Idaho voters face an array of choices in Tuesday’s general election, from local positions to statewide posts and ballot questions to seats in Congress. It’s a high-stakes election that could help shape the direction of your community, state and nation for years. Here are seven key contests on the ballot.
Also, check out our full election coverage at idahopress.com/elections, including profiles of races, news stories and our full 2022 General Election Voters Guide, developed in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Idaho.
CONGRESS
Nationally, partisan control of the House and Senate hangs in the balance in this year’s mid-term election, which has big implications for the direction of national politics for the next two years. In Idaho, three of the four members of the state’s all-GOP congressional delegation are facing challengers on Tuesday.
Longtime Sen. Mike Crapo, an attorney from Idaho Falls who is seeking a fifth six-year term in the Senate, faces four challengers on the November ballot: Democrat David Roth of Idaho Falls, the first openly gay major-party nominee for the Senate in Idaho and only the second nationwide; independent Scott “Oh” Cleveland of Eagle, a businessman; Libertarian “Idaho Sierra Law” of Pocatello; and Constitution Party candidate Ray Writz of Coeur d’Alene.
1st District GOP Rep. Russ Fulcher faces Democrat Kaylee Peterson and Libertarian Darian Drake in Fulcher’s bid for a third two-year term in the House. Fulcher has refused to debate his opponents; Peterson, of Eagle, has been campaigning statewide, while Drake, of Post Falls, stepped in in September to replace former Libertarian nominee Joe Evans, who withdrew amid a split in the Idaho Libertarian Party.
2nd District GOP Rep. Mike Simpson faces Democratic challenger Wendy Norman, a first-grade teacher from Rigby, as Simpson seeks reelection to a 13th two-year term in the U.S. House. Simpson, like Fulcher, refused to debate his opponents, either in the primary or general election contests; he is a dentist from Blackfoot.
Gov. Brad Little decisively won an eight-way GOP primary in his bid for a second term with 53% of the vote; the next-closest finisher, current GOP Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, drew just 32%. Now, in the general election, Little faces Democratic challenger Stephen Heidt, independent Ammon Bundy, Libertarian Paul Sand and Constitution Party hopeful Chantyrose Davison. Bundy, an anti-government militia leader, has been the noisiest of the challengers. Little, who like Fulcher and Simpson has refused to debate his opponents in either the primary or general election, is a rancher from Emmett and former state senator.
Former four-term GOP Congressman Raul Labrador upset longtime Idaho GOP Attorney General Lawrence Wasden in the primary, and now in the general election, Labrador is up against Democratic nominee Tom Arkoosh, a longtime Idaho attorney and former Gem County prosecutor who long was an independent, briefly was a Republican, and registered as a Democrat shortly before he became the party’s nominee in July.
The race has seen an unusual rush of high-profile Republicans endorsing the Democratic nominee, including former GOP Gov. Phil Batt, highlighting a split in Idaho’s dominant political party between the ultra-conservative wing, represented by Labrador, and the more traditional conservative establishment Republicans, represented by Wasden. Labrador, who lost to Little in the 2018 GOP primary for governor, has promised to be a more “aggressive” attorney general and take a more political approach to the office.
There also are two other hotly contested races for statewide posts: Lieutenant governor, in which current GOP House Speaker Scott Bedke faces off against Boise attorney and Democratic nominee Terri Pickens Manweiler, along with Constitution Party hopeful “Pro-Life;” and state superintendent of public instruction, which matches former state Board of Education President Debbie Critchfield, a Republican, against longtime educator and former Idaho Education Association president Terry Gilbert, a Democrat.
LEGISLATURE
Big change is in store for the Idaho Legislature, which already – before Tuesday’s election – is guaranteed to have nearly 50 new faces among its 105 members come January, due to redistricting, retirements, lawmakers running for higher offices and primary election results. That includes 18 new members in the 35-member Senate and 31 in the 70-member House.
