Representative John Carfield Sanborn

John Carfield Sanborn (September 28, 1885 – May 16, 1968) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from southern Idaho, serving two terms from 1947 to 1951. He represented Idaho’s 2nd congressional district and was a prominent figure in the state’s mid‑twentieth‑century Republican politics. A lifelong Methodist, he was the last non-Mormon to represent Idaho’s 2nd district in Congress.

Sanborn was born in Chenoa, McLean County, Illinois, on September 28, 1885, the son of Orville D. Sanborn and Frances (Carfield) Sanborn. He was educated in the public schools of Illinois before pursuing higher education in the Midwest and on the East Coast. He attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, graduating in 1908, and then enrolled at Columbia Law School in New York City, from which he graduated in 1912. Although trained as an attorney, his later career would be centered more on agriculture and public service than on the practice of law.

After completing his legal education, Sanborn moved west and settled in Hagerman, Gooding County, Idaho. There he engaged in agricultural pursuits, becoming part of the region’s farming and ranching economy. He became active in local affairs and served as a trustee of the local school district, reflecting an early and sustained interest in public education and community governance. His involvement in local institutions helped establish his reputation and laid the groundwork for his entry into state politics.

Sanborn’s formal political career began in the Idaho Legislature. He was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives and served there from 1921 to 1929, participating in the legislative affairs of a rapidly developing state. After a period out of state office, he returned to the legislature as a member of the Idaho Senate, serving from 1939 to 1941. Through these roles in both houses of the state legislature, he gained experience in lawmaking, budgetary matters, and agricultural and rural policy, which would later inform his work in Congress.

Following World War II, Sanborn sought federal office. In 1946 he ran for the open seat in Idaho’s 2nd congressional district and was elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress, taking office on January 3, 1947. He was re-elected in 1948 to the Eighty-first Congress, serving until January 3, 1951. During his two terms, he represented a largely rural, agricultural constituency in southern and eastern Idaho, at a time when postwar economic adjustment, veterans’ issues, and federal reclamation and irrigation projects were of particular importance to the region. When he left office, his successor in the 2nd district, Republican Hamer H. Budge, became the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to represent Idaho in either house of Congress, marking a lasting religious and political shift in the district.

After his service in the U.S. House, Sanborn remained active in Republican politics and repeatedly sought higher office. He was a candidate for the United States Senate in 1950 and again in 1956, but on both occasions he was defeated in the Republican primary by Herman Welker. In 1954 he entered the Republican primary for governor of Idaho; that nomination was won by Robert Smylie, who went on to be elected governor. Demonstrating his continued ambition and standing within the party even in later life, Sanborn, at age 76, ran again for his former 2nd district House seat in 1962. He advanced to a runoff in the Republican primary but was defeated by Orval Hansen. From 1950 through 2024, every winner of the 2nd district seat has been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, underscoring Sanborn’s place as the last non-Mormon representative of that district.

Sanborn spent his later years in Idaho, remaining associated with the agricultural community and the Republican Party, and retaining the Methodist faith that had characterized his public and private life. He died in Boise, Idaho, on May 16, 1968, at the age of 82. He was buried in Hagerman, Idaho, the community where he had built his career in agriculture and begun his long trajectory in public service.