Scott Tilmant has raised $2,512 with Eric Phillips close behind with $2,447. Dave Larson has not notched any donations.
Nampa City Council
The nine candidates competing for three seats have tallied $18,475 in contributions so far.
Sebastian Griffin, who is seeking to represent the 6th District, has collected the most: $8,575, which includes $1,000 donations from Dustin Pinther, Dennis Mansfield and Dan McKnight.
Mansfield is a former Republican state senator and businessman who focused on the Second Amendment, the economy, education and abortion during his tenure. Mcknight is the chairman of Bring Our Troops Home, an advocacy organization aiming to end America’s involvement in conflicts abroad.
The 6th District is on the western side of the city, with Roosevelt Avenue as its southern border, Midland Boulevard as its eastern edge and Interstate 84 as its northern border.
Margie Potter has gathered $4,309. Her donors include $1,000 each from Vicki and Randy Coburn and Idaho Holdings LLC, a business registered to Mark Bottles of Mark Bottles Real Estate Services and Bottles Real Estate Auctions. Jennifer Niles, who is also running in District 6, has brought in $552 from mostly small donations,
Idaho Holdings LLC also donated to several other candidates, including $1,000 to incumbent Natalie Jangula, an incumbent who is running for District 2, and $1,000 to incumbent Dale Reynolds, who is running in District 4. Jangula has raised $1,711 and Reynolds $2,000.
Troy Keith, who is facing Jangula, self-funded his campaign with $1,327.
Caldwell School District
The six candidates running to represent three zones have grabbed $16,090 in contributions.
Incumbent Travis Manning leads the field with $9,240 from 65 donors in his Zone 3 quest.
Manning received a $1,000 donation from A.J. Balukoff, who unsuccessfully ran for Idaho governor as a Democrat in 2018 and was a member of the Boise School Board for 21 years. Manning also received $1,000 donations from Conservation Voters for Idaho Action Fund.
His opponent, Nicole Trakel, is seeking the Zone 3 seat. She has gathered $1,658, including $1,000 from Laura Rawls.
Nicole Hyland has collected $2,633 from 27 donors for Seat 4, while her competitor, incumbent Andrew Butler, has gathered $1,025.
Hyland received $500 from state Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell, Nicole Trakel’s husband. In January, Chris Trakel yelled at Caldwell School Board members during a meeting as they discussed policy regarding student protections and rights including sexual orientation. The meeting was adjourned as the crowd began lobbing insults and threats against the board.
Incumbent Manuel Godina has raised $575 in the race for Zone 2 while his opponent, Ray Horrell, has raised $957.
Nampa School District
The four candidates seeking two seats have raised a total of $6,819.
Donations are low so far in Nampa’s school district races except to Adam Schasel, who is running for the open seat to represent Zone 2. Schasel has collected $5,122 from 64 donors since Sept. 7.
He received $1,000 from Leadership for Educational Equity, a civic leadership development organization focused on reducing inequity, according to its website. Most of the rest of his funding is from donations of $100 or less, including from Ada County Highway District President Alexis Pickering, ACHD Commissioner Jim Hansen, and Luke Mayville, a Boise State University Honors College instructor and co-founder of Reclaim Idaho.
David Jennings, Schasel’s competitor, has raised $775 from three donors.
Stephanie Binns gathered $922 in the Zone 1 race. Her competitor, Jay Duffy, has not reported any donations for the open seat.
Middleton mayor
Middleton Mayor Steve Rule is facing off again against Jackie Hutchison, who is one of several candidates he defeated in 2019.
She’s accumulated $10,140 since January 2020 for her latest campaign, though nearly half of that, or $4,840, is her own money.
Hutchison received $1,000 from Darin Taylor, the mayor of Middleton from 2011 to 2019, and $1,000 from Taylor’s wife, Christine Taylor, on Aug. 30. Darin Taylor survived a recall attempt in 2012 but chose not to run for re-election in 2019 after being arrested and charged with domestic battery during his second term — charges that were later dropped.
Hutchison also received two donations, one in May and one in February 2022, from Subdivision Maker totaling $2,000. Subdivision Maker is a land-planning firm in southwest Idaho registered in Darin Taylor’s name. Filings show Hutchison returned $1,000 to the company on Aug. 15. Hutchison did not immediately return a call Tuesday asking why she returned the money.
Rule reported only one donation since he took over the city’s top role in 2020: $1.15 from Meridian-based Clarity Credit Union in December 2020.
The rest of Rule’s now $674.27 in campaign cash appears to have rolled over from the previous election cycle. In August 2020, he spent $814.92 in campaign funds at Golfballs.com, which is his only purchase since taking office. The transaction was listed as a gift.
Vallivue School District
One of two candidates running for competitive seats in Vallivue School District has pulled in funding: Brian Bishop.
Bishop self-funded his campaign with $2,642 to challenge incumbent Paul Tierney to represent Zone 4.
Zone 3 incumbent Toni Belknap-Brinegar and Zone 5 incumbent Amy Johnson are running unopposed and have received no contributions.
Canyon County voters: See here who’s running in November 2023 elections in your city
Ada County voters: See here who’s running in November 2023 elections in your city
