Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue made history last week.
Donahue was sworn in as president of the National Sheriffs’ Association in Oklahoma City on Thursday, with the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office making the official announcement on social media. After first being elected as the organization’s vice president in 2021, Donahue had been in line to become president in 2024.
Donahue is the 84th person to serve as president of the National Sheriffs’ Association and the first Idaho sheriff to hold the position. He served on the organization’s board for 10 years and also served as vice president, but now his role could put the state and Donahue in the national spotlight.
“In my humble opinion, this is a tremendous opportunity for the state of Idaho and the western United States as a whole to be represented at the national level,” Donahue told the Idaho Statesman in a telephone interview. “There has never been a sheriff from Idaho who has even risen to the role of executive committee leader, let alone president.”
In a one-year term, Donahue will be responsible for leading a group representing more than 3,000 sheriffs across the country. He will also be tasked with testifying before Congress — providing an official position for the National Sheriffs’ Association on key issues — and even providing briefings to the Supreme Court.
Donahue was first elected sheriff of Canyon County in 2012 and is running unopposed for a fourth term this year. In his role as president of the national organization, he said he will work with sheriff’s offices across the country to improve border security, address terrorist threats and focus on combating domestic violence and human trafficking, he told the Statesman.
“Anything that impacts law enforcement, we’re involved in at the highest levels of government,” Donahue said. “Having that kind of responsibility allows you to push the narrative back to Congress. That’s pretty powerful.”
Donahue has been an outspoken advocate for fortifying the U.S. border with Mexico, saying Idaho should send more personnel to the states to “stop undocumented immigrants from crossing the border.”
“We need to help states like Texas, states like Arizona, states like New Mexico,” Donahue said in August 2023 during a public meeting of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Committee on Federalism. “We can and we should send troops, whether it’s National Guard troops or state troopers.”
Donahue said he is committed to working with elected officials across all political spectrums, even those with whom he disagrees, for the greater good of the country.
“I have to put my personal feelings aside and decide what’s best for the country,” Donahue said. “Whether you’re Republican, Democrat or Independent, what is the issue for us and how do we navigate with Congress and the sitting president to make sure we move the needle in the right direction?”
Donahue’s tenure has earned him broad support in conservative Canyon County, but he has also been embroiled in some controversy.
In September 2022, Canyon County paid $600,000 to two former deputies who said they were victims of retaliation when they were fired by Donahue in 2020 after campaigning for Nick Schlader, who ran for sheriff against Donahue, according to previous reporting in the Statesman.
Donahue was also named in a lawsuit against the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office by a former employee who filed claims of harassment and gender discrimination after she left her job in 2022, the Statesman reported. The department paid her $425,000 in a settlement last year.
