That’s what the group, 50501, is all about. And that’s why I am asking people to help build this movement. Of many things we can do to help, one tactic is very hard for me–welcome back those folks who have been hurt by MAGA.

I admit it: I am a true F Around and Find Out kind of gal. If you vote for criminal idiocy and then you become a victim of criminal idiocy, the voice in my head is screaming a loud, righteous, “I told you so!”

But vendettas and grudges are the MAGA way. If we are to reclaim our country, our state, and our communities, we need to recruit folks to join the struggle. That means extending grace. It means extending understanding and compassion to past MAGA supporters who have been stung by the outrageous policies.

A caveat: I am not talking about the 15% who make up the cutlish core of Trumpers who are filled with bile and hatred. I’m talking about our friends, our neighbors, our family members who may have just been hoodwinked by the idea of a different style of politics.

For the 50501 Movement to succeed it will be built, in part, on the understanding of where MAGA found its strength. Ironically, MAGA unified around the idea of division. That division created disunity. In disunity grew the chaos they needed to hoodwink ordinary people into thinking that billionaires have their best interests at heart. In disunity, MAGA appealed to society’s most venal impulses and ignored our better angels.

As painful as it is to see an authoritarian regime attack Americans, we must embrace some of those who empowered them. 

Our basic values will guide us. After all, hatred or exclusion have no place in our shared future. And we can acknowledge that, to some, the MAGA movement was more than just a political ideology; it was a movement that promised to listen, to hear them. They felt they were voiceless–and sometimes they were. They felt they were powerless–and sometimes they were. MAGA promised. They believed. 

So, how do we bring these folks back into the fold?

First, we must listen. People will not trust us if we are unwilling to listen to their stories. We must listen to listen to why they supported certain policies or leaders. Listen to their concerns, their fears, and their hopes. We must give them space to reflect and speak freely without judgment.

Second, we must offer empathy and forgiveness. Bitterness or retribution will not heal our divided country. We truly believe in the values of inclusivity. And that means creating a path for people to return. That means giving them the dignity of redemption. We can acknowledge their mistakes without erasing their humanity.

Third, we should focus on shared goals and values. We must find areas where our hopes for a better nation align. Whether it’s the desire for a robust economy, equitable healthcare, or safer communities, there is common ground waiting to be found. Working together on tangible solutions will build trust once more.

Lastly, we must lead with love, patience, and resilience. There is no quick fix to political polarization. But when we extend our hand with the belief that we can grow together, even in disagreement, we create a foundation for long-lasting unity. It is easy to keep people at arm’s length, to mock them for their past choices, but it takes courage to invite them back into the conversation.

This is NOT easy. We admire courage because it is difficult. But we can do this. We can forgive. We can find the wisdom to understand. We can overcome anger, and fear, and resentment, to recreate the vision of a nation of people unified in their pursuit of liberty and justice. We can recreate an American Way that leads–once again–to an American dream of prosperity and peace for all. 

Let us be the generation that rises above division, that reaches out to those who may have once felt lost, and guides them back into the fold with grace and love.

The post My take on the state of our democracy? appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

As governor, I would fight this attack on a minority group—the LGBTQIA+ community—for the following reasons:

• It makes zero sense to take rights away from people who harm no one.
• Leaders should not kneel to the insatiable demands of a powerful group, with a self-proclaimed religious mandate, especially when that same group demands that the government honor their “religious freedom”—be assured, many religious folks support marriage equality.
• It is disgusting for crass politicians to inflame the passions of their most vociferous supporters for political gain.
• It is puny and cruel to create laws that give one class of people more rights than another based on who they love—this Apartheid for the LGBTQIA+ community.
• This bill is part of a noxious nationwide effort to set American rights back 165 years, or so, and turn America into the kind of theocracy that once burned innocent women in Salem for political gain.
• The only debate here is just how much freedom do our lawmakers think is too much freedom for the people who elected them.

On a personal note, I am a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, mother of a gay daughter, and friends with so many in the queer community whom I love and admire. We all know that printing this bill is a direct attack on our Civil Rights. Voting to give this bill the platform of a hearing in our Capitol breathes life into some of the darkest political and societal impulses that history warns can only have ugly, dangerous consequences for all of us.

