Matthee announces representative campaign

Former longtime journalist Karen Matthee recently announced her candidacy for the Idaho House of Representatives, District 1A seat.

“I am proud to be running as a Democrat, to be a member of a party that helps rural communities like ours with critical needs like infrastructure and expanded internet access,” Matthee said in her decision to run for office. “A party that cares about all people, including our most vulnerable citizens: pregnant women and children, the elderly and disabled, and the mentally ill — because they are the ones who most need our support.”

Having obtained her master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and worked for several years reporting for newspapers, magazines and public radio, Matthee believes she is well positioned to provide something that Idahoans badly need at the moment — the ability to listen to people on both sides of an issue.

“If my career taught me anything at all, it taught me the importance of striving as much as humanly possible for objectivity and balance,” she said. “It taught me that rarely are things black and white, right or wrong. More often than not, there’s a gray zone — and that’s where we can build bridges, that’s where we can fill the policy gaps.”

Matthee is running on a platform of lowering the cost of living, making affordable health care accessible to all, and ensuring that state lawmakers honor their constitutional obligation to fund public education and make school buildings safe places for children to learn. She also supports raising the minimum wage, funding child care — which she said directly impacts Idaho’s historic labor shortage — fixing a tax system that disproportionately burdens families with the lowest incomes, and rejecting repeated attempts to dismantle Medicaid expansion.

Matthee formally kicked off her campaign Feb. 12 at Evans Brothers alongside Sagle resident Kathryn Larson, who launched her candidacy for District 1, Seat B.

Learn more about Matthee’s campaign at www.kmattheeforidaho.com.