Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, a far-right extremist who's feuded bitterly with Gov. Brad Little over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, announced on Wednesday that she'd challenge the incumbent in next year's GOP primary.
McGeachin, who previously served in the state House for a decade, has spent the past year-plus blasting Little for his efforts to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, particularly a shutdown of nonessential businesses. She's headlined multiple rallies attacking restrictions, including one earlier this year where attendees, including kids, burned masks and another last summer organized by the conspiracist John Birch Society, devoting her speech to slamming Little.
She also appeared in a video that suggested the pandemic "may or may not be occurring" and once posted a photo taken at the state Capitol with members of the so-called Three Percenters, a faction in the anti-government militia movement. Last May, as her pro-COVID crusade crescendoed, Little said he had not spoken to McGeachin in weeks; it's not clear whether that's since changed.
One reason for this corroded state of affairs is Idaho's method for assembling gubernatorial tickets: Governors and lieutenant governors are elected separately, as is the practice in many states. Sometimes, this approach leads to candidates of opposite parties getting elected; other times, as here, it yields members of the same party who are nonetheless implacably opposed. Little is extremely conservative and by no means did he fight the pandemic vigorously—he never imposed a mask mandate, for instance—but he's simply not McGeachin's level of crazy, so once again, here we are.