BLACKFOOT — A 16-year incumbent commissioner and the county road worker challenging him are asking Bingham County voters to decide whether experience or fresh perspective should guide District 2 into its next chapter.

Whitney Manwaring, a retired firefighter and lifelong farmer, is seeking another term against challenger Victor Salinas, a 38-year-old equipment operator who has spent 18 years working for the very county government he now hopes to help lead.

Manwaring is a retired firefighter who has been involved in agriculture his entire life. His grandfather homesteaded their farmland, and the family still works that same land today.

“I enjoy working through problems and looking out for the county,” Manwaring said. “I’m a lifetime resident here. I’ve enjoyed helping people through injuries and fires and property damages and things like that, and as a commissioner, helping our Bingham County residents with other issues they deal with.”

Over the last few years in his commissioner role, Manwaring says county residents and companies have approached him about a variety of topics, such as solar and wind farms, along with infrastructure concerns and the recent need for gravel pits for in-state and other highway projects.

One of Manwaring’s continued reasons for running is the support of local department heads and elected officials, who he says encourage him to stay in the position. He also cites a long list of accomplishments achieved during his tenure.

Among those accomplishments is the development of Patriot Field, acquiring property adjacent to the courthouse to relieve overcrowding, and completing a long-delayed jail expansion that three previous sheriffs had requested.

That expansion project, funded largely through $6 million in federal ARPA dollars, added significant bed capacity to a facility that Manwaring said was routinely over its inmate limit. He says the expansion has largely paid for itself.

“The revenue generated from housing federal and state holds is paying the cost of the new employees,” Manwaring said.

On the budget side, he said years of careful management have produced clean audits and a county that has continued growing even as construction activity statewide slowed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manwaring touts his involvement on multiple regional boards, including the Southeast Idaho Public Health board, the Bingham County hospital board, a regional transportation coalition and a multi-county magistrate commission that selects district judges, among others.

“It’s really interesting and kind of unique and fun to be part of all that and participate in those things,” Manwaring said.

Salinas was born and raised in Blackfoot, graduated from Blackfoot High School and has spent three decades in Bingham County. He came to county road work after stints as a farmhand, welder and certified nursing assistant, and says his boots-on-the-ground experience gives him a view of the county’s growth that few elected officials share.

Central to his campaign is infrastructure — something he has decades of experience in. Salinas wants to get ahead of growth rather than react to it. He hopes Bingham County does not follow the path of other communities whose rapid development can strain roads and utilities.

“I feel like it’s harder to get caught up when you get behind,” Salinas said. “A proactive approach means we stay ahead of it, keep growing and don’t plug up our roads.”

It is not growth he fears, but county infrastructure failing to keep pace with it.

“I just want our community to be prosperous,” Salinas said. “I want the younger generation coming up behind me, my children, my grandchildren, to have the same opportunities of education that this community has given me, whether it was through education or job experiences. I don’t want that to go away.”

Community is paramount to Salinas. He has volunteered with Southeast Idaho youth football as a coach for multiple years and is actively involved in local baseball and soccer clubs, dedicating his time to support area youth and their programs.

“I feel my experiences with those programs and my experience being an employee here, can help move our county into the next generation, even with the growth, and be able to still stay on top and ahead of our infrastructure,” Salinas said.

Salinas acknowledges that accelerating infrastructure investment will require new funding solutions and says that conversation needs to happen at the county level.

Beyond fiscal policy, Salinas says he wants to bring a more visible presence to the commissioner’s office, arguing that elected officials should spend more time engaging directly with residents.

“I would like to be out in the public more often — talking to farmers, to families, just driving around and talking to folks,” Salinas said. “It’s been a great experience running for Commissioner. I’ve learned a lot of things in the last couple months and I’m very comfortable doing so. I feel like it’d be a good transition for me. It’s time for me to give back to the community that gave me so much.”

For more information on the upcoming May midterm election, visit voteidaho.gov.