Idaho 2nd District

The 2nd District of Idaho, from central Boise east to the Wyoming border, is one of America’s most picturesque, with thick forests, mountain ranges, broad river valleys, and vacant expanses. It was settled from the east by overland pioneers who stopped in Idaho’s farmlands, and from the south by Mormons moving up from Utah to Franklin, Bear Lake, and Caribou counties. It has one of the largest concentrations of Mormons among congressional districts. Pocatello began as a railroad town, with unionized railroad workers. Fifty miles north on Interstate 15, Idaho Falls serves as the metropolis for a vast region stretching from West Yellowstone, Wyo., to the Salmon River Mountains. Near Idaho Falls, on a windswept, desolate range, is the Idaho National Laboratory, one of the Energy Department’s 10 national laboratories. DOE’s leading laboratory for civilian nuclear energy research, development, and demonstration, the facility covers 890 square miles and employs more than 8,000 workers, making it the third-largest employer in the state. West of the laboratory campus, amid the mountains, are Sun Valley and the nearby town of Ketchum. Sun Valley was established as a ski resort in 1936 by Averell Harriman before he began his political career. Ketchum attracted writer Ernest Hemingway in 1939, and various movie stars came as well. In recent years, Blaine County, which includes both Sun Valley and Ketchum, has attracted rich expatriates from the East and West coasts, including heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry and her husband, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry. The wealthy imports and the people who wait on them at ski resorts have made Blaine County the most Democratic county in Idaho. It stands in vivid contrast to the Idaho Falls area, the Mormon country, and the farmland along the Snake River, which are among the most Republican areas in the nation. The 2nd District also includes the east side of Boise, which leans Republican but has some Democratic precincts.