Megan C. Blanksma is an American politician serving as a member of the

Idaho House of Representatives The Idaho House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Idaho Legislature. It consists of 70 representatives elected to two-year terms. The state is divided into 35 districts, each of which elects two representatives to separate seats. ...

from

District 8 District 8 can refer to: *District 8 Jakarta, in Indonesia * District 8 (Ho Chi Minh City), in Vietnam *VIII District, Turku, in Finland * VIII District, Budapest, in Hungary * Riesbach, also known as District 8, in Zürich, Switzerland * District ...

in seat B. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the majority leader in the House of Representatives from 2022 to February 8, 2024, when she was removed due to disagreements within the Republican caucus.

Early life and education

Blanksma was born and raised in

Nampa The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency of the Republic of Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association as a SWAPO partisan press agency, and resuscitated after independence under its current name ...

. She graduated from

Nampa High School Nampa High School is a four-year public secondary school in Nampa, Idaho, the oldest of three high schools operated by the Nampa School District #131. The school colors are red white and blue and the mascot is a bulldog. Athletics Nampa com ...

and served as a

legislative page A page is an occupation in some professional capacity. Unlike traditional pages, who are normally younger males, these pages tend to be older and can be either male or female. Workplace Pages are present in some modern workforces. American tele ...

in the

Idaho Senate The Idaho State Senate is the upper chamber of the Idaho Legislature. It consists of 35 senators elected to two-year terms, each representing a district of the state. The Senate meets at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Idaho. Composition of th ...

during her senior year. Later, she earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

Career

From 2014 to 2016, Blanksma served as Chair of the Elmore County Republican Party, after many years as a volunteer in many capacities at the county and state level. She also serves on the St. Luke's Elmore Community Board.

Idaho House of Representatives

Blanksma challenged 14-year incumbent Pete Nielsen in the Republican primary in 2016. She was endorsed by Governor

Butch Otter Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd List of Governors of Idaho, governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, h ...

. After securing the nomination, Blanksma faced only independent and third party opposition in the general election and was elected to the seat. Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Blanksma criticized the Idaho Central District Health for endorsing a statement by

Lauren McLean Lauren Stein McLean (born October 20, 1974) is an American politician and entrepreneur currently serving as the mayor of Boise, Idaho. McLean was elected in the 2019 mayoral election, defeating incumbent mayor Dave Bieter. She assumed office o ...

, the Democratic mayor of

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

, who supported

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

guidance regarding masking and vaccines.

Committee assignments

*Heath and Welfare Committee *Local Government Committee *Resources and Conservation Committee

Personal life

Blanksma and her husband, Jeff, live on a farm in

Hammett, Idaho Hammett is an unincorporated community in Elmore County, Idaho, United States. Hammett is located along Interstate 84 Business and Idaho State Highway 78, about west of Glenns Ferry. Hammett has a post office A post office is a public ...

Elections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanksma, Megan 21st-century American women politicians Idaho Republicans Living people People from Elmore County, Idaho Politicians from Nampa, Idaho University of Idaho alumni Women state legislators in Idaho Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Idaho Legislature