Helen Margaret Palmer Chenoweth-Hage (born Helen Margaret Palmer; January 27, 1938 – October 2, 2006) was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Idaho. She remains the only Republican woman to ever represent Idaho in the United States Congress. Early life and career She was born in Kansas. Her family moved west to Los Angeles when Helen was a year old, then north to southern Oregon when she was 12, to run a dairy farm near Grants Pass. A musician, horse enthusiast, and athlete, she attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington on music scholarship (double bass), where she met Nick Chenoweth while working in a cafeteria; she was a waitress and he was a cook. The two were married in 1958. They had two children, Michael and Margaret (Meg), both born in Nick's hometown of Orofino, Idaho. The Chenoweths ran a ski shop near the modest Bald Mountain ski area. Later, Helen developed and managed the Northside Medical Clinic, where she initiated a physician recruitment practice for under-served rural communities, while Nick attended the UI law school in Moscow. The Chenoweths divorced in 1975 and Helen moved to Boise to become executive director of the Idaho Republican Party. Later she went on to serve as then-Congressman Steve Symms' District Director in 1977 through his re-election in 1978, then started her own business, Consulting Associates, and became a noteworthy lobbyist in Idaho's capital city. Election and Congressional career In 1994, Chenoweth won the Republican nomination for Idaho's 1st Congressional District over former Lieutenant Governor David H. Leroy and two other challengers. She pledged to serve no more than three terms in the U.S. House if elected. She defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Larry LaRocco by almost 11 points in the Republican wave that saw that party take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. During the campaign, Chenoweth attacked LaRocco for supporting the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993; he was the only Idahoan in either chamber to back the bill. While Chenoweth's victory was one of many instances of historically Republican districts reverting to form after electing Democrats, it was still surprising considering LaRocco's 20-point victory margin in 1992. With her victory in 1994, Chenoweth became the second woman (after Gracie Pfost) to represent Idaho in Congress and one of few members to be elected by her peers to chair a subcommittee (House Subcommittee on Forest