15 GOP incumbent legislators lose re-election campaigns in Idaho primary
Fifteen incumbent Republican legislators, including Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise; Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle; and Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot; lost their re-election bids Tuesday, according to unofficial primary election results released by the state and counties.
Patriotic and GOP themed decorations line the stage at the Idaho Republican Party’s primary election watch party at the Riverside Hotel on May 21.
Winder, the highest ranking member of the Idaho Senate, lost to Republican challenger Josh Keyser in the District 20, Idaho Senate Republican primary election. With 100% of Ada County precincts reporting, Keyser secured a 281-vote victory over Winder, according to the Ada County Elections Office.
Keyser: 3,207 votes, 52.3%
Winder: 2,926 votes, 47.7%
On the other side of the state, Young, who is the vice chair of the Idaho House State Affairs Committee, lost to Republican challenger Ben G. Fuhriman of Shelley in the District 30, Idaho House Seat B race by the slimmest of margins. With 100% of Bingham and Butte County precincts reporting, Fuhriman won by less than 10 votes, according to unofficial results released by the two counties.
Fuhriman: 3,763 votes, 50.1%
Young: 3,753 votes, 49.9%
With 100% of precincts reporting in Bonner and Boundary counties early Wednesday, Herndon was defeated by Republican challenger Jim Woodward, also R-Sagle. Unofficial results released by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office showed Woodward winning the primary election by 613 votes shortly before 2 a.m. Mountain Time.
Herndon: 7,606 votes, 48%
Woodward: 8,219 votes, 52%
Several other incumbent legislators lost as well.
Reps. Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett; Matthew Bundy, R-Mountain Home; Chenele Dixon, R-Kimberly; Melissa Durrant, R-Kuna; Jacyn Gallagher, R-Weiser; Linda Wright Hartgen, R-Twin Falls; Tina Lambert, R-Caldwell; Gregory Lanting, R-Twin Falls; Kenny Wroten, R-Nampa; Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell; and Sens. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, and Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell, all were defeated in their primary elections.
Other incumbent legislators had more success in their primary election campaigns. With 100% of Bonneville County precincts reporting, incumbent Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, held off two Republican challengers – Ammon Mayor Sean Coletti and Republican National Committee member Bryan Smith.
Coletti: 2,522 votes, 35.5%
Horman: 3,236 votes, 45.5%
Smith: 1,352 votes, 19%
Horman is the co-chair of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, which sets each element of the state budget.
2024 Idaho primary election voter turnout
This year, all 105 seats in the Idaho Legislature are up for election, even though not all of the races are contested. In addition to legislative elections, Tuesday’s primary election also featured congressional primary elections, races for county positions such as sheriff, county commissioner and prosecutor, as well as hundreds of races for neighborhood level political positions called precinct committeemen, which make up the grassroots of the state’s political parties.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time across the state on Tuesday and initial results were first posted by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office at about 9 p.m. Mountain Time.
During a 9 p.m. Mountain time conference call with news reporters as the final polls closed, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said more than 150,000 voters had voted in-person. That number did not include voters who voted by absentee ballot or participated in early voting. McGrane estimated the percentage of voter turnout could land somewhere in the mid 20-percent range. If that estimate holds true, McGrane said turnout would surpass the 2016 primary election turnout of 23% but would fall short of turnout from the 2022 and 2020 primary elections. During the most recent primary election in 2022, turnout was 32.5% in Idaho, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
“There have been no real issues. It’s been a very smooth election from the county perspective,” McGrane told reporters Tuesday night.
GOP chairwoman: primary election has been ‘pretty doggone brutal’
On Tuesday, hundreds of Republican candidates, voters and boosters gathered at the Riverside Hotel located just outside of Boise for the Idaho GOP’s election night watch party. At the event, Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon told supporters this year’s primary election was one of the most divisive in recent years.
From left, Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, Becca Labrador and Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon wait for primary election results to be announced on May 21, 2024
“It’s been pretty doggone brutal,” Moon said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
This primary season, hundreds of contested precinct committeeman elections are being staged between competing factions that are battling for control of the Idaho Republican Party. A group of traditional establishment Republicans is seeking to take control of the party back from Moon, who gained power at the 2022 Idaho Republican State Convention, and her supporters. The chairmanship of the Idaho Republican Party will go up for a vote again this summer at the Idaho Republican Party’s upcoming state convention in June.
Tuesday’s primary election results won’t become official until the State Board of Canvassers certifies the election results. The canvass is scheduled to occur at 11:15 a.m. June 5 at the Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls, McGrane said.
The winners of Tuesday’s primary election advance to Nov. 5 general election.
