STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Idaho hasn’t gone for a Democratic president since Lyndon Baines Johnson 60 years ago. But that hasn’t dissuaded Betty Hansen Richardson.

Richardson is delighting in telling the world that the Idaho Women for Biden/Harris Facebook Group now has 11,000 Idaho members, including some Republicans who have been impressed with the work Biden has done during his first term in office. And she held court at Ketchum’s Starbucks and in the homes of Facebook members this past week in hopes of signing more up while her husband was attending an energy conference at Sun Valley Resort.

“Here in ruby red Idaho, Idaho Women for Biden/Harris is on a per capita basis the second largest state group in the country. Only North Carolina is first, which makes sense since it’s a competitive battleground state,” she said.

Richardson is quick to acknowledge that a Democrat president has not carried Idaho since 1964.

“But I do believe Joe Biden will do better in Idaho than most Democratic candidates for president have done,” she said. “We are organizing to help get the word out that President Biden been an excellent president. And, while he probably won’t win Idaho, we can contribute to the political conversation in swing states and battleground states by making phone calls, texting and emailing and writing postcards.”

Richardson is no stranger to politics. Her father, the late A. Fred Hansen, served on the Lewiston City Council and as a Nez Perce County Democratic chairman. Richardson worked on the staff of U.S. Sen. Frank Church and as leader of the Ada County Democrats.

After earning a B.A. in political science from the University of Idaho and a law degree from the University of California-Hastings, she served as attorney at the Idaho Justice Department and as a U.S. attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. She also served as chairwoman of the Idaho Industrial Commission.

The Biden/Harris Facebook Group is has members in every city and town in Idaho’s 44 counties.

“We believe President Biden has done a good job for many reasons. In international relations, he’s strengthened our alliances with our allies, helped to build NATO, worked to support Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan and has shown credibility and resolve at the international level,” she said. “He’s also helped the United States become more respected around the world.”

Closer to home, Richardson said, she has been impressed with how Biden has Identified climate change as the very serious threat that it is and that he and his administration are working to slow climate change and reverse it

“He’s committed to helping develop alternative energy so our country is not dependent on fossil fuel. His administration just announced that it’s investing $7 billion in solar energy so that more than 900,000 low-income households will get to put solar panels on their rooftops for the first time.”

Richardson also touted Biden’s work to raise the minimum wage.

“He and Vice President Harris have really fought for the middle class, for working Americans,” she said. “Joe Biden has been the most pro-union president we’ve had. And he has supported community colleges, working to give everyone a fair shake so that young people regardless of the zip code in which they grew up have the opportunity to have a good education and to get a good paying job.”

Want to check out Idaho Women for Biden/Harris? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/IdWomen4Biden/.