This Boise City Council member isn’t running again. What will happen to her seat?
Boise City Council President and former legislator Holli Woodings will not seek reelection in the November election, setting up another open seat on the council as the body transitions to fully geographic district elections.
What could have been a prominently contested race between former Council Member Elaine Clegg and Woodings now has no incumbent running.
“A lot has changed since 2018, and I’m exploring opportunities for the next phase of my professional and family life,” Woodings told the Idaho Statesman by text message. Woodings, a Democrat, is a former representative in the Legislature and ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state in 2014. She has twice been elected to the council, first in 2017.
After the Idaho Legislature passed a state law in 2020 requiring Boise to shift from at-large to geographic districts, in 2021 the council elected half of its members by district and the rest at large.
The new neighborhood boundaries — set late last year — would have required that Woodings run against Clegg, a longtime council president and council member for the District 5 seat, which covers the East End, parts of the North End, neighborhoods around Boise State University and Barber Valley. But Clegg resigned from the council earlier this year to take over the region’s public transit agency.
In a text message, Woodings said she campaigned in 2021 on updating the zoning code, planning to address the impacts of climate change and building more affordable homes.
“I’m proud of delivering on these promises and especially look forward to our June hearings on the modern zoning code,” she said. In June, the City Council is set to vote on an overhaul of the code that would allow denser homes in neighborhoods and incentivize developers to build designated affordable apartments.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend the zoning update — which is more than 600 pages — last month.
Woodings said she learned about the importance of zoning in 2008 when the city was working on a new comprehensive plan, and that it’s a “full-circle moment” to see the plan, called Blueprint Boise, “translated into an ordinance that sets us up for a sustainable, vibrant future.”
Who’s running for Boise City Council?
In District 6, which covers most of the North End and Northwest Boise, incumbent Jimmy Hallyburton is campaigning for reelection. Former Council Member Lisa Sánchez, who lost her seat when she moved out of her district, has also said she plans to run. Sánchez has sued the city over the loss of her position, arguing she did not actually lose her seat because she left it inadvertently.
Council Member Patrick Bageant, who also lives in the new District 6, has not announced reelection plans.
In West Boise, Council Member Luci Willits plans to run again.
To fill the Clegg and Sanchez seats, Mayor Lauren McLean appointed two new members to the council in April: Colin Nash and Latonia Haney Keith. Nash, a Democratic state legislator from West Boise, said he plans to run for District 2 in November and to leave his seat in the Idaho House. Haney Keith said she will not seek election.
