Idaho voters head to the polls Tuesday to nominate candidates for federal, state and local offices in a primary that will set the field for the November general election. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, which is 10 p.m. ET in most of the state and 11 p.m. ET in Idaho’s Pacific time area.
Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Risch is seeking a fourth term and faces three primary challengers: Joe Evans, Denny LaVe and Josh Roy. The Democratic Senate race is also contested, with David Roth, Nickolas “007” Bonds and Brad Moore on the ballot. Roth is the only one of the three who had reported raising money for his campaign, about $7,500, and his campaign was out of funds as of March 31. He was the Democratic nominee in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District in 2024 and the party’s Senate nominee in 2022.
The governor’s race brings the largest Republican field. Gov. Brad Little is running for a third term and faces seven primary competitors, while Democrat Terri Pickens leads her party’s field for governor and faces three other candidates. Little’s campaign had raised about $1.9 million and had about $1.2 million in the bank by mid-May. Mark Fitzpatrick had raised about $185,000 and had about $35,000 in the bank by mid-May. Pickens was unopposed for the Democratic nomination when she ran for lieutenant governor in 2022.
Primary contests are also on the ballot for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state controller, state treasurer, state attorney general and state schools superintendent, though the Democratic and Republican candidates in those races are unopposed. Idaho is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. Donald Trump won about 67% of the vote there in the 2024 presidential election, and the state has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. House since 2008, to the governor’s office since 1990 or to the U.S. Senate since 1974.
Any registered voter may take part in the Democratic primary regardless of party registration, while only registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary. Voters who are eligible may register in person at the polls during early voting or on Election Day, and unaffiliated voters may affiliate with a party on Election Day. As of Feb. 2, Idaho had a little more than 1 million registered voters, including about 628,000 Republicans, about 120,000 Democrats and about 259,000 who were not affiliated with any party.
The will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House. The results will help define a state where the general election is expected to echo the partisan balance that has dominated Idaho politics for years. For Republicans, Tuesday is the first test of whether incumbents like Risch and Little can hold off primary challengers in a state that usually settles its biggest contests before November even begins.
