Representative C.L. Otter

Clement Leroy “Butch” Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and Republican politician who represented Idaho in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007 and served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. Over a public career spanning several decades, he also served as lieutenant governor of Idaho from 1987 to 2001, making him one of the state’s most enduring political figures. Otter is Idaho’s second longest-serving governor, ahead of Robert E. Smylie but behind Cecil Andrus.

Otter was born in 1942 and grew up in Idaho, where he was raised in a Catholic family and developed early ties to the state’s agricultural and business communities that would later shape his political identity. His formative years in Idaho exposed him to the concerns of rural communities, small businesses, and the agricultural sector, experiences that informed his later emphasis on limited government, economic development, and states’ rights. Before entering high-level public office, he worked in the private sector and began building the business credentials that would become a central part of his political profile.

Otter’s education and early professional life were closely intertwined with Idaho’s business environment. He became associated with the J.R. Simplot Company, one of Idaho’s most prominent agribusiness firms, through both his employment and his personal life. In 1964, he married Gay Simplot (born 1945), the sister of Scott Simplot and the only daughter of company founder J. R. Simplot. The marriage, which lasted 28 years, connected Otter to one of the most influential business families in the state and reinforced his standing in Idaho’s economic and civic circles. After nearly three decades, the couple amicably divorced in 1992, and the marriage was later annulled by the Catholic Church.

Otter’s first major bid for statewide office came in the late 1970s. In January 1977, when incumbent Democratic Governor Cecil Andrus was appointed U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Jimmy Carter, Lieutenant Governor John Evans, a Democrat, succeeded Andrus as governor. Otter announced in June 1977 his intention to run for governor in the 1978 election. In the six-man Republican primary held in August 1978, he finished a close third with 26.0 percent of the vote. Allan Larsen, the Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives from Blackfoot, won the nomination with 28.7 percent, followed by Vern Ravenscroft of Tuttle with 27.6 percent. Both major-party nominees that year were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marking the first time in Idaho history that a Mormon was certain to be elected governor. Incumbent Governor Evans was unopposed in the Democratic primary and went on to win the November general election with nearly 60 percent of the vote, the third of six consecutive gubernatorial victories by Democrats in Idaho.

Despite this early setback, Otter continued to build his political career and was elected lieutenant governor of Idaho in 1986. He took office in 1987 and served in that position until 2001. During his fourteen years as lieutenant governor, he became a familiar figure in statewide politics, presiding over the Idaho Senate and frequently acting as a liaison between the executive branch, the legislature, and the business community. His long tenure in the office reflected both his electoral strength and his ability to maintain a prominent role in Republican politics during a period of shifting partisan fortunes in the state.

In 2000, Otter successfully sought election to the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to represent Idaho in Congress and served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 2001, to January 3, 2007. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, encompassing the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and major national debates over security, federal spending, and domestic policy. As a member of the House of Representatives, C.L. Otter participated in the democratic process, contributed to the legislative work of the chamber, and represented the interests of his Idaho constituents in Washington, D.C. He left Congress at the conclusion of his third term to run for governor.

In December 2005, Otter announced his candidacy for governor of Idaho in the 2006 election. He won the May 2006 Republican primary decisively, receiving 70 percent of the vote against three opponents. In the November 7, 2006, general election, he faced Democrat Jerry Brady, the former publisher of The Post Register in Idaho Falls, who had previously run for governor in 2002 and lost to incumbent Republican Governor Dirk Kempthorne. Although Otter was initially considered an overwhelming favorite, given his popularity and Idaho’s strong Republican lean, the race tightened in the final weeks. A poll conducted for the Idaho Statesman and Boise ABC affiliate KIVI showed Otter leading Brady by only a single point, a statistical dead heat, and the Statesman noted it was the first time in over a decade that a gubernatorial race in Idaho had not effectively been decided ten days before the election. State Republican Party chairman Kirk Sullivan attributed the closeness to a strong national trend against Republicans in 2006. Otter ultimately pulled away in the final week and won the election with 53 percent of the vote to Brady’s 44 percent, in what was the closest gubernatorial race in Idaho since 1994. He took office as the 32nd governor of Idaho in January 2007.

Otter was re-elected governor in 2010 and 2014. In the 2010 Republican primary, he faced five opponents and won renomination with 55 percent of the vote, a narrower margin than in 2006 but sufficient to secure the party’s backing for a second term. In the general election that year, he defeated Democratic nominee Keith Allred by a margin of 59 percent to 33 percent. In November 2014, Otter was elected to a third consecutive term as governor, further extending his tenure in office and solidifying his status as one of Idaho’s longest-serving chief executives. Over his three terms, he emphasized conservative fiscal policies, economic development, and a limited role for the federal government in state affairs, while also confronting issues such as corrections management, health policy, and immigration.

During his governorship, Otter took several notable policy positions. In 2015, he vetoed legislation that would have legalized the limited use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil in Idaho. In explaining his veto, Otter stated that the bill “ignores ongoing scientific testing on alternative treatments,” “asks us to trust but not to verify,” and would legalize the limited use of cannabidiol oil contrary to federal law, while asking the state “to look past the potential for misuse and abuse with criminal intent.” His administration also faced scrutiny over the operation of the Idaho State Correctional Institution by the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), later renamed CoreCivic. In May 2016, CoreCivic was found in contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order regarding staffing at the facility; in an apparent attempt to increase profits, the company had assigned too few staff to the prison and submitted false staffing reports to appear to be in compliance. On national issues, Otter endorsed fellow Republican John Kasich for president in the 2016 United States presidential election. In July 2017, he joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a group of Republican attorneys general and governors in threatening litigation against the administration of President Donald Trump if it did not terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy instituted under President Barack Obama.

Otter’s later years in office and his post-gubernatorial period were marked by continued involvement in Republican politics and occasional intra-party controversy. On January 5, 2019, shortly after he left office, the State Central Committee of the Idaho Republican Party passed a resolution condemning and censuring Otter, ultimately over his decision to endorse an independent candidate rather than the Republican nominee in a previous primary contest. In 2019, he also endorsed John McGee in the Caldwell City Council Seat 6 election, further demonstrating his ongoing engagement in local and state political affairs even after his gubernatorial tenure concluded.

In his personal life, Otter has been married twice. His first marriage, to Gay Simplot in 1964, linked him to one of Idaho’s most prominent business families and lasted until their amicable divorce in 1992; the marriage was subsequently annulled by the Catholic Church. On August 18, 2006, during his final months in Congress and in the midst of his first gubernatorial campaign, Otter married his longtime girlfriend Lori Easley (born 1967), a former Miss Idaho USA, in a ceremony in Meridian, Idaho. Throughout his career, his family connections, business background, and long record of public service have made him a central figure in Idaho’s modern political history.