A three-term member of the Idaho House is being challenged by a state employee who’s making her first run for public office.
Republican Annette Tipton, 46, is a senior program coordinator for the Office of the State Controller and has a background in data analytics. Democratic incumbent Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, has served for six years and previously worked for more than 30 years at Hewlett Packard.
District 15, which covers West Boise, is currently represented by two Democrats and a Republican, and will likely be one of the more competitive legislative general election races in the state.
Tipton said she decided to run after being approached by District 15 Republican Rep. Dori Healey, and Codi Galloway, who previously represented the district and is this year running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Rick Just. She was also approached by Boise City Councilmember Luci Willits.
“I decided that, yeah, I do have a fresh perspective to bring, I do have a background in policy and finance and analytics that I thought would be useful to bring ideas,” Tipton said.