Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin is plenty familiar with controversy.
Last May, as the state struggled to combat a surge of COVID-19 cases, McGeachin tried to impose a statewide mask ban while Gov. Brad Little was away on a business trip. Five months later, while the GOP governor was in Texas to critique President Joe Biden’s handling of the Mexican border, McGeachin went rogue again, issuing an executive order to ban vaccine mandates that was almost immediately struck down.
Now, the 2022 gubernatorial candidate is under fire over a Friday speech she gave via video to a white-nationalist conference in Orlando. But even as she faced growing—albeit far from deafening—backlash from home-state Republicans, McGeachin doubled and then tripled down on palling around with racists in a clear sign she thinks extremism can win statewide in Idaho.
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“She takes her marching orders from the far right,” one Republican state senator in Idaho, who requested anonymity because he has to work with McGeachin, told The Daily Beast. “She is not in step with the Senate or the House—or the governor, for that matter. But nothing she does surprises us anymore; it just puts us in an awkward position.”
McGeachin addressed the white-nationalist America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) over the weekend in a prerecorded speech. While her address did not receive as much attention as the one delivered by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), McGeachin did not hold back in slamming Republicans who are insufficiently MAGA.
“I thank you all for your efforts, I thank you for joining our efforts, and together we will fight to make Idaho great again,” she said, adding that she needed “freedom fighters all over this country that are willing to stand up and fight…. Even when that means fighting among our own ranks, because too many Republicans don’t exhibit the courage today.”
The Trump-endorsed candidate’s video was aired at the conference organized by Nick Fuentes, who is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “white-nationalist live-streamer” and “outspoken admirer of fascists such as Mussolini.” During the conference, Fuentes also publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.
Officeholders and candidates from her home state quickly slammed the up-and-coming elected official for participating in such an extremist confab.
Shelby Rognstad, the mayor of Sandpoint and a Democratic candidate for governor, called on incumbent Gov. Brad Little to “publicly and forcefully declare that Janice McGeachin does not speak for Idahoans.”
“While I understand it’s politically risky for Governor Little to stand up to the extreme white-nationalist and anti-Semitic elements in his party, now is the time for him to show leadership,” Rognstad said in a statement. “Stop being weak and show some spine.”
Little’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and he has not officially announced whether he will seek re-election. Either way, the 2022 gubernatorial race looks increasingly like a race to the fringe, as it will also include far-right activist Ammon Bundy, who recently dropped out of the GOP primary to run as an independent.
Eric Ward, executive director of the Western States Center, a nonprofit that focuses on countering white nationalism, said in a statement to The Daily Beast that McGeachin should “resign her office immediately.”
“AFPAC isn’t a typical conservative conference; it was specifically designed to elevate the kind of bigoted and violent rhetoric that most politicians would be ashamed to be associated with,” Ward said. “The fact that McGeachin affirmatively sought out that company is a damning indictment of her embrace of white nationalism.”
But the backlash in Idaho is notable for its bipartisan tenor—if only among Republicans who don’t have to face voters. Take Back Idaho, a political action committee formed by former Republican officials in the state, demanded McGeachin’s resignation.
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“Her secrecy, hypocrisy, and lack of moral character should now be crystal-clear to all Idahoans: She’s unfit to hold her current office, and certainly should not be one heartbeat away from the governor’s office,” the group said in a previous statement. “McGeachin must resign immediately.”
McGeachin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story, but she previously defended her appearance as an “opportunity to share my views about…vital America First policies.”
And on Monday, the lieutenant governor appeared to triple down on her white-nationalist cameo. In a fundraising email to supporters obtained by The Daily Beast, McGeachin insisted she is “ready to fight” and feels “energized and defiant” in response to “the mainstream media’s latest smear campaign.”
Markie McBrayer, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Idaho, told The Daily Beast that the Republican Party in Idaho is fractured, but that McGeachin taking over as governor can’t be ruled out. “If Brad Little chooses not to run, I would say it’s likely McGeachin would be the front runner for the Republican ticket,” she said.
For his part, the Republican state senator appeared to take some solace in McGeachin’s power in the state being limited—at least for now.
“All she does is grandstand all the time,” he told The Daily Beast.
