BINGHAM COUNTY, Idaho — Ben Fuhriman has secured the Republican nomination for Idaho House District 30 Seat B, defeating former three-term Representative Julianne Young by a comfortable margin in a rematch that had drawn statewide attention. All results remain unofficial pending formal certification by the State Board of Canvassers.
With both Bingham and Butte counties reporting, Fuhriman captured 53.65 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s May 19 primary — a striking contrast to their 2024 contest, which Fuhriman won by only four votes. The decisive margin this cycle reflected a clear verdict from District 30 Republican voters after two years of renewed campaigning between the same candidates.
A Rematch Built on Contrasting Priorities
The race between Fuhriman and Young centered on competing visions of conservative governance, with both candidates making strong appeals to the Republican base across Bingham and Butte counties.
Young, who first won her legislative seat in the May 2018 primary by unseating incumbent Julie VanOrden with 54 percent of the vote, leaned heavily on her conservative legislative record. She pointed to national conservative scorecards as evidence of her reliability on key issues. “I have a very strong conservative record with those scorecards,” Young said ahead of Tuesday’s vote, adding that her opponent “had to try to explain away those scorecards and discredit them.”
Fuhriman, completing his first term in the Idaho House, took a different approach — positioning himself as a defender of Idaho’s public school system. During his freshman term, he focused significantly on special education funding and argued that his opponent had consistently worked against public school resources. “95 percent of our students go to public schools,” Fuhriman said before the election. “My opponent consistently voted against funding for public education. I don’t know why.”
The exchange illustrated the broader tension in Republican primaries between fiscal conservatism that favors reducing government involvement in education and a more pragmatic approach that supports maintaining public school funding for the majority of Idaho families.
What Comes Next
With the Republican primary settled, Fuhriman turns his attention to the November 2026 general election. He will face Democrat Breane Buckingham, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, for the right to represent Bingham and Butte counties in the Idaho Legislature.
District 30 has long been reliably Republican territory, but the competitive nature of the past two primaries signals engaged voters on both sides of the aisle heading into fall. Fuhriman will need to consolidate support from Young’s backers within the GOP while making his case to general-election voters across the district.
Tuesday’s primary results across Bonneville County also produced notable outcomes in other local races. A Bonneville County commissioner chairman successfully turned back a primary challenger while a newcomer claimed an open seat, and incumbent candidates held leads in several other county contests as results came in overnight.
The State Board of Canvassers must formally certify all results before any race is considered official. Once certified, Fuhriman’s name will appear on the November ballot as the Republican nominee for District 30 Seat B.