Maria was born and raised in Idaho Falls and is the daughter of long-time party activists Dennis and Sheila Olsen. She is married to Ron Nate who served three terms in the Idaho Legislature and they have four kids, all attending university. After Ron graduated from the University of Connecticut, they moved back Idaho in 2001 to raise their family. They quickly became involved in their local county Republican Party, but Maria has been active in party politics her entire life, attending all kinds of political events with her dad who was Idaho State GOP Party Chair from 1977–1985. Along with serving as the Idaho State GOP Secretary, she is currently the Secretary for the Madison County Republican Women and works hard to promote the ideals of the party platform across the state. Maria works in the community organizing events throughout the year designed to educate and inform voters and she’s even been known to dress up as an elephant from time to time! Maria has worked on many state campaigns and local elections, been to several national conventions and was a Trump Delegate for the 2020 convention (sadly cancelled due to Covid).
Maria believes strongly in the Idaho GOP Platform and will work hard to make sure its ideals are promoted by our candidates. She understands the sacrifices it takes to run for office and is no stranger to hard work and will work hard for Republicans in Idaho.
