ELECTION 2026 Coverage: Local News 8 is highlighting some of the most competitive, talked-about Legislative races in the region during the final run-up to the May 19 primary election.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Economic issues are at the forefront of the minds of voters and are helping drive the election between current legislator Erin Bingham and her opponent Brian McKellar.
McKellar, a healthcare broker, is going head-to-head with Bingham, an accountant, in the election for Legislative District 32 Seat B in Idaho Falls.
The two candidates shared their approaches to budget cuts and their views on Medicaid Expansion.
“This year in the budgeting, we had 4% cuts for last year and 5% cuts going forward,” Bingham said. “I don’t like that type of budgeting. I’m a small business owner, and as a small business owner, that’s not how I would run my business. If revenues were down, I would go and I would look through each item. I would look line-by-line through each program and say, ‘Okay, where can I cut? Where are some smart cuts?'”
“They sort of balanced the budget. They sort of met that constitutional responsibility. But this last legislative session was a disaster,” McKellar said. “They cut benefits to the disabled, to the children. … My top priority is finding places where we’re spending money, where we don’t need to be spending money anymore.”
The two differ in their views on Medicaid expansion.
“I think it was a mistake to continue Medicaid expansion,” McKellar said. “I understand the arguments with continuing Medicaid expansion is that we’re getting money from the Feds. But the second we get rid of Medicaid expansion, a lot of those dollars actually gets accessible through Obamacare. A lot of that population set gets access through Obamacare. Then there is a segment that wouldn’t, that would fall in kind of this hole that existed before. One of the things that worries me about society is that we’ve depended upon our government to be the charitable organization.”
“I do not support repealing it. Medicaid expansion was voted on in 2018 and went into effect in 2020, and it was created for the working poor,” Bingham said. “That’s individuals who don’t qualify – because of income requirements – for regular Medicaid, but they don’t make enough money that they can afford regular insurance. So this is a 90:10 program. The federal government pays for 90% of this, and the state pays for 10% of that. So what that means is about $92 million is what it cost our state, but yet it’s about $1 billion in Idaho’s economy.”
You can catch our full interviews with both candidates below for their views on education, immigration enforcement, social issues and more.
Erin Bingham election interview.
Brian McKellar election interview.
