Caval announces Senate run against Zuiderveld for District 24 seat
Alex Caval, a Twin Falls bankruptcy attorney who has served on city council since September 2022, will oppose Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld in the Republican primary for the District 24 seat in the Idaho Senate.
Caval publicly announced her 2024 candidacy in an op-ed piece for the Times-News, describing herself as a hard-working, civic-minded leader who supports “agribusiness, our economic engine,” and will prioritize improvements for public schools “because they prepare the generations that come after us.” She also roundly criticized Zuiderveld, a member of the hard-right Idaho Freedom Caucus who lost her committee leadership position this month, painting her as an ineffective and out-of-touch senator who has “hurt, not helped, the Magic Valley” during her first term.
“It is easy to complain about the current state of things but it takes leadership to navigate the path forward while protecting the things that make us unique — the incumbent lacks that leadership,” Caval wrote in her op-ed, which first published on Wednesday morning at magicvalley.com and in the Times-News‘ digital edition.
“I will work with legislators across the state to protect our water, our agricultural roots, and our natural resources. I will also work to ensure that our schools are funded and that parents have a say in what their children are taught. It is my commitment to my community that I will stay true to the conservative principles that are the bedrock of freedom — fiscal responsibility, limited government, individual freedom, and free markets,” she concluded.
At the recommendation of Mayor Ruth Pierce, Caval was appointed to the Twin Falls council last fall to serve the remainder of Shawn Barigar’s term after he stepped down to apply to become the city’s economic development director, a position he assumed in October 2022. Caval did not run to stay on the council, and Cherie Vollmer won election last week to fill her seat on the seven-person governing body.
Prior to her city council service, Caval, who will turn 40 on Thursday, was a board member of the Twin Falls Urban Renewal Agency. She has led her own bankruptcy law practice, Caval Law Office, for nearly 15 years, and is a member of the Idaho State Bar.
In her op-ed, Caval shared the story of her family’s escape from communism and legal immigration to the United States in 1988. They first “found refuge” and later “found home” in Twin Falls, she wrote, and Caval credited her parents for teaching her the value of hard work.
After graduating from Twin Falls High School as a valedictorian “with enough college credits to enter college as a sophomore,” Caval wrote, she earned a bachelor’s degrees in political science and economics from the University of Idaho and, later, her law degree at 24 years old.
“I have learned that the American dream only works if you do,” Caval wrote.
Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, was a reliable vote for the Idaho Republican Party during the 2023 legislative session and earned a strong “A” grade from the Idaho Freedom Foundation, opposing abortion and gender-affirming care for minors and resisting education funding — even for the College of Southern Idaho, one of the largest employers in her district, according to the Idaho Department of Labor’s Twin Falls County Labor Force And Economic Profile published in October.
She also voted against the $80-million-plus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024 for the Department of Water Resources, the state’s administrator of water rights and chief monitor of Idaho’s water supply.
Zuiderveld was vice chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee until last week, when President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder stripped her of the assignment after she authored an online post that “openly attacked the integrity of your fellow members of the Idaho Senate.” He further described Zuiderveld’s writings as “degrading and disrespectful of … the Senate itself,” concluding her behavior was beneath “a manner expected of an elected official.”
She will continue as a member on the committee. She is also a member of the Agricultural Affairs Committee.
A 1984 graduate of Jerome High School, Zuiderveld beat incumbent Sen. James Patrick by 37 votes in the May 2022 primary and then won uncontested in the November election to represent a district that includes Gooding and Camas counties and nearly all of Twin Falls County.
All 105 legislative seats in Idaho will be up for election in 2024.
