Ammon Bundy Wants to Be Idaho Governor

Rancher has been involved in armed standoffs against the feds multiple times
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 21, 2021 2:19 AM CDT
Ammon Bundy Is Running for Governor of Idaho
In this Oct. 24, 2018, photo, Ammon Bundy poses for a photo in Emmett, Idaho.   (Kelsey Grey/Idaho Statesman via AP)

Ammon Bundy, the anti-government rancher who has been involved in multiple armed standoffs against the feds, wants to get into ... government. Bundy, 45, who led a 2016 occupation at a federal refuge in Idaho and was also involved in a 2014 standoff at a ranch belonging to his father Cliven Bundy, announced Saturday he is running for governor of Idaho, the Hill reports. "I’m tired of our freedoms being taken from us, and I’m tired of the corruption that is rampant in our state government," he says in a video posted to his campaign website.

Bundy, who is against mask mandates and other restrictions related to COVID-19, will challenge the state's Republican governor, Brad Little, in the primary. The current lieutenant governor, who disagreed with Little on pandemic lockdowns and other measures, is also running in the GOP primary, as are at least five others, CNN reports. Bundy's most recent run-in with the law has to do with a protest of COVID restrictions at the Idaho Statehouse last year in which he allegedly refused to leave. He was removed from the premises twice in a 24-hour period and was ultimately banned from the property for a year, the Idaho Statesman reported at the time. The gubernatorial election will be held next year. (More Ammon Bundy stories.)

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