To say that I am disappointed would be a gargantuan understatement.

The post I oppose the decision to print a bill seeking to outlaw same-sex marriage in Idaho appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

“I apologize to the NCAA players, staff, and supporters of the Utah Utes who were targeted and threatened by an unforgivable racist attack this week in Coeur d’Alene. I extend my apology as well to the players of UC-Urvine who were also made to feel threatened and sought safe harbor outside of the Coeur d’Alene. I apologize to the city of Spokane and to the organizers of the NCAA tournament.

Today, I declare an end to the days where racists and others who share ideologies based on hate and bigotry feel at home in Idaho. You are unwelcome. It may be your right to fill your heart with malice and hatred, but it is an American right to live a life free of tyranny and fear. 

In the short-term, I am allocating as many resources as it takes to hunt down, identify, and prosecute the people responsible for this racist attack. Longer term, we will review Idaho laws and make them as punitive as necessary to dissuade this kind of public attack. Further, we will work with the NCAA to make sure no team ever has to feel unsafe traveling freely in America. Someday, it is my goal that people think of Idaho when they think of what it looks like to stand up to and defeat hate-filled ideologies and the people who would terrorize their neighbors.

Let me be clear, my office and most Idahoans consider any attempt to bully or belittle or harass someone based on their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion to be reprehensible and criminal.

Public displays of racism, or the malicious targeting of any group for whatever malign bigoted purpose, will be a thing of the unfortunate past.

Today, I say “go away” to the racists and haters. Today, I say, “go to prison” to the racists and haters who terrorize their neighbors.”

–My name is Terri Pickens and I am running to be Idaho’s next governor. Like you I am tired of the mealy-mouthed platitudes of our current governor who is convinced that he has to placate far-right, anti-freedom extremists. Appeasement does not work. What works is a serious, courageous, transparent campaign to stamp out the forces of hate who are now terrorizing Idaho communities with impunity. Under my watch, Idaho will earn a reputation for true freedom, true liberty, and become a beacon for human rights. I am not bullied or confused by the far-right’s embrace of hatred. I am not deterred in my commitment to justice for all. Idaho needs a leader who will be a champion for human rights. I am that leader.

The post Statement from the Idaho Governor that We Need: appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

The Legislature hasn’t changed so the same meanness is back. It’s actually worse. Powerful lawmakers have expanded their attack on powerless kids by working to make life easier for Idaho’s most reviled bullies–those who simply attack kids because they can.

This year’s attack on transgender kids comes by trying to change the words in Idaho code regarding “sex” and “gender” status. These anti-kid politicians use this perverse platform to stoke a base that is fueled with disinformation and inflamed with fear.  With the failure of their attacks on our kids in the courts, which have routinely upheld trans kids’ rights of due process, equal protection, and community status, now our GOP colleagues are wasting more time and energy trying to define identity.  I have an idea, how about they just leave it be and let our kids live without bullying and constant attacks by our government.

As a parent, and a friend of transgender kids, I won’t just stand by and watch this bullying. Real lives are at stake. Real consequences.

My daughter came out at age 11.  I found out through her counselor, who was required by law to disclose to me that my daughter was self-harming and suicidal.  She was suicidal because the person she saw in the mirror, the person she felt like inside, was not the identity that society had placed upon her.

Every time one of these disgraceful bills gets a hearing, the souls of the most vulnerable group of people in Idaho, our transgender youth, take a beating.

I know a mother who will never again hug her child again because he didn’t feel comfortable in his own skin, and he took his own life. 

 Shouldn’t our laws try to save kids’ lives? At least, do no harm? 

Instead of showing compassion, this same GOP Legislature is entertaining proposals that make it harder to prosecute domestic terrorists, allowing more guns in schools, and allowing lawsuits against librarians. I believe it’s no coincidence that hate groups such as these frequently attack LGBTQia community members.

As Idaho Governor, I won’t let the Legislature bully kids. I will stand up to hate groups.  And I will make sure that one message is received loud and clear, the government must stay out of our doctor’s offices, our bathrooms, our libraries, and our bedrooms. For the party of alleged “small government”, Idaho’s present GOP, the Governor included, sure wants to regulate and govern everything we do. That’s why a vote for me will be a vote for your fundamental freedoms.

