Philip McGrane is an American politician from Idaho who is serving as the Secretary of State of Idaho. He previously served as the

county clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

for Ada County, Idaho. He is a member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. As a candidate for secretary of state, McGrane stated that Joe Biden was the rightful winner of the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

, unlike his two main opponents in the primary.

Early life

McGrane is from Boise, Idaho. He earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in philosophy from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. After graduating, he worked in philanthropy, including with

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

in Alabama. He returned to Boise in 2005 and began working for the

Ada County Ada County is located in the southwestern part of Idaho, United States. As of the 2021 United States census estimate, the county had a population of 511,931, making it by far the state's most populous county; it is home to 26.8% of the state's p ...

elections office. McGrane attended the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

's Sturm College of Law and worked as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for the

Election Assistance Commission The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The Commission serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding electi ...

, an independent federal government agency, in 2010. After he graduated from law school, he became chief deputy clerk for Ada County. McGrane also earned a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Political career

McGrane ran for secretary of state of Idaho in the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

, finishing in second place in the Republican primary election to Lawerence Denney, and ahead of state legislators Evan Frasure and Mitch Toryanski. McGrane ran for county clerk in the 2018 election, and won. In June 2021, McGrane announced his candidacy for secretary of state in the

2022 elections The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2022 United Nations Security Council election * 2022 national electoral calendar * 2022 local e ...

. He faced state representative

Dorothy Moon Dorothy Moon is an American Radical right (United States), far-rightDavid Smith'Republican and more Republican': Idaho shifts ever rightward ''The Guardian'' (May 11, 2022): "elections for other offices of state are more competitive between the ha ...

and state senator Mary Souza in the primary election. While Moon and Souza both endorsed

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 Pe ...

's false allegations of voter fraud in the

, McGrane acknowledged that Joe Biden was the rightful winner. McGrane defeated Moon and Souza in the primary election, receiving 43 percent of the vote, while Moon received 41 percent and Souza received 16 percent. McGrane faced the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

nominee, Shawn Keenan, a state committeeman for the Kootenai County Democrats, in the November general election. McGrane received 72% of the vote, while Keenan received 28%.

Personal life

McGrane and his wife, Angella, live in Hidden Springs, Idaho, and have three children. McGrane is a fan of Kansas City-style barbecue. As a

pitmaster Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

, McGrane competes in barbecue competitions with his father-in-law, Lou Johnson, with "Phil & Lou BBQ". In 2016, McGrane was inspired by his love of barbecue to introduce mobile voting inspired by

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van) or trailer, equipped to cook, prepare, serve, and/or sell food. Some, including ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food; others have on-board kitchens and prepare food from scratc ...

s to increase early voting.

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrane, Phil Barbecue chefs Boise State University alumni County clerks in Idaho Living people Idaho lawyers Idaho Republicans People from Ada County, Idaho Secretaries of State of Idaho Sturm College of Law alumni University of Washington alumni Year of birth missing (living people)