Meet Ed Humphreys, who wants to be your governor

Ed Humphreys wasn’t sure who Duane Hagadone was or where Riverstone is, but he’s not a complete stranger to the Coeur d’Alene area.

He and his wife, Holly, honeymooned here.

Humphreys, a Republican running for Idaho governor, stopped by The Press last week in the midst of a three-day visit in the area. One of seven declared candidates for the position — not including Gov. Brad Little, who has hinted but not committed — Humphreys spoke Thursday night at The Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene in front of about 25 people.

Who is Ed Humphreys?

He's young, having turned 31 on Saturday.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Western Governors University and a master's in finance from College for Financial Planning.

Most recently, he was managing a client investment portfolio of some $40 million — a job he quit so he could hit the campaign trail full-time.

Humphreys aligns strongly with Donald Trump, for whom he served as a national convention delegate last year. He describes himself as a constitutional conservative and stumps relentlessly for personal empowerment.

Beyond ideological philosophies, here are a few issues Humphreys chatted about with The Press:

LABOR WOES: Humphreys acknowledged that employers statewide are scrambling to find workers.

“I think we have 80,000 open positions in the state and I think we have 30,000 people on unemployment,” he said. “The idea is for them not to be on there long-term when there’s so many open positions, right? So I think we moved a step in the right direction by no longer accepting these subsidized federal unemployment [benefits].”

So is he giving Gov. Brad Little credit for that, after Little’s executive order canceled the $300 per week additional unemployment boost?

“I think it should have happened a whole lot sooner, that’s for darn sure,” Humphreys said.

EDUCATION: In addition to financial advising, Humphreys has worked in the oil fields. He’s bullish on vocational-technical training, which he sees as a tool to help handle the affordable housing crisis.

“Prices of housing are based on supply and demand, just like everything else,” he said. “But to control the demand side, you’d have to build a wall or make it illegal to move here — all those things you can’t do.”

On the supply side are the cost of materials and labor, he said. Labor challenges and affordable housing would both benefit from the state placing greater emphasis on vocational and technical training, getting more Idahoans in the well-paying and rewarding trade fields, he said.

“The trades have a huge need. As a financial adviser, I had plumbers as clients," Humphreys said. "It blew me away how many checks they would bring in. I started asking them if they were drug dealers.”

IDAHO FREEDOM FOUNDATION: One of Humphreys’ competitors, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, is closely aligned with the political nonprofit based in Boise. Humphreys was asked what association, if any, he has with IFF.

“None whatsoever,” he said. “I know some of the people who are involved but I’ve never donated to them.

“Generally I support the free exchange of ideas, and I do think that we’ve gone a little too far in one extreme. But what I would say is I’m aware of some other stuff they’ve done that I just find out of this world.

"But overall I think now is the time to talk about different ideas that encourage personal empowerment. And that’s really what my campaign is about. I don’t think the path we’re going down is the right way to go.”

McGEACHIN: Some Republicans see Gov. Little too far to the left, and some think Humphreys and McGeachin inhabit political space much further to the right.

Are Humphreys and McGeachin running on similar platforms?

“I don’t think the difference could be more vast,” Humphreys said. “I’m not going to attack her; I’m not going to.”

Put another way, why would a Republican voter favor Humphreys?

“I’m not a career politician,” he said. “My understanding has not been framed by the status quo. I ask very different questions and I have a very different leadership style. I think it couldn’t be more apparent if you put the two campaigns side by side.

“Idaho I think is hungry for leadership right now, and I believe we’ve been operating in a leadership vacuum. Look at this last legislative session. I think that’s indicative that we’re in a leadership vacuum.”

SIDEBAR:

Candidate Ed Humphreys makes these five promises to Idahoans:

• I will work for Idaho families and NOT for special interests.

• I will protect and promote our God-given rights.

• I will enact winning free-market policies that have been proven to boost wages and profits.

• I will doggedly expose and fight corruption, cronyism and waste in government.

• I will not back down to socialist/communist activists or compromise with their demands.