The post Idaho Has a Problem With Bullies in Power appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

–Abraham Lincoln response to 1857 US Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision

Politicians who steal our freedom try to do it softly. They cushion their cruelty with imprecise language about “the process” and “the will of the Legislature.” 

“I am pro-life,” my opponent assures us.

Yet, he fights for laws that kill our mothers, our sisters, our daughters.

Is this inflammatory rhetoric? I should hope so.

What freedom-loving person isn’t fuming when Idaho politicians, urged on by House Speaker Scott Bedke, fight to immediately institute a law that threatens doctors and endangers women? There’s no gray area here. The law is clear. Idaho forbids doctors from performing emergency abortions that save the lives of women.

Mr. Bedke and his powerful accomplices camouflage wanton cruelty with genteel bewilderment, phony empathy, mock outrage. 

Now is the time to be inflamed. The independence that flickers in our hearts must become a bonfire for us to prevail. In a democracy, that means voting. Our votes can burn down even the most stubborn injustices.

For those who misunderstand the metaphor, this is a call to defeat the violence of oppression with the far greater power of peaceful, purposeful voting. 

Our votes are stronger than any mob that would trample our sacred public spaces. Our votes create a virtuous circle where freedom and democracy grow stronger together.

To paraphrase the Great Emancipator: when we let freedom be taken from others, we forfeit our own.

Light your flame! Vote, Nov. 8.

The post Light Your Flame appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

That’s what SJR 102 would lead to. It amends the Constitution to allow the Legislature to call itself back into session. I am voting against it on Nov. 8.

In fact, bad ideas like SJR 102 are why I am running for Lt. Governor. I have the judgment and courage to oppose stuff like this. Of course, my opponent Scott Bedke supports it. (Find his “Aye” vote recorded here)

Now, I have to link to his vote or else he will just gaslight about it. That’s what he did on another vital issue on KTVB’s Viewpoint. Scott Petcash asked him to respond to a tweet from me that pointed out that Mr. Bedke favors imprisoning women who have abortions.

“That’s absurd!” he sputtered, his face getting redder. (Check it out at the 15 minute mark). 

It’s naked dishonesty caught on tape. Idaho law declares that a woman who has an abotion is guilty of a felony, and shall be fined and/or imprisoned for NOT LESS than one year. (Check out Idaho Code 18-606) Mr. Bedke is fighting for that law right now in court–he CHOSE to do that. He even objects to a judge’s partial stay of the law to let doctors save women’s lives who need emergency abortions.

Let’s be very clear. Mr. Bedke doesn’t just support jailing women. He supports letting them suffer and die rather than giving them live-saving care. 

For the record, I oppose jailing women who seek abortiion services. I oppose efforts to have Government mandate our reproductive health care. I oppose Government interfering in birth control decisions. I oppose ceding our freedoms to the heavy hand of Government. (You can watch my own KTVB Viewpoint interview here)

At the moment, we have a growing group of radical, anti-freedom legislators in our Legislature who have absolutely thrived under Mr. Bedke’s failed leadership. If SJR 102 passes, they’ll go pro. It will be full-time Idaho Freedom Foundation and their adoring crowds of militia cosplayers.  Imagine no break from lawmakers who want to abolish science from classrooms, who want to jail librarians, who want to drive professors out of classrooms, who want to give public tax dollars to their churches, who want to control women even if it kills them. 

Let’s give ourselves a break from bad ideas: vote no on SJR 102.

And please vote yes for me on Nov. 8.

The post Vote NO on a Full-time Legislature appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

Tomorrow, our leaders will honor our right to make reproductive healthcare decisions. 

Tomorrow, leaders won’t create outrage over every little thing to raise a campaign dollar.

Tomorrow, our kids will feel safe in the park and in their schools.

Tomorrow, Idaho will reduce our role in changing the world’s climate.

Tomorrow, businesses will love Idaho because we are welcoming and kind.

Tomorrow, freedom won’t just be words on a flag flown in the back of a pickup truck.

Tomorrow, our leaders will understand that serving the people is a sacred trust.

Tomorrow, our leaders will debate the best way to accomplish our dreams.

Tomorrow, the light of liberty will dispel the darkness we may see today.

