Maria Gonzalez Cardenas founded a non-partisan, non-profit organization to mobilize young latino voters in Idaho.
We Are Idaho was created in February by Gonzalez and others. It plans to endorse candidates in elections.
Its mission, according to the website, is to advance civic participation and influence policies that define Idaho’s future.
In May, the organization collaborated with the Future Hispanic Leaders of America, to educate high school students on political issues. It also hosted a candidate mixer in Nampa on May 14, which was five days before the primary election.
“We Are Idaho came about because we see the lack of representation on school boards and city councils on important tables,” Gonzalez said.
She is a member of the Idaho Hispanic Foundation Board and a former counselor in the College Assistance Migrant Program at Boise State University.
We Are Idaho leadership:
Lorenzo Olivera — Board Chair
Maria Gonzalez Cardenas — Vice Chair
Ana Alvarez — Board Secretary
America Tellez Coria — Board Treasurer
Margie Gonzalez — Board Member
Mari Ramos — Board Member
The group has 20 individual donors, and the goal is to have 100 by the end of the year.
In 2025, Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs found that its Hispanic population was approximately 13% of the state, which is an 11% increase from 2020. That same study found the Latino population’s median age is 28, which is eight years younger than the statewide median.
Democratic House Rep. Sonia Galaviz of District 16 is the only Hispanic elected official serving in Idaho’s Legislature. She was first elected in 2020 and won reelection in 2022 and 2024. The public school teacher chose to run for Senate instead this year with Sen. Ali Rabe not seeking reelection. In the May 19 primary, Galaviz defeated Megan Woller and Jeffrey Watkins with 92% of the vote. She will be running against Geoffrey Surbeck in November.
We Are Idaho also endorsed Republican House Rep. Carlos Hernandez of District 11. That district is within Canyon County, which has the largest Latino population in the state of 26.6%, according to 2025 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Hernandez lost to Kent Marmon in the primary, which Gonzalez attributed to the county’s 23% voter turnout.
To combat the low engagement in lieu of the general election, Gonzalez is planning to have at least one more candidate mixer to connect community members with individuals running for public office. She will also focus on getting more residents to vote early.
Furthermore, We Are Idaho will concentrate on a larger variety of issues, including immigration and health care.
“The economy is important, but definitely we didn’t focus on the anti-immigrant sentiment of the Legislature as much as Twin Falls did,” Gonzalez said. “We were closely watching the races where we believe there are friendly legislative tours to the Latino community.”
The long-term goal for We Are Idaho is to garner full voter participation and engagement in the future.
“We’re three and a half years away from the 2030 census and after that comes redistricting,” Gonzalez said. “We want to be prepared for that wave, and that’s why the work now and the upcoming years is critical.”
Early voting begins on Oct. 13, and the absentee ballot deadline ends Oct. 23. Both in-person absentee and early voting end on Oct. 30.
