Candidate for Idaho's 1st Congressional District admits to possessing child porn

Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman on Sep 18, 2026

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BOISE, Idaho — One of the candidates running in the race for Idaho’s 1st Congressional District had “hundreds of images” of child pornography, court records showed, and he entered a plea deal in his criminal case.

Brendan Gomez, a member of the Constitution Party, was charged with 10 felony counts of possession of child sexually exploitative material. The 27-year-old was arrested by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office in July and remains in the Ada County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

He’s running against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher, Democrat Kaylee Peterson and Independent Sarah Zabel.

Gomez agreed on Monday to plead guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography, and in exchange, the other eight charges against him were dropped, court records obtained by the Idaho Statesman showed.

According to an affidavit of probable cause written by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, investigators received a cybertip after a cloud storage company noticed one of its users was in possession of child pornography. The Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant, which “revealed hundreds of child sexual abuse material-related content on Gomez’ device.”

His sentencing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 16.

Under state law, Gomez could face up to 20 years in prison — 10 years for each count. As part of the agreement, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office is expected to recommend that Gomez spend at least three years in prison, with another 12 years he could spend in prison, on parole or both.

His name remains on the ballot in this year’s election.