Lawrence Garth Wasden is an American attorney and politician who served as the

Idaho Attorney General The Attorney General of Idaho is an elected office that assists local law enforcement agencies in the state of Idaho. They provide legal representation for state agencies, state corporations and any persons holding ownership of property, as well as ...

from 2003 to 2023. First elected in 2002, he was the longest-serving attorney general in Idaho history. Wasden was re-elected four more times before being defeated in the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Republican primary by

Raúl Labrador Raúl Rafael Labrador (born December 8, 1967) is an American lawyer and politician who is the Attorney General-elect of Idaho. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the Idaho Republican Party from 2019 to 2020 and served as the U.S. Repre ...

Education

Wasden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in 1982 and a Juris Doctor from the

University of Idaho College of Law The University of Idaho College of Law is the law school of the University of Idaho, with its main location in Moscow and a second campus in the state capital of Boise. As of the entering class of 2017–18, students may take all three years of in ...

in 1985.

Career

Wasden was admitted to the

Idaho State Bar The Idaho State Bar (ISB) is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is a self-governing state agency of the State of Idaho. History Portions of the Idaho Code pertaining to the practice of law in Idaho date ...

in 1985. He served as deputy prosecuting attorney in Canyon County, Idaho and prosecuting attorney in

Owyhee County, Idaho Owyhee County ( ) is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,133. The county seat is Murphy, and its largest city is Homedale. In area it is the second-largest county in Idah ...

. Wasden later served as chief of staff and deputy chief of staff to the Idaho attorney general and as a deputy attorney general for the

Idaho State Tax Commission Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Attorney general of Idaho

In July 2017, Texas Attorney General

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. Paxton has described himself as a Tea Party conservative. Paxton was re-elected to a t ...

led a group of Republican Attorneys General from nine other states, including Wasden, plus Idaho Governor

Butch Otter Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2006, and reelected in 2010, and 2014. Otter ...

, in threatening the

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

administration that they would litigate if the president did not terminate the

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive ...

policy that had been implemented by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. Tennessee Attorney General

Herbert Slatery Herbert H. Slatery III (born March 8, 1952) is an American attorney from the state of Tennessee. A Republican, he served as the Attorney General of Tennessee from 2014 to 2022. Early life Herbert Slatery received his bachelor's degree from the U ...

subsequently reversed his position and withdrew his participation from the proposed suit. Slatery went further to urge passage of the

DREAM Act The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, is a United States legislative proposal to grant temporary conditional residency, with the right to work, to illegal immigrants who entered the United States a ...

. The other attorneys general who joined in making the threats against Trump included Steve Marshall of Alabama,

Leslie Rutledge Leslie Carol Rutledge (born June 9, 1976) is an American attorney and politician from the state of Arkansas, served as the 56th attorney general of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. She is the 21st lieutenant governor of Arkansas, since 2023. Rutledge ...

of Arkansas,

Derek Schmidt Derek Larkin Schmidt (born January 23, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the Kansas Attorney General since 2011. A Republican, Schmidt was first elected to office serving in the Kansas Senate, where he represented the 15 ...

of Kansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Doug Peterson of Nebraska, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, and

Patrick Morrisey Patrick James Morrisey (born December 21, 1967) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 34th Attorney General of West Virginia since 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party. Morrisey was elected Attorney General of West Vi ...

of West Virginia. In 2019, Wasden and 16 other A.G. declined to join a letter in support of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act (H.R. 1595), sponsored by U.S. Rep.

Ed Perlmutter Edwin George Perlmutter (born May 1, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, his district is located in the northern and western suburbs of the Denver metropolitan are ...

(D-Colo.), which would permit marijuana-related businesses in states and territories to use the banking system. In 2020, Wasden declined to join the '' Texas v. Pennsylvania'', saying "Idaho is a sovereign state and should be free to govern itself without interference from any other state. Likewise, Idaho should respect the sovereignty of its sister states."

2022 primary election

2022 Idaho Attorney General Republican primary election results map by county

In 2022, Wasden faced heavy opposition from the right. Attorney Arthur Macomber and former Congressman

both filed to run against Wasden. Wasden lost the May 17 primary to Labrador by over thirteen points.https://www.livevoterturnout.com/Idaho/LiveResults/1/en/Index_122.html

Personal

Wasden is married and has four children.

Electoral history

References

External links

*
NAAG bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasden, Lawrence 21st-century American politicians Brigham Young University alumni Idaho Attorneys General Idaho lawyers Living people People from Nampa, Idaho University of Idaho College of Law alumni Year of birth missing (living people)