John Freeland, the GOP nominee for state senator in Idaho’s 5th Legislative District, withdrew from the race for personal reasons Tuesday.
From his Facebook page:
After much consideration, John Freeland has resigned his position as the District 5 Republican State Senate nominee and withdrawn his name from consideration in the 2016 general election for personal reasons. Earlier this morning, he submitted his resignation to Latah County Clerk Henrianne Westberg and Gresham Bouma, District 5 Chairman of the Idaho Republican Party. “I did not reach this decision lightly,” said John, “and will continue to serve the people of this district as the Latah County Republican Vice Chairman.” John hopes that a replacement will be duly selected in a timely fashion. He has pledged to support whomever the District 5 Precinct Committeemen choose to succeed him and invites all his supporters to join him in electing Republicans this November.
From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:
John Freeland, the GOP nominee for state senator in Idaho’s 5th Legislative District, withdrew from the race for personal reasons Tuesday, according to a news release he brought to the Daily News.
He refused to answer questions about the withdrawal.
The announcement came one day after declaring in another press release that he would not withdraw “under any circumstances,” even though he had been asked to withdraw by local Republican officials.
“I did not reach this decision lightly,” Freeland said in the Tuesday news release. “And will continue to serve the people of this district as the Latah County Republican vice chairman.”
Freeland submitted his withdrawal to Henrianne Westberg, Latah County clerk, and Gresham Bouma, chairman of the 5th District Republican Party, Tuesday morning.
Freeland said he will support whoever the party chooses to replace him.
That person will face incumbent state Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, in November.
Thomas Lawford, Latah County GOP chairman, said the next step is to find potential candidates to fill the GOP state senate nominee position in the next 15 days.
If the 5th District Republican Party committee finds at least one potential candidate, then the committee will meet and vote on the candidates. The candidate who receives the most votes will be the new GOP state Senate nominee. If the 5th District GOP committee does not find and vote on at least one potential candidate in the next 15 days, then the 5th District GOP will not have a state Senate nominee for November’s election.