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Phil Hart
2022 - Present
2026
2
Phil Hart (Republican Party) is a member of the Idaho State Senate, representing District 2. He assumed office on December 1, 2022. His current term ends on December 1, 2026.
Hart (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Idaho State Senate to represent District 2. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Biography
Phil Hart was born in Awalt High School in 1973. Hart earned a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Utah in 1980 and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. His career experience includes working as a structural engineer and published author. He served on the board of directors of the Remington Water District and has been affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council, Gun Owners of America, and the Wharton Alumni Association.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes yearly updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org
2023-2024
Hart was assigned to the following committees:
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Hart served on these committees:
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Hart served on these committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: Idaho State Senate elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Idaho State Senate District 2
Incumbent Phil Hart is running in the general election for Idaho State Senate District 2 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Phil Hart (R) | |
| ||||
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Endorsements
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2024
See also: Idaho State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Idaho State Senate District 2
Incumbent Phil Hart defeated Tom Hearn in the general election for Idaho State Senate District 2 on November 5, 2024.
| Total votes: 28,901 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Idaho State Senate District 2
Tom Hearn advanced from the Democratic primary for Idaho State Senate District 2 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tom Hearn | 100.0 | 892 |
| Total votes: 892 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Idaho State Senate District 2
Incumbent Phil Hart advanced from the Republican primary for Idaho State Senate District 2 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Phil Hart | 100.0 | 7,514 |
| Total votes: 7,514 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hart in this election.
2022
See also: Idaho State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Idaho State Senate District 2
Phil Hart won election in the general election for Idaho State Senate District 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Phil Hart (R) | 100.0 | 16,770 |
| Total votes: 16,770 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Idaho State Senate District 2
Phil Hart defeated Bill Hasz and Jon Cantamessa in the Republican primary for Idaho State Senate District 2 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Phil Hart | 57.1 | 5,186 |
| Bill Hasz | 26.6 | 2,416 | ||
| Jon Cantamessa | 16.3 | 1,478 | ||
| Total votes: 9,080 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2018
General election
General election for Idaho House of Representatives District 7B
Incumbent Paul Shepherd won election in the general election for Idaho House of Representatives District 7B on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Shepherd (R) | 100.0 | 13,539 |
| Total votes: 13,539 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Idaho House of Representatives District 7B
Incumbent Paul Shepherd defeated Phil Hart in the Republican primary for Idaho House of Representatives District 7B on May 15, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Shepherd | 58.7 | 3,197 |
| Phil Hart | 41.3 | 2,253 | |
| Total votes: 5,450 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Hart was removed from the ballot in April 2018 because he did not meet state residency requirements.[2] The decision was appealed and Hart was placed back on the primary ballot.[3]
2012
Due to redistricting, Hart ran for re-election in District 2B. He was defeated by Ed Morse in the May 15 Republican primary.[4][5]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
 Ed Morse |
35.4% | 1,984 |
| Phil Hart | 31.2% | 1,746 |
| Ronald Ross Vieselmeyer | 19.9% | 1,116 |
| Fritz Wiedenhoff | 13.4% | 751 |
| Total Votes | 5,597 | |
2010
Hart won re-election to District Seat 3B in 2010. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary on May 25th. Hart defeated write-in candidate Howard L. Griffiths in the general election took place on November 2, 2010.[6]
| Idaho House of Representatives, District 3B (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Phil Hart (R)
|
9,170 | 80.1% | ||
| Howard L. Griffiths (Write-In) | 2,285 | 19.9% | ||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Republican Phil Hart won re-election to the Idaho House of Representatives District 3B receiving 16,762 votes. He ran unopposed.[7]
| Idaho House of Representatives, District 3B (2008) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Phil Hart (R)
|
16,762 | |||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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2024
Phil Hart did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Phil Hart did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Idaho scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Idaho State Legislature was in session from January 8 to April 10.
|
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
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In 2023, the Idaho State Legislature was in session from January 9 to April 6.
