Souza leaving Senate, running for Secretary of State

Sen. Mary Souza will seek the Republican nomination for Idaho Secretary of State.

“I’ve been interested in elections for over 10 years,” the four-term Idaho Senator from Coeur d’Alene told The Press on Tuesday. “It’s really been a fascination of mine. I’ve carried a lot of bills having to do with elections.”

Souza won her fourth consecutive term in November, a term that will end in 2022. Voters will choose the next Secretary of State in the November 2022 election.

“In the wake of last year’s tumultuous election, it’s clear that to preserve voters’ faith and trust in our democratic process, we must safeguard election integrity,” Souza said in a statement. “That goal will be my lodestar as Idaho’s Secretary of State.”

Lawerence Denney, the current Secretary of State, has come under fire from some Republicans for refusing to join 17 other states in a federal lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election. While he did not return requests for comment for this story, Denney is reportedly looking to retire after finishing his term.

Souza said no one issue came into play when weighing whether or not to run for the position.

“I’ve had my eye on running for this position when (Denney) retired,” she said. “It certainly wasn’t made on one particular issue.”

But one issue did overwhelmingly resonate in Souza’s press release: election security. Her statement warned against outside influences from liberal technology companies, and she repeatedly called for transparency and election integrity. In her interview with The Press, she echoed those sentiments.

“As technology changes and cultures change, we need to update our accessibility and the way we protect our rights,” Souza said. “There are always people in other places in the world and even in our country who want to do things in a less-than-honest way to get their results.”

Calls from lawmakers for election integrity have multiplied after the presidential election, both locally and nationwide. Despite the fact that county clerks across Idaho — including Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon — have called the November 2020 election one of the most secure on record, the victory of President Joe Biden has sparked bills designed to alter election laws and procedures.

Souza said politics shouldn’t drive the desire for fair elections.

“Safe and secure elections should be nonpartisan,” she said. “I’m certainly not going to disagree with the clerks, but the clerks have brought forward concerns and procedures, and I think we owe it to the citizens of Idaho to make sure our elections are as secure as possible.”

She said her time in the Idaho Senate — eight years at the end of 2022 — have taught her lessons that could fill civics textbooks from cover to cover.

“Maybe one of the most important things for our constituents to know is, the process of getting a bill into a law is much more complicated when you’re in the middle of it,” she said. “It’s fascinating. It’s slow by design, and it’s remarkable how well the process works.”