Dan Foreman

Dan Foreman
Idaho State Senator
Incumbent
Assumed office December 1, 2022
Preceded by	David Nelson
Constituency	6th district (2022–present)
In office December 1, 2016 – November 30, 2018
Preceded by	Dan Schmidt
Succeeded by	David Nelson
Constituency	5th district (2016–2018)
Personal details
Born	(1953-09-20) September 20, 1953 (age 71) Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Maria
Children	7
Residence(s)	Viola, Idaho, U.S.
Education	Bradley University (BS)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Air Force
Rank	Colonel

Daniel David Foreman III (born September 20, 1953) is an American politician who has served in the Idaho Senate since 2022, representing the 6th district. He previously served from 2016 to 2018 and represented the 5th district, which covers parts of Benewah and Latah counties.

Early life and education

Foreman was born in Lake Forest, Illinois to Daniel David Foreman Jr and Eileen Susan (McKeating) Foreman. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and administration from Bradley University in 1975.^[1]

Career

He served in the United States Air Force for 30 years and retired as a colonel. He later served as a police officer with the Moscow, Idaho Police Department.^[2][3] Foreman was elected to the Idaho Senate in 2016, narrowly defeating incumbent Democratic Senator Dan Schmidt.^[4][5][6]

Foreman introduced several bills to the legislature during his first weeks in office, including one that would "classify abortion as first-degree murder — for the mother, as well as the doctor who performs the operation — except in cases where the mother’s life is endangered." He also introduced a bill that would reduce Idaho's sales tax from 6% to 5%, as well as two other tax bills.^[7][8]

Foreman was defeated in the November 2018 elections, losing to Democrat David Nelson, receiving 8,777 votes to Nelson's 11,197 votes.^[9][10]

He defeated Nelson in the 2022 election.^[11]

Political views

Foreman has been a vocal critic of his own district, calling the area a "cesspool of liberalism".^[12] Foreman denies climate change, referring to it as a "scam".^[13][14] He does not support the separation of church and state.^[15]

Foreman claimed to be the victim of an online identity-theft hoax when on February 20, 2018, State Senator Maryanne Jordan confirmed she had filed an ethics complaint against Foreman after an unverified Twitter account claiming to be owned by Foreman indicated that a group of students should discuss "killing babies" with her.^[16] Foreman reportedly had been scheduled to meet with college students from the University of Idaho who were advocating for birth control and sex education. After cancelling the meeting at the last minute, Foreman was recorded yelling at the students as he passed them in the hallway, telling them, "abortion is murder".^[17]

On October 1, 2024, among the seated candidates at a "meet the candidates" forum in Kendrick, Foreman reportedly stood up and interrupted Trish Carter-Goodheart, a Native American woman born in Idaho and running for the state legislature, who was responding in her turn to a question from the audience regarding discrimination. Including profanities, he shouted at her "go back where you came from" and denied that racism existed in Idaho before angrily leaving the forum that continued without him. He later wrote on Facebook, "I enlightened this person to the fact I was born in America, and I am therefore a native American. There was no racial slur in my statement".^[18] Several attending the forum confirmed the report of the incident, including Foreman’s opponent who stated that she rose, confronted Foreman, and attempted to defuse his anger before he stormed out.^[19]

Personal life

Foreman and his wife, Maria, have 7 children and 20 grandchildren.^[2][3] Foreman is Catholic.^[20]

Electoral history

2016

Latah County Sheriff Republican primary election, 2016^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard (Richie) Skiles	1,343	52.70
	Republican	Dan Foreman	969	38.02
	Republican	Brian Strampher	236	9.26
Total votes			2,548	100.00

Idaho Senate District 5 election, 2016^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Foreman	11,275	50.76
	Democratic	Dan Schmidt	10,939	49.24
Total votes			22,214	100.00

2018

Idaho Senate District 5, Republican primary election, 2018^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Foreman	2,180	51.3
	Republican	Marshall Comstock	2,071	48.7
Total votes			4,251	100.0

Idaho Senate District 5 election, 2018^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Nelson	11,197	56.1
	Republican	Dan Foreman (incumbent)	8,777	43.9
Total votes			19,974	100.0

2020

Idaho Senate District 5 Republican primary election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Foreman	4,376	100.0
Total votes			4,376	100.0

Idaho Senate District 5 election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Nelson (incumbent)	12,691	50.4
	Republican	Dan Foreman	12,471	49.6
Total votes			25,162	100.0

2022

Idaho Senate District 6, Republican primary election, 2022

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Foreman	2,792	43.2
	Republican	Robert Blair	2,282	35.3
	Republican	Jen Seegmiller	1,391	21.5
Total votes			6,465	100.0

Idaho Senate District 6 election, 2022

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Foreman	10,174	50.1
	Democratic	David Nelson (incumbent)	9,746	48.0
	Constitution	James Hartley	398	2.0
Total votes			20,318	100.0

2024

Idaho Senate District 6, Republican primary election, 2024

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Foreman	3,396	53.2
	Republican	Robert Blair	2,983	46.8
Total votes			6,379	100.0

References

1. "Sen. Dan Foreman – Idaho State Legislature". Retrieved February 1, 2021.
2. "Senator Dan Foreman (R)". Idaho Senate. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
3. "Dan Foreman's Biography". Project VoteSmart. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
4. Prentice, George (November 9, 2016). "Election Results 2016: Net Losses for Democrats in Idaho Legislature". Boise Weekly. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
5. Quinn, Shanon; Hager, Tom (November 9, 2016). "Jordan, Nilsson Troy re-elected, Schmidt defeated". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
6. Russell, Betsy Z. (November 9, 2016). "Another upset in a legislative race, as Sen. Schmidt apparently narrowly loses to GOP challenger". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
7. Spence, William L. (January 11, 2017). "Idaho lawmaker would charge women who have abortions with murder". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
8. Prentice, George (January 13, 2017). "More Idaho GOP Fireworks: Senate Mulling Challenged Election and Freshman Senator Wants to Make Abortion First-Degree Murder". Boise Weekly. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
9. "Legislative Totals". sos.idaho.gov. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
10. "Nelson takes Senate seat". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. November 7, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
11. William Spence. "Dan Foreman secures win over Sen. David Nelson". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
12. Russell, Betsy Z. (April 25, 2018). "Sen. Foreman calls his own county a 'cesspool of liberalism'". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
13. Russell, Betsy Z. (February 12, 2017). "Idaho Sen. Foreman says he thinks climate change is a liberal 'scam'". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
14. Spence, William L. (February 11, 2017). "Climate change is liberal 'scam,' according to GOP lawmaker". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
15. Malloy, Chuck (March 15, 2017). "He might as well start constituent letters with, 'Dear Stupid'". Idaho Press-Tribune. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
16. "GOP state senator in Idaho faces ethics complaint over tweet on abortion". CBS News. Associated Press. February 20, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
17. "Idaho lawmaker not sorry for yelling 'abortion is murder'". AP NEWS. February 20, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
18. Luchetta, Julie (October 3, 2024). "Senator tells Native American candidate to go back to where she came from, storms out of public event". Boise State Public Radio. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
19. "Idaho state senator tells Native American candidate 'go back where you came from' in forum". Associated Press. October 4, 2024.
20. "Voters in North Idaho should put an end to this legislator's temper tantrums | Opinion". Yahoo News. October 3, 2024. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
21. "LATAH COUNTY RESULTS PRIMARY ELECTION". Idaho Secretary of State. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
22. "ID State Senate 05 2016". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
23. "Legislative Tools". Idaho Secretary of State. Retrieved October 4, 2023.