About David Leavitt

Why I'm Running

I am running to defend individual, local, and state sovereignty by keeping decision-making as close as possible to the people affected by it. Too often, centralized power and unchecked bureaucracy replace accountability with process, distancing government from the citizens it serves. Government must be restrained by constitutional limits, protect individual rights, and resist coercing citizens to fund obligations beyond its proper role. Idaho deserves leadership willing to challenge and unwind entrenched systems that protect favored interests while ordinary citizens and taxpayers are left bearing the cost and liability.

Who I Am

I was born and raised in the Magic Valley, and shaped by early moral formation and hard personal experience, with a deep commitment to personal responsibility and independent judgment. As a combat veteran with experience in both combat and post-conflict governance, I have seen firsthand what happens when government power becomes unaccountable and institutions lose legitimacy with the people they govern. Those experiences guide my belief that authority must always be justified, that limits matter, and that principle should never be traded for convenience or political approval.

How I Govern

I have a demonstrated record of opposing government growth and dependency, even when it carries political cost, because government must live within the same limits as the people it serves. I have used formal legislative authority to challenge leadership, entrenched institutions, and consensus when they depart from taxpayer interests and free-market principles. I reject the idea that government acquires legitimacy through process or votes alone, holding that authority depends on restraint, accountability, and respect for individual sovereignty. Every vote and decision I make is my own, informed by advice and experience but never outsourced, because accountability must always remain personal.

FIVE PRIORITIES

1. Limited Government

Government must operate within clear constitutional limits and only exercise powers it is authorized to use.

This principle guides my opposition to unchecked spending, federal dependency, and programs that expand government authority beyond its proper role.

2. Accountability

Those who make decisions must bear responsibility for their consequences.

This means rejecting policies that shift cost, risk, or liability onto taxpayers, ratepayers, or landowners without consent or transparency.

3. Property Rights

Private property must be protected from regulatory overreach and indirect takings.

This principle governs my approach to land use, infrastructure siting, and policies that burden individual citizens for collective or speculative benefit.

4. Transparency

Public authority must be exercised openly and be subject to scrutiny.

Citizens deserve clear justification for government actions and decision-making processes that are not insulated from public oversight.

5. Sovereignty

Decisions should be made as close as possible to the people affected by them.

This priority informs my resistance to centralized mandates, outside influence, and systems that dilute Idaho's authority, culture, and self-determination.