BOISE, Idaho \u2013 Mainstream Republicans in Idaho beat back efforts by 2020 election deniers to retain control of the party in Tuesday\u2019s primary election, chalking up wins in the contested governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A growing rift within the Idaho Republican Party set the stage for a tense primary night as challengers further to the right sought to oust candidates they did not view as conservative enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gov. Brad Little defeated Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, by 20 percentage points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward, I\u2019m not looking back,\u201d Little said when asked about McGeachin campaigning against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McGeachin made national headlines by actively working against Little, including issuing an order banning public schools from mandating COVID-19 testing or vaccines and attempting to deploy the state\u2019s National Guard troops to the U.S. southern border while Little was traveling out of state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never been about the office, it\u2019s never been about what\u2019s good for Idaho,\u201d Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke said about McGeachin in an interview. \u201cFrom Day 1, it\u2019s been about her undermining the governor and running in her own right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bedke, who ran for lieutenant governor with Little\u2019s endorsement, will succeed McGeachin after coming out 9 points ahead of firebrand conservative state Rep. Priscilla Giddings, who was censured after sharing an article that identified a 19-year-old legislative intern who accused a former state House Republican of rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a Republican \u201cUnity Rally\u201d Wednesday on the state Capitol\u2019s steps, Bedke acknowledged \u201cthe excellent campaign\u201d Giddings ran and said \u201cthe campaign against the Democrats starts today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bedke on Tuesday said the tension seen between Little and McGeachin will not be repeated in the coming term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIdahoans want their No. 1 and No. 2 to work together,\u201d he said. \u201cThey do not want to be embarrassed nationally, and you have my pledge that we will work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another Little-endorsed candidate, Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane