A great deal has been said about the 2025 legislative session in Idaho. Many have said it is the most conservative session in Idaho’s history. Others have noted that there has been more fighting amongst legislators and their supporters than ever.
Both are true. It’s time to be honest about who is responsible for each, though. Many have attributed the “most conservative session ever” to Speaker Mike Moyle, even though he was the speaker in 2024 as well. So, it’s easy to see that even though Moyle convinced many conservatives to compromise for a seat at the table, he’s not responsible for the victories. What changed between the 2024 and 2025 sessions?
Besides the fact that we have more conservatives in the state legislature now, the answer is simple. New Republican Majority Caucus Chairs were chosen in 2025 for both the House and the Senate. Representative Jaron Crane (District 12) became the new caucus chair in the House by a vote of his Republican peers in December, just before the session. He succeeded Dustin Manwaring, a legislator who often votes in a manner that aligns with Democratic principles. Manwaring’s 2024 IFF spending index score was lower than that of many Democrats, at 2.3%. His IFF freedom index score was an F at 43.5%. Thankfully, Manwaring wasn’t the majority caucus chair this session, as he maintained the same level of freedom score (slightly higher but still an F); however, he scored a horrific 0% on the spending index.
In the Senate, Senator Ben Toews (District 4) became the Senate Majority Caucus Chair. He also appears to have done a great job in his role, succeeding Senator Mark Harris (District 35). Senator Harris is another Republican with a Democratic voting record. In 2024, Harris received a 21.2% score in spending and a 37.6% score on the freedom index.
According to a quick search on Chat GPT, the caucus chair’s job includes:
Runs the GOP meetings
- Shapes and aligns party messaging
- Mediates and builds internal consensus
- Acts as a communication link across caucus tiers
- Helps coordinate legislative workflow and committee assignments.
Despite Representative Jaron Crane’s great work as caucus chair, he has been repeatedly under attack by Moyle’s attack dogs. Is it possible that Moyle is threatened by Representative Crane’s success at his new position? Does he think Crane will challenge his beloved Speaker role?
Legislatively, Crane seemed to have a successful year as well. He sponsored and cosponsored several notable pieces of legislation, including H83 – the Illegal Entry Law, which was signed into law by Governor Little on March 7, 2025. Another great piece of legislation that both Crane and Toews co-sponsored is S1211 – The OTC Ivermectin bill, which was signed into law by Governor Little on April 4, 2025. Meanwhile, Moyle introduced bills that attacked our 1st Amendment rights in H306 and H307, which failed to gain much traction. To be clear, our A.I. Scorecard, which is based on the Idaho GOP Platform, scored H83 a +1, S1211 a +1, and both of Moyle’s anti-1A bills a -1.
It’s natural to give credit to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Pro-Tem, but the reality is that they weren’t doing the heavy lifting to achieve unity and votes like the caucus chairs did.
Who is responsible for the fighting?
All roads lead to Mike Moyle. We began to see the splinter appear before the 2024 primary, when several members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus chose to support Mike Moyle’s reelection. Previously, the IFC had not endorsed candidates. Making this move now was a strategic move to secure a seat at the table and gain more influence in the Idaho State Capitol. In my day job, I was responsible for creating and hosting the IFC website. It took me by surprise at the time when I was asked to remove certain members from the site by someone who wasn’t my regular contact for site changes. It turns out that a coup was underway.
Around the same time, Stop Idaho RINOs received a donation from a member of the legislature and the Idaho Freedom Caucus, which we assumed was their way of getting us on board with the compromise, because of the timing. But we can’t be bought, and we won’t compromise.
The feud quickly evolved into what we have today, with various factions. We have the new establishment (seat at the table) faction, which is led by Moyle, a couple of legislators, and some social media screamers on one side, and we have those standing up for conservative principles despite the constant barrage of attacks on the other side.
We can go in depth about this feud and the players, but many (including us) have already written about this, and there is no reason for us to reinvent the wheel:
Key articles:
When Access Politics Turns to Vile Personal Attacks – Freedom Bros Podcast
Idaho Senator’s Speak Out – True Idaho News (video)
NSFW: The Most Vile X Posts from “Moyle’s Loyals” – Freedom Bros Podcast
Why Mike Moyle’s Attack Dogs are Trying to Ruin Conservative Scorecards – Freedom Bros Podcast
Spare Me the Dishonest Calls for Unity – Freedom Bros Podcast
Getting In the Weeds – Stop Idaho RINOs