Why I moved to Idaho (and why you should too)

Seven months ago, I surprised my friends, family, church community by announcing that my family was moving to Idaho.

Colleagues at other conservative organizations were surprised too. I invested a lot of time into Indiana politics, and I was starting to be associated with the Indiana Young Republicans and other conservative networks in the state.

I had been working at Students for Life Action for almost 5 years, and things were going well there too. I loved being part of the pro-life movement at such a pivotal time.

Partly because of my work in the pro-life movement, I was frustrated with the state of conservative politics in Indiana and in most of the country. The bright light I saw?

2021.

This was the year where pro-life leaders road the wave of opposition to Joe Biden to introduce & pass more pro-life legislation than any previous year in American history.

That year, I was involved in half a dozen of these states, which passed multiple heartbeat bills & life at conception bills. Idaho was one of these states, and I was reconnected with Blaine Conzatti, now the President of the newly relaunched Idaho Family Policy Center.

But it was the next year that really stuck with me. When other states scaled back their pro-life work in preparation for the Dobbs decision, Idaho did not.

Blaine Conzatti at Idaho Family Policy Center continued to fight to abolish abortion. That year, he successfully drafted and lobbied for a one-of-a -kind abortion bill to stop public colleges and university from promoting abortion, contracting with abortion providers, and performing abortions or dispensing abortifacients. He also copied the Texas Heartbeat Bill and championed his own version with a civil enforcement mechanism in Idaho.

When Roe V Wade fell that year, Idaho was the only state on the west coast with an enforceable abortion ban. A few like Arizona, Utah, and Montana made progress but fell short for one reason or another.I took notice.

I saw them pass multiple bills the next year that prioritized socially conservative policy like:

One of the first bans on child gender transition surgeries.

One of the first bills to protect female spaces in public schools.

I wanted to be part of the action, so I took a Vice President of Operations role in January.

Idaho is showing us what conservatives can accomplish if we get our act together.

That being said, there is very little conservative infrastructure out here.Other conservative states like Texas have multiple conservative policy nonprofits, and they have countless opportunities for conservatives to work for state legislatures.

Idaho only has three conservative policy organizations with full-time staff, and there are very few opportunities to work full time in the state legislature. As a result, there is a very small talent pool for conservative organizations, so we need you.Come join us, and you can be part of the conservative renaissance that Idaho is modeling for the rest of the country. My employer, Idaho Family Policy Center is looking for an Office Coordinator and a Director of Policy.

We are also preparing to launch a legal center- which means we need multiple attorneys on staff within the next year.

You can view these openings here: idahofamily.org/careers/

There are also other state & national organizations who are joining us in this fight.

If you make it out here, let me know and we can grab a cup of coffee. I'll tell you about the latest policy wins.

Titus Folks

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