What tomorrow looks like is decided by who shows up to the ballot box today.

Your vote matters Nov. 8.

The post Tomorrow Needs You Today appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

Always leave your campsite better than you found it.

That simple Idaho value is why I am running for Lieutenant Governor. 

The belief that “we must leave the world a better place” made Idaho prosper. It’s what built the legacy of clean, wide open spaces and the promise of freedom. 

Previous generations built roads and bridges for people they would never live to meet. They created city halls and police and fire departments. They dug water and sewer systems. They enshrined public education in the Idaho Constitution:

“… it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform, and thorough system of public, free common schools.”

That selfless and wise vision certainly helped me.

Despite my humble background, I now run a successful small business that I founded. My legal skills are helping me fight to regain the right for women to make our own medical decisions–such as choosing live-saving abortions–that Idaho GOP politicians have revoked. I advocate for children. I stand up for LGBTQ kids. 

Today, Idahoans are threatened by a selfish, mean-spirited kind of extremism. And, these extremists have flourished under my opponent House Speaker Scott Bedke.

Mr. Bedke allowed extremists to try to quell science-based teaching in K-12 schools as well as universities. He let them pass a law to criminalize librarians. He let them scapegoat the most powerless population in the world: transgender kids. He let them bully our underpaid teachers too.

Under Speaker Bedke’s watch–Idaho politicians made Idaho worse. 

I love Idaho. I love this whole beautiful state. If we return to this value, we can save Idaho from the corrosive work of extremists and self-serving politicians like Mr. Bedke.

Please join me. Let’s make Idaho a better place than we found it.

The post New Idaho Value: Leave It Worse Than You Found It? appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

This is no hypothetical anecdote. It’s real. The library in Bonners Ferry is under attack.

This month, the Boundary County Library Board canceled public meetings because they are being threatened by local extremists. A group mobbed a board meeting in June, demanding that “groomers” be stopped. One man even accused a woman of being a witch. 

The mob, by the way, doesn’t care that “bad” books don’t exist in the library. They don’t care that there’s a religious section where they can browse Fabio-free book shelves and never be scandalized by Fifty Shades of Grey or To Kill a Mockingbird or Macbeth. 

These anti-freedom folks don’t want to risk us being exposed to ideas that they haven’t approved.

So, the library staff and volunteer board are being harassed. Even threatened. Afterall, what are they supposed to think when fanatics blow a shofar outside the building? A shofar (according to books) is a Hebrew horn, generally from a ram, which is blown to gather people for battle.

When I am elected Lieutenant Governor, I will use the office to promote freedom. 

Remember the horrible way that Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin used the office as a bullhorn to promote her radical agenda? I will use the office to alert Idahoans when politicians are trying to limit our freedom. 

This year, I would have alerted everyone about this year’s House Bill 666, which sought to make librarians criminals if a minor obtained a “harmful” book.

Speaker Bedke let the bill pass. He made sure to be “absent” when it came to voting so that no one can accuse him of being for or against freedom. But let’s face it, he let the extremists burn down the Idaho House long ago. (The bill failed to pass the Senate).

I won’t be such a wilting violet in the face of extremism. I am proud to tell you what I believe. I am proud to stand with librarians. I honor their work. I respect their wisdom. I am humbled by their courage.

And, I will never give the State the power to tell us what ideas are too dangerous to read.

The post The Age of Thinking Dangerously appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.

Case in point: Speaker Bedke just sent an email to his supporters grumbling about not liking the Boise mayor – and freedom. He’s no fan of freedom. 

How did that darn Boise mayor offend Mr. Bedke? She liked the idea of “free contraception, abortion, and reproductive health care.”

Oh, sure, I understand. Maybe he’s flogging that tired GOP talking point about “free stuff.” It can’t hurt to ask:

Hey, Mr. Speaker Bedke, do you support contraception, abortion, and reproductive healthcare if we have to pay for it? 

I think we know the answer to that. 

But that other point is valid: Speaker Bedke really does hate “free” stuff … free speech, free thought, free expression and, most of all, free people.

Let’s stand together and say no to anti-freedom extremists like Speaker Bedke. 

Let’s be free.

The post It’s a Bedke Promise: Opposing All Things “Free” appeared first on Terri Pickens for Idaho Governor.