Background
Idaho Legislature
Sen. Michelle Stennett, a Ketchum Democrat, was first elected to the Idaho Legislature in 2010. Stennett had been filling in for her husband, Clint Stennett, as he was treated for brain cancer. After two years of battling cancer, Clint died in the fall of 2010. Sen. Michelle Stennett ran for re-election in 2012 and retained the seat held first by her husband for two decades.
In 2012, Sen. Michelle Stennett was selected to be Minority Leader by the Senate’s Democratic caucus. Stennett told the Idaho Mountain Express her new leadership position means she’s now first in the line of fire.
“We looked at [the leadership] as a team, and what I brought to the table is my relationships with the majority party and the House,” she said. “[Democrats] are lopsidedly underrepresented, so the only way you get anything done is to work with the other side. It’s good politics and good governing to work collaboratively with the other side, but … it’s something we have to do anyway. You have to have that relationship, and I feel it’s a strength that I bring to the table.” – Idaho Mountain Express
Stennett was born in Sacramento, CA, she grew up in Wisconsin, and has lived in Idaho’s Wood River Valley for the last 25 years.
