Raúl Labrador

Raúl Rafael Labrador (born December 8, 1967) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 33rd attorney general of Idaho since 2019.

Born on December 8, 1967, in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Labrador relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, as a child and graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1985.

He was raised by a single mother who struggled financially.

He attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and spent two years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Santiago Chile from 1987 to 1989.

Married in 1991, Labrador relocated to his wife's home state of Idaho and practiced law and immigration law in private practice from 1995 until his election to the state legislature in 2006.

Labrador ran for and won the Republican nomination for Idaho House Seat B against two other challengers.

He won the general election with 65.55% against Daniel S. Weston.

Labrador returned to BYU and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish in 1992 with an emphasis in Latin American literature.

He was admitted to the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle and received his Juris Doctor in 1995.

Prior to this, Labrador represented the 14B district in the Idaho House of Representatives from 2006 to 2010.

Labrador served on the Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee in 2007, Judiciary, Rules, and Administration Committee from 2007 to 2010, the State Affairs Committee from 2007 to 2010, and the Transportation and Defense Committee from 2009 to 2010.

He was unopposed in the May 2008 Republican primary.

Labrador defeated Glida Bothwell in the general election, winning 69.1% of the vote.

Labrador first entered Congress in the 2010, winning the Republican primary with the support of Tea Party activists, and defeating Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick in the general election.

In 2010, Labrador defeated Vaughn Ward in the Republican primary 48%–39% on May 10, in what was widely considered a major upset.

Labrador credited his victory in the Republican primary to support from activists affiliated with the Tea Party movement.

In the general election, Labrador defeated first-term Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick 51%–41%.

Labrador supported Mitt Romney for president.

A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. Representative for ID's 1st congressional district from 2011 to 2019 and chaired the Idaho Republican Party from 2019 to 2020.

On August 14, 2013, Labrador decided not to challenge incumbent Idaho Governor Butch Otter in the Republican primary, instead running for reelection to Congress for a third term.

On August 19, 2013, Democratic State Representative Shirley Ringo decided to challenge Labrador instead of running for an eighth term in the Idaho state legislature.

Labrador announced on June 13 that he would challenge Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy for the leadership position.

Labrador sought to challenge McCarthy from the right.

In 2014, Labrador mounted an unsuccessful challenge to Kevin McCarthy for the position of House Majority leader, where he positioned himself as a conservative alternative.

In a vote held June 19, 2014, the House selected McCarthy.

In 2015, Labrador became one of the nine inaugural members of the House Freedom Caucus, a right-wing congressional caucus.

In January 2015, he was one of nine Republicans who launched the House Freedom Caucus.

Labrador won both the Republican primary (78.6%) and the general election (65%).

A supporter of Donald Trump in the 2016 election, Labrador won the Republican primary (81%) in May, and the general election (68.2%) in November.

Labrador has initially supported Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign.

Labrador was one of the few Republicans to host a town hall after the election of Donald Trump and the only member of the state's congressional delegation to host one.

On April 20, 2017, Labrador said he does not believe healthcare is a human right.

Labrador supports the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act because he believes it will raise costs and eliminate jobs.

Labrador supports requiring those illegally residing in the United States to be responsible for their own healthcare costs.

He voted for the American Health Care Act of 2017, which passed the House May 4, 2017.

One of the few Republican lawmakers who hosted a town hall after this vote, Labrador received national attention for stating during the meeting at Lewis-Clark State College that "Nobody dies because they don't have access to healthcare."

The statement caused a huge outcry from the audience present and on social media for several days.

Labrador has stated that he supports the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which provides for the direct election of members of the U.S. Senate by the voters in each state.

Labrador sought his party's nomination for governor in the 2018 election, opting not to seek another term in Congress to focus on his campaign; he finished second in the Republican primary to Lieutenant Governor Brad Little, who went on to win the election.

Labrador sought the nomination for the state attorney general in the 2022 election, defeating longtime incumbent Lawrence Wasden for the Republican nomination and Democratic nominee Tom Arkoosh in the general election.