Though many of the big upsets came in the primary – when a slew of incumbents were forced to face off against each other as they landed in the same new districts, and others fell in the GOP primary – there are still plenty of contested races to decide on Tuesday. Among them: The District 15 Senate race in western Ada County features a matchup between Rep. Codi Galloway, R-Boise, who defeated incumbent Sen. Fred Martin, R-Boise in the primary; and Rick Just of Boise, a centrist Democrat who’s been endorsed by Martin over Galloway.
Some Treasure Valley legislative races have candidates running unopposed this fall, but others are being hotly contested in the general election, including longtime incumbents of both parties facing spirited challengers. You can read about all the candidates and races in our Voter Guide, which was published in the Idaho Press on Oct. 30 and also is available online at idahopress.com/elections.
The Idaho Legislature typically meets for about three months each year, from January through March, and only the governor can call lawmakers back for a special session. That would change if voters on Tuesday approve SJR 102, a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution to allow the Legislature to call itself back into session.
If 60% of the members of each house sign on to a petition listing the topics to be addressed, lawmakers could convene in special session at any time of the year, with no limit on the length or frequency of those special sessions.
It would take just a simple majority of votes on Nov. 8 for SJR 102 to pass.
Tuesday’s ballot also includes an advisory question, asking voters if they approve or disapprove of HB 1, legislation passed in a special session in September that increased education funding in Idaho permanently by $410 million a year while also cutting personal and corporate income taxes and sending out one-time tax rebates; many Idahoans have been getting their rebate checks in recent weeks.
All Canyon County offices are uncontested on Tuesday’s ballot, but that’s not the case in Ada County. There, two of the three seats on the Ada County Commission are contested in Tuesday’s election, along with contested races for assessor, sheriff and coroner.
County posts are partisan elected offices; the current commission has a 2-1 GOP majority. But the sole Democrat, current Commissioner Kendra Kenyon, isn’t seeking re-election, setting up an open race between three candidates: GOP primary winner Tom Dayley; Democratic nominee Patricia Nilsson; and independent Anthony “Tony” Jones for a two-year term in the District 3 seat.
In District 2, current GOP Commission Chairman Rod Beck is seeking reelection to a four-year term, after first being elected to the commission in 2020. He faces Democratic challenger Stan Ridgeway, the former mayor of Eagle. County commissioners are full-time employees, with an annual salary of $122,000. Current GOP Commissioner Ryan Davidson’s District 1 seat isn’t on the ballot this year; it’ll be up in 2024.
Current Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford, a Republican, faces Democratic challenger Victor McCraw; current second-term Coroner Dotti Owens, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Republican Rich Riffle; and there’s an open race for Ada County Assessor, after the retirement of longtime GOP Assessor Bob McQuade. Rebecca Arnold, an attorney and former Ada County Highway District commissioner, won a four-way GOP primary with 35.1% of the vote; she faces Democratic nominee Erik Berg.
Four of the five seats on the College of Western Idaho board of trustees are up for election, and every race is contested. While candidates run from specified zones, everyone across both Ada and Canyon counties votes on all the trustee positions.
In this year’s elections for the nonpartisan positions, a slate of four candidates initially endorsed by the Ada County Republican Central Committee is seeking each of the four seats, including two currently held by incumbents who are registered Republicans. The central committee later said it’s endorsing the incumbents as well. The slate has largely focused on unsubstantiated claims that the college has a “woke” agenda and is spending wastefully, though its property tax levy is the lowest among all Idaho community colleges, as is its tuition.
The four challengers in the slate are Alisha Hickman, Ryan Spoon, Jan Allan Zarr, and Thad Butterworth. Incumbents are Molly Lenty, current board chair; Jim Reames; and Annie Pelletier Hightower. Also running are Nicole Bradshaw, who faces Hickman for an open seat; and Gordon Simpson, who is in a three-way race with Lenty and Spoon.
