Primary Election coming into focus

The deadline for statewide races was February 26, and those candidates are set.  The deadline for county and district officials is March 13, which is this Friday.  There are often last minute filers for county level contests, so the complete candidate list won't be clear until next week.  Early elections for primaries in Idaho begins on April 27. Here is what we do know as of press time:

For Governor, the list is massive.  Current governor Brad Little is seeing primary challenges from Republicans Daniel C. Fowler, Ethan Giles, Justin R. Plante, Lisa Marie, Mark Fitzpatrick, Ron James, and Sean Calvert Crystal.  Democratic Candidates are Chanelle Torrez, Jill Kirkham, Maxine Durand, and Terri Pickens.  From the Libertarian Party, the primary includes Paul Sand and Melissa-Sue Robinson.  Jacob Burnett and John R. Stegner filed as Independents.  The Candidate named Pro-Life is running as a member of the Constitution Party.  

At the State Legislative level, there is one contested primary, with Chad Christensen filing to run for the 35 A seat against Mike Veile, who was appointed by the governor to replace Kevin Andrus last year.  Democrat Walter Boyd has filed as well. 

State Senator Mark Harris will face Democrat Marty Rotz Kilhefner in the general election in the fall, and Josh Wheeler, 35B, will face Mary Kaufman (D).  

At the County Level, as of Tuesday morning, Tracy Davis has filed for the primary against sitting county commissioner Marty McCullough in the First District.  Bryce Somsen is up for election in the Second District, without a primary challenger at the beginning of the week.

Additional filings for county offices are also uncontested at present, and include County Clerk Jill Stoor, County Treasurer Angie Mendenhall, Couty Assessor Aaron Cook, and County Coroner Casey Batterton.

Judges are non-partisan, but both current District Judge Cody L. Brower and candidate Aaron N. Thompson have filed for the District 6 Caribou A office.

The official deadline for filing is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 13, and we’ll bring you a final list next week.

At the Federal level, U.S. Sen Jim Risch faces three Republican challengers.  Risch, 82, is running for a fourth six-year term. The Republican was first elected to the seat in 2008 and now chairs the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He faces three Republican challengers in the May primary election: Denny LaVe, Joe Evans, and Josh Roy.  In announcing his re-election bid in an April 2025 post on X, Risch touted an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump. 

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican serving his fifth term, is not yet up for re-election. His six-year term began in 2023.  

U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher faces two Republican challengers in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District. Idaho’s 1st  Congressional District — home to roughly 1 million people — splits Ada County, includes some of Boise and spans the state’s western border through the Idaho panhandle in the north.

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson faces two Republican challengers.  Simpson, 75, is running for a 15th two-year term. The Republican has represented Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District since 1999 and chairs the House Interior and Environment Subcommittee on Appropriations. He faces two Republican challengers: Brian Keene and Perry Shumway.

Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District — home to almost 1 million people — splits Ada County, includes most of Boise, and spans central and eastern Idaho. 

Simpson has widely won re-election bids.

Most of the state wide races did not see contested primaries on either the D or R side of the aisle.  As a result, Eric Myricks will be the Democratic challenger to current Lieutenant Governor, Republican Scott Bedke.  Shawn Keenan (D) will face current Secretary of State Phil McGrane (R ); current State Controller Brandon Woolf (R ) will face Rakesh Mohan (D); Julie Ellsworth (R ) will face Kevin Jones (D) for the State Treasurer’s office; Lori Hickman (D) and Raul Labrador (R ) are running in the Attorney General’s race; and for Superintendent of Public Instruction, the candidates are Teresa Roundy (Constitution), Becky Sundin Mitchell (D_, and Debbie Critchfield (R ).