Helen Chenoweth-Hage - Election and Congressional Career

Election and Congressional Career

In 1994, Chenoweth won the Republican nomination for Idaho's 1st Congressional District over former Lieutenant Governor David H. Leroy and two other challengers. She pledged to serve no more than three terms in the United States House of Representatives if elected. She defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Larry LaRocco by almost 11 points in the Republican wave that saw that party take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. During the campaign, Chenoweth attacked LaRocco for supporting the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993; he was the only Idahoan in either chamber to back the bill. While Chenoweth's victory was one of many instances of historically Republican districts reverting to form after being held by Democrats, it was still surprising considering that LaRocco had won re-election in 1992 by almost 21 points.

With her victory in 1994, Chenoweth became the second woman to represent Idaho in the United States Congress and one of few members of Congress to be elected by her peers to a committee chair (House Subcommittee on Forest and Forest Health) after only one term.

As one of the "true believers" in the Republican freshman class of 1995, Chenoweth was considered one of the most conservative members of the House, staunchly opposing regulation, and supporting school prayer. One measure placed her as the most conservative woman to serve in Congress between 1937 and 2004. Much was made of her "insistence" on the title "Congressman Chenoweth," (as opposed to the more common "Congresswoman"). In fact she simply found the term "Congresswoman" unwieldy herself but was reported not to have objected when others used it in reference to her.

During her tenure, she was referred to by her most outspoken critics as a "poster-child for the militias," and in February 1995 she voiced the suspicion that armed federal agents were landing black helicopters on Idaho ranchers' property to enforce the Endangered Species Act, in line with a longstanding conspiracy theory. "I have never seen them," Chenoweth said in an interview in The New York Times. "But enough people in my district have become concerned that I can't just ignore it. We do have some proof." The Los Angeles Times editorialized that during the campaign she gained national attention by "holding 'endangered salmon bakes' during fundraisers, serving canned salmon to ridicule the listing of Idaho salmon as an endangered species." She was quoted as saying in response, "It's the white, Anglo-Saxon male that's endangered today."

Chenoweth remained a controversial and polarizing figure in Idaho politics throughout her career. While in Congress she articulated and defended a freedom philosophy that was simultaneously cherished and derided by supporters and opponents.