The general election is set for Tuesday, Nov. 5 and two candidates are vying to fill one House of Representatives seat in District 28.

Republican incumbent Dan Garner, of Clifton, and Democrat Jayson Meline, of Chubbuck, are asking for the support of local voters in their bids for House Seat B in District 28.

Garner grew up on a farm in Clifton before attending college at Brigham Young University in Provo where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics.

“I married my wonderful wife and we have four great kids together,” Garner said. “I’ve been lucky to raise them on a farm in Idaho. I served on my local school board for 10 years and I served on the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation board and their insurance board for about eight years.”

Meline is a graduate of Pocatello High School who went on to attend Brigham Young University, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico and Arizona State University.

“I was born and raised in Pocatello,” Meline said. “I am a father, grandfather, brother, son and uncle in a great family. I have never sought or held political office. My educational background is related to finance, international relations, judicial interpretation and translation, forensic linguistics, and public administration. I have worked for corporations, in government, the nonprofit sector, and for small businesses. I currently work in the insurance industry.”

Garner said he is running because he believes the children in Southeast Idaho, including his kids and grandkids, deserve a bright future.

“When I was serving on the school board, I saw that they were trying to reject and send the ARPA funds back to DC and I knew that our education was underfunded,” Garner said. “It got me riled up enough that I decided to run to this office. I’ve really enjoyed working for education over the last two years. I think passing the LAUNCH bill will help our go on rates in Idaho and House Bill 521 and House Bill 292 changed the way that the school facilities are funded. I’m looking forward to getting back in office and seeing how that plays out and I’ve really enjoyed serving the people of District 28.”

Meline said he is running primarily because he sees the Idaho Legislature as being polarized, extremist and not representative of Idaho at a broad level.

“I think that we have a real problem with extremism in Idaho, and that’s why I’m running,” Meline said. “We need to resurrect the two party system in the state of Idaho. I was a registered Independent or unaffiliated voter my entire adult life, up until about three years ago when I chose to affiliate with the Idaho Democratic Party. And I really believe that we desperately need to get our two party system resurrected, that’s first and foremost.”

Meline continued, “As far as specific issues go, one thing that motivates me greatly is we need to get back to respecting local control in government The library bill, to me, is just a demonstration that our legislature doesn’t trust you, me or our local government to handle issues such as materials in libraries.”

Meline also said water rights are important to him and will be a critical topic during the next legislative session.

“One of the biggest issues in Idaho is growth and the management of growth and stewardship of our lands and that cuts to the water situation and water curtailment here in East Idaho,” Meline said. “I genuinely think the legislature simply needs to be prepared for taking a hard look at what the settlement is going to be between the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the stakeholders in terms of the ground users and the surface water users.”

One of the most important issues for Meline is the vulnerable adults and special education students in the state.

“We need to do right by our vulnerable adults as well as our special needs learners,” he said. “I’ll add that at the end of the last legislative session, the vocational rehab budget had a shortfall of $4.5 million. And my point is this, these are programs, whether it’s special needs learners in a public school environment with IEPs, or it’s vulnerable adults, they need the support to be as self-sufficient as they can with the abilities that they have.”

For Garner, the top priority for him is education and the impact that the sudden growth of Idaho has had on that aspect of the state.

“I know when you talk to people that’ll say water or infrastructure, the roads and bridges have been the past and education is always important, but at some point we have to look at what’s causing this stress on Idaho infrastructure and education, which is our growth that we’re experiencing,” Garner said. “ So I look forward to tackling these problems one at a time, but at some point we’ve got to look at the overall problem, which is that our growth is so rapid that we can’t keep up with it.”