UPDATE: Native American and Idaho House of Representatives candidate Trish Carter-Goodheart says she will continue to advocate for “representation, justice and respect” following the racist outburst directed at her by Sen. Dan Foreman.

Carter-Goodheart said the sitting lawmaker’s comment about going back to where she came from was painful to hear but consistent with her experience as a Native woman in Idaho.

“It touches all aspects of my identity, my heritage, my culture, my daily life,” she said. “It’s like being constantly reminded that people see me as an ‘other,’ that my culture and my history are undervalued, and that my existence is politicized.”

“I’m still processing it,” she added. “I am absolutely shocked and stunned that he has become so upset.”

“If he had just had the emotional intelligence to say that, to just stop what he was saying, to hold back, we could have had an amazing dialogue about racism today,” Carter-Goodheart said. “He missed that moment of education and growth.”

Foreman did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but wrote two Facebook posts about the incident. The senator denied saying anything racist and called the story a “stereotypical left-wing attack on a Republican candidate.”

“I informed this person that I was born in America and therefore am Native American. There was no racial slur in my statement,” he wrote.

Foreman also accused the media of only using reports from the evening from politically biased attendees.

Carter-Goodheart’s opponent, Republican Rep. Lori McCann, an event organizer and another panelist confirmed the senator’s words to Carter-Goodheart to Boise State Public Radio.

The audio version of this story was updated on 4/10/24

ORIGINAL STORY: A bipartisan forum in a small Latah County community took a turn when incumbent Republican Senate leader Dan Foreman stormed out of the event after a racist outburst against a Native American candidate.

On Tuesday, local Democratic and Republican officials organized a “Meet Your Candidates” forum in the northern Idaho town of Kendrick. Three candidates from each party vying for seats in the 6th District – one Senate and two House seats – answered questions from viewers.

When asked if there was discrimination in Idaho, conservative Senator Dan Foreman said no.

In one Statement released on WednesdayDemocratic candidate for House Seat A and member of the Nez Perce tribe, Trish Carter-Goodheart, said she pushed back on that idea when it was her turn to speak, citing her own experiences and the History of White Supremacy Groups in Northern Idaho.

“Just because someone hasn’t personally experienced discrimination doesn’t mean discrimination doesn’t exist. Racism and discrimination are real problems here in Idaho, as anyone familiar with our state’s history knows,” the statement said. “I highlighted our weak hate crimes laws and mentioned the presence of the Aryan Nations in northern Idaho as indisputable evidence of this reality.”

Foreman stood and angrily interjected, using a profanity to criticize what he described as the liberal bias of the response, according to the news release and those in attendance at the forum.

Carter-Goodheart said he then told her to go back to where she came from and stormed off in a heated manner. An organizer and two other panelists confirmed Carter-Goodheart’s account, adding that Foreman appeared very excited.

Carter-Goodheart is running for House representative and is not running against the senator. Her opponent, Republican Representative Lori McCann, was also present at the forum. In an email, she said she had read Carter-Goodheart’s statement “and found it to be an accurate depiction of what happened in Kendrick.”

Foreman has a history of angrily confronting people in public and shouting profanities.

He did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

Indigenous peoples, including the Nez Perce Tribe, have lived in the Columbia River Basin for thousands of years. Foreman was born in Lake Forest, Illinois.