2023 Annual Meeting & Breakfast

While the calendar says that spring is here, we still have snow on the ground here in Idaho. We recently held our annual meeting up in Boise. We came away from the meeting energized and motivated by the women across our great state. We would like to take some time to discuss our 2023 annual award winners as we selected some awesome women who are truly some of the best that our state has to offer.

This year our Young Distinguished Woman Award received an above average number of nominations. We are proud to announce that this year’s award winner is Kaylee Peterson of Eagle. This remarkable young woman, who is the new Idaho Young Democrats President, ran for Congress last year as a sophomore in college while raising two young children. She plans on running again in 2024 in the 32nd reddest district in
the entire country.

The Marguerite McLaughlin Award honors an elected Democratic woman serving in public office in Idaho. This year’s award winner is State Senator Janie Ward-Engelking of Boise. She serves as the Minority Caucus Chair in the Senate and is a fierce advocate of public education.

Our final award is the Dottie Stimpson Award (otherwise known as the “worker bee” award). This year’s award winner is Betty Hansen Richardson of Boise. She has been involved in all aspects of government in Idaho and is a dynamic speaker on mobilizing voters. She also is the founder of the Facebook page Idaho Women for Biden/Harris, which has more than 10,000 followers.

It is women like our award winners who put in the hard work everyday to try to elect Democrats in Idaho. I echo the words of former Senator Cherie Buckner-Webb: “Thank you for standing, resolute, in the face of daunting opposition. Thank you for what you have done, and the incredible work you will do in the future. Thank you for your leadership in bringing opportunity, copious amounts of truth telling and tireless commitment.”