CNN Politics features a Democrat in Idaho that does NOT completely fit the parties Washington DC made mold…..
Paulette Jordan gently nudges her horse into the Idaho field, her yellow riding gloves loosely holding onto the reins as the sun begins to set on the nearly triple-digit temperature summer day. The Democratic candidate for governor pauses and pats the horse’s neck. “Been too long,” she says, and then moves the horse into a trot.
Running for the highest office in a state that has never elected a female governor doesn’t leave much time for riding. But it’s on Idaho’s most remote and independent lands where Jordan feels most connected, as both a person and a political candidate.
Idaho has been a graveyard for Democrats seeking state or federal positions for decades. But Jordan’s passion for her roots and battle cry that the state work for the people and not the other way round are winning attention and funding. She’s being watched as a possible model for Democrats to win in rural areas.
“I was raised by the community of Idaho. I was raised by the land,” says Jordan, her voice calm as it carries her central pledge to rural voters — to fight political cronyism and corporate corruption.
“It’s my turn, my responsibility to take on this government that has sat idle and disserved the public. The citizens of Idaho deserve better. We’re saying we’re not here to be a part of the status quo or the establishment. That’s how we in Idaho are as a people. We are fiercely independent. That needs to be driven back into our government. It needs to work for us, not against us.”….