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Noteworthy events
Investigation
Idaho Speaker of the House Lawerence Denney (R-Midvale) removed Hart from the Revenue and Taxation Committee on November 9, 2010. Denney said Hart sent a letter requesting removal from the panel. Rep. John Rusche (D-Lewiston) urged an investigation into Hart for his alleged dealings with the Idaho State Tax Commission and the IRS.[8]
In December 2010, the Ethics panel decided to investigate Hart after a vote of 6-1. According to news accounts, Hart owed more than $53,000 in taxes to Idaho and $500,000 to the federal government. Hart challenged the constitutionality of personal and business income taxes in court and wrote a book on the subject.[9] In email correspondence with Ballotpedia, Hart said that the IRS asked him to release the names of individuals who had purchased his book, which he declined to do, and that they disallowed eight years of expenses related to his engineering business on his taxes, which is what he said was responsible for his increased tax bill.[10]
Supreme Court rules on unpaid taxes
In April 2012, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld previous rulings on Hart and his unpaid income taxes. The owed taxes stretched back to 1996, when Hart stopped filing federal and state income tax returns in protest over their perceived unconstitutionality. He resumed payments, but according to the IRS was hundreds of thousands of dollars behind schedule. In addition, the Idaho Tax Commission found that Hart owed them $53,523 in back taxes as of 2009, which had continued to accrue interest.[11]
The issue decided by the court was not the legality of collecting income taxes in general, but whether Hart waited too long to file his initial appeal and if his most recent hearing should have been delayed, since he was participating in lawmaking in the Idaho House of Representatives. On the first point, two government bodies had already deemed that the six months Hart waited was much longer than the 91 day appeal period and that his work as a legislator would not sway that point. As to the second point, an exception was provided by First Judicial District Judge John Mitchell. Mitchell found that since that hearing only relied on legal arguments of the attorneys, Hart was not required to be there. He was however, able to call in by phone, which he declined to do.[11]
On November 5, Hart appeared before U.S. District of Idaho Judge Edward Lodge for a federal tax trial. The IRS claimed that Representative Hart owed the United States $550,000 in back taxes.[12]
In July 2015, Hart settled his tax dispute with the federal government. As part of the settlement, Hart agreed to make both monthly and annual payments to the IRS for the next nine years toward his $586,000 federal tax debt. The federal government also auctioned off his home for unpaid back taxes.[13]
Endorsements
Presidential preference
2012
Phil Hart endorsed Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential election.[14]
See also
2026 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Idaho State Senate District 2 |
Officeholder Idaho State Senate District 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Idaho State Legislature, "Sen. Phil Hart," accessed January 18, 2023
- ↑ Idaho Statesman, "Former Idaho lawmaker deemed ineligible to run for office," April 27, 2018
- ↑ Idaho Statesman, "2 Idaho candidates were booted from May ballots. Now, they're back on.," May 8, 2018
- ↑ Office of the Idaho Secretary of State, "List of All Candidate Declarations for 2012," accessed March 26, 2012
- ↑ Idaho Secretary of State Election Division, "May 15, 2012 Primary Election Results," accessed July 4, 2012
- ↑ Idaho Secretary of State, "Official 2010 General election results," accessed April 16, 2014
- ↑ Idaho Secretary of State, "Official 2008 General election results," accessed April 16, 2014
- ↑ "Denney removes Hart from House taxation committee," Idaho Reporter, November 9th, 2010
- ↑ "Ethics panel votes 6-1 to continue investigation into Hart matter," Idaho Reporter, December 13th, 2010
- ↑ Email correspondence with Phil Hart on March 27, 2018.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Spokesman-Review, "Hart appeals to Supreme Court," June 8, 2011
- ↑ Idaho Statesman, "Idaho Supreme Court says Rep. Phil Hart must pay delinquent state income taxes," April 26, 2012
- ↑ Spokesman-Review, "Ex-Idaho Rep. Phil Hart settles federal tax dispute," accessed November 19, 2015
- ↑ CDA Press, "Hart stumps for Ron Paul," October 28, 2011
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Steve Vick (R) |
Idaho State Senate District 2 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Idaho House of Representatives District 3B 2004-2012 |
Succeeded by - |
