Walter Clifford Minnick is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative for, serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is in the western part of the state, and includes roughly one-fourth of Boise and most of its suburbs, as well as Meridian and Nampa. It also includes the cities of Lewiston, Moscow and Coeur d'Alene. Minnick was defeated by Raúl Labrador in the November 2010 election. After leaving office, he co-founded the lobbying firm The Majority Group with his former chief-of-staff Rob Ellsworth and Wall Street attorney Chris DiAngelo.
Early life, education and career
Minnick was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and grew up on a wheat farm. In 1964 he received his bachelor's degree from Whitman College, where he was on the debate team, and was then accepted by Harvard Business School. After graduating with an MBA in 1966, he entered Harvard Law School, and graduated with a JD in 1969. A veteran who served in the Army and Pentagon during the Vietnam War, he is the former leader of a forestry industry and founder of a chain of retail nurseries, SummerWinds Garden Centers. Minnick also served as CEO of TJ International and has served on the board of directors of several corporations and nonprofit organizations.
Early political career
Minnick served as a staff assistant to President Richard Nixon on the White House Domestic Council from 1971 to 1972 and as a deputy assistant director for the Office of Management and Budget from 1972 to 1973. He was also involved in the creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Minnick resigned from the administration in October 1973 in protest of the Watergate-era "Saturday Night massacre" in which Nixon dismissed United States Attorney GeneralElliot Richardson, special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and others. Minnick is a businessman and politician who resides in Boise. Minnick, who long considered himself a political independent, was recruited to run against incumbent Republican Senator Larry Craig in the 1996 Senate election in Idaho by then-Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska. Although Minnick originally intended to enter the race as an Independent, he was convinced to run as a Democrat by former Idaho Governor Cecil D. Andrus. Minnick lost the race 283,532 votes to 198,422.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2008
Minnick ran unopposed in the 2008 Democratic primary held in late May. An expected primary challenge by 2006 nominee Larry Grant was averted when Grant withdrew from the race and endorsed Minnick the previous month. Although the 1st is a heavily Republican district, Democrats thought they had a realistic chance of winning the district because the Republican incumbent, Bill Sali, had been a lightning rod for controversy. In the November 4, 2008 general election, Minnick narrowly defeated Sali, taking 50.6 percent of the vote to Sali's 49.4 percent. While Minnick carried only seven of the district's 18 counties, he prevailed largely by winning Ada County, home to Boise and more than two-thirds of the district's vote, by 4,000 votes. With his victory, Minnick represented the third most Republican district in the nation to be held by a Democrat and he became the first Democrat to represent Idaho at the federal level since Larry LaRocco, who represented the 1st District for two terms until the 1994 elections. At the time, the district had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+18. John McCain easily carried the district with over 60 percent of the vote in 2008.
2010
Minnick was the only Democrat endorsed by the Tea Party. Minnick was challenged by Republican state Representative Raúl Labrador, Libertarian Mike Washburn and Independent Dave Olson. Labrador defeated him by a 51–41 margin in the November 2 election.
