I Went Back to Idaho to See How the Hard-Right Transformed This Deep Red State

Watch as a WSJ reporter visits Idaho, where a battle is under way for the future of the Republican Party

This is an episode of Rooted In, where our reporters take you back to their hometowns to capture the voice of the nation ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

ISLAND PARK, Idaho—If you’re trying to understand the ongoing battle over the soul of the Republican Party, a good place to start is out on a lake in eastern Idaho near the Wyoming border. Armed with a fishing rod, of course.

I met Jack Nelsen, a lifelong Republican and state representative in Island Park, Idaho, where he put up with my endless questions about the future of GOP politics in return for helping him net some rainbow trout. (Despite my questionable fishing skills, two trout took pity on me and let me hook them.)

Idaho, deeply Republican and mostly rural, is about the furthest you could get from a battleground state.

So it is no surprise it is often overlooked in the national media during election cycles.

But under the surface there is a groundswell of tensions between traditional Republicans, the MAGA loyalists and newer hardline-right politicians tussling for power and influence in Idaho. This Mountain West state has become a key bellwether for the fight over what a post-Trump Republican Party could become at the national level, as well as a test lab for some of the nation’s most controversial conservative legislation.

As a fourth-generation Idahoan, I pay close attention to what’s going on in the home state...

The “hard Right”.
The “Extreme Right”.
The “Crazy Right-wing Nazi fanatics”.

And the moderate, mainstream garden variety Leftists who want to eat the rich and make it illegal to own stuff.

Yes these labels do get very old however it is a fact that we do have a new contender.

We now have people clearly on the right openly stating that the right needs to embrace socialism.

That’s a problem. It needs to be looked at and addressed. These kinds of things, if left to fester, become full blown cancer cases.

We now have people clearly on the right openly stating that the right needs to embrace socialism.

Some on the right are even saying we should embrace Islam because they hate fags, or something.

did Collins really say that??

I was a Genesis fan long ago- about 15 years ago collins publicly admitted he considered suicide at one point- his life turned out so bad....

Just like springsteen- he’s another mentally ill (literally) has been who believes he’s entitled to lecture others...

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