McGrane endorsed by former governors, secretary of state

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Republican Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane officially announced on Thursday his candidacy for Idaho secretary of state and picked up the endorsements of former Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and former Secretary of State Ben Ysursa.

McGrane made the announcement at the Statehouse after Otter and Ysursa both said Idaho residents could trust McGrane to manage the state’s elections with integrity.

McGrane said Otter and Ysursa helped set good public service examples and that he was “following most importantly in the footsteps in Ben Ysursa, who really set a model for our state in terms of what integrity in public office looks like so that people can have trust and have confidence in our elections.”

Ysursa, who was secretary of state from 2003 to 2015, said McGrane had a wide array of skills needed for the job, “but the No. 1 focus in this day and age is the elections, and we need his proven leadership and experience. I cannot accentuate that enough.”

Otter, who served three terms as governor, touted McGrane’s experience as clerk of the state’s most populous county. He also said it was important to elect McGrane because the secretary of state sits on the Idaho Land Board, which manages 3,500 square miles (9,000 square kilometers) of state-owned land that makes money mainly for public schools.

Former Republican Govs. Phil Batt and Dirk Kempthorne are also endorsing McGrane.

Republican Sen. Mary Souza and Republican Rep. Dorothy Moon are also running for secretary of state.