John Evans (Idaho politician)

John Victor Evans Sr. (January 18, 1925 – July 8, 2014) was an American politician from Idaho. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state's 27th governor and was in office for 10 years, from 1977 to 1987.^[1][2]

John Evans
27th Governor of Idaho
In office January 23, 1977 – January 4, 1987
Lieutenant	William Murphy Phil Batt David Leroy
Preceded by	Cecil Andrus
Succeeded by	Cecil Andrus
33rd Lieutenant Governor of Idaho
In office January 6, 1975 – January 23, 1977
Governor	Cecil Andrus
Preceded by	Jack Murphy
Succeeded by	William Murphy
Member of the Idaho Senate
In office 1953–1959 1969-1975
Personal details
Born	John Victor Evans (1925-01-18)January 18, 1925 Malad City, Idaho, U.S.
Died	July 8, 2014(2014-07-08) (aged 89) Boise, Idaho, U.S.
Resting place	Malad City Cemetery Malad City, Idaho, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lola Daniels ​ (m. 1945)​
Children	5
Alma mater	Stanford University (BA)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Unit	Infantry
Battles/wars	World War II

Biography

Born in Malad, Idaho,^[3] Evans was an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war, he attended Stanford University and graduated in 1951.^[4] He and his wife, Lola Daniels Evans (1927–2015), were married for over 69 years and had five children: three sons and two daughters.^[2][5]

Career

Evans returned to Malad after college to help run the family wheat and cattle ranch.^[5] He was elected to the state senate at age 27 in 1952 and re-elected in 1954 and 1956, serving as majority leader in his final term. In 1960, Evans became mayor of Malad City and served in that capacity until 1966. He returned to the state senate in 1969 and served as minority leader from 1969 to 1975.^[2]

Evans was elected lieutenant governor in 1974,^[1] and became governor in January 1977 when Cecil Andrus accepted an appointment to become the Secretary of the Interior in the new Carter administration.

Evans finished Andrus' term and was elected governor in his own right in 1978, defeating Republican house speaker Allan Larsen of Blackfoot. As of 2023^[update], Evans remains the only Mormon to have won election as governor in Idaho.^[3] Arnold Williams was the Mormon first to serve as governor (succeeding to the office following the resignation of Charles Gossett), holding office for slightly over a year starting in late 1945,^[6] but lost the 1946 election.

Evans was re-elected in 1982, narrowly defeating Republican lieutenant governor Phil Batt of Wilder in a contest so close on election night that at least one Idaho television network incorrectly declared Batt the winner.^[7][8]

After nearly a decade as a governor, Evans unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1986,^[9] but was defeated by Republican incumbent Steve Symms of Caldwell.^[1] He was succeeded as governor by Andrus, who served two more terms, giving the Democrats six consecutive elections for governor in the state, holding the office from 1971 to 1995.

While he was in office as governor in 1981, Evans's 29-year-old son John was the target of a foiled kidnapping attempt in Burley.^[10][11]

Elections

Idaho Gubernatorial Elections: Results 1978–1982

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Votes	Pct
1978		John Evans (inc.)	165,540	58.7%		Allan Larsen	114,149	39.6%		Others	4,877	1.7%
1982		John Evans (inc.)	187,640	52.9%		Phil Batt	166,911	47.1%

U.S. Senate elections in Idaho (Class III): Results 1986

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct
1986		John Evans	185,066	48.4%		Steve Symms (inc.)	196,958	51.6%

Source:^[12]

Later life and death

Evans became president of the family-owned D. L. Evans Bank in Burley in January 1987,^[13][14] which was founded in 1904 in Albion by his grandfather, David Lloyd Evans Sr. (1854–1929).^[15] Evans died at age 89 in 2014 at his Boise home on July 8.^[2][16] Less than a year later, Evans' widow, Lola, died at her Boise home on May 19, 2015, at the age of 88.^[17] They are interred at the Malad City Cemetery in Malad City.