Idaho becomes ground zero for 'spiritual battle' between right and far-right

The Wall Street Journal has been running a series in which it sends reporters back to their home states to report on what folks outside New York and Washington, D.C. think about politics.

Robbie Gramer went home to Idaho, where the only political battle is between the right and the far-right.

"Idaho, deeply Republican and mostly rural, is about the furthest you could get from a battleground state," Gramer explained.

Gramer noted that Idaho has seen a population boom in recent years, but most of the growth is coming from already red states. So, the politics there have only gotten more conservative. The broader discussion in Idaho is whether to stick with the traditional GOP values that they've lived under or become full MAGA.

"The states are where the battle has to rage," said one of those far-right Republicans, Clint Hostetler, who is running for reelection in the state legislature. He's an expat from northern California. He believes that they're in the throes of a "spiritual battle."

"We're in a spiritual battle that manifests itself politically and socially like never before," he said.

It prompted Gramer to ask who they're fighting. Hostetler listed the "extreme leftist Marxist," "Satan" or "woke corporations."

"We have to realize there is somebody working against us at certain levels," Hostetler said.

It's people like him that make other longtime Republicans feel "politically homeless."

State Rep. Jack Nelsen confessed that it's "tough" being a Republican in Idaho today. "I haven't even signed the Republican platform."

While fishing, Nelsen told Gramer that he's more of a Ronald Reagan Republican who believes in "business and excellent education." He blames "political refugees" coming into Idaho trying to force their ideas on his party and his state.

"They're very active politically and very much to the right," Nelsen said. "The rest of Idaho, the old 'leave people alone and respect them for what they believe whether you agree with it or not,' that's kind of gone by the wayside."

He is facing backlash from his own party after a far-right lobbying group known as the Freedom Foundation began trying to take down lawmakers it felt weren't conservative enough.

Gramer showed a clip of the Idaho Freedom Foundation video from Nov. 2025 claiming that the state is somehow "under threat always from becoming the next blue state." The last time Idaho voted for a Democrat it was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Before that, they supported Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s. However, aside from Johnson, Idaho hasn't gone blue for a president in 78 years.

Nelson was censured by his own party after the Idaho Freedom Foundation targeted him. The group told Gramer that they don't speak to media so they wouldn't comment. But now the group is starting to push policies that are having a huge impact on the state's biggest business. The cattle industry in Idaho generates around $4 billion every year. It comes from both dairy and ranching. But with the far-right policies against immigration, no one can find labor.

Dairy farmer David Silva said a state legislator in his district lost her seat after she became so anti-immigration that it began causing problems for farmers and ranchers there. More moderate voters kicked out four hardliners in GOP primaries this year because they hurt the cattle industry.

The battle of the GOP in the state will likely grow worse the more far-right Republicans continue to move to the state. The outsiders continue to argue that Idaho could somehow go far-left, while those with generations behind them in the state prefer more social Libertarian policy married to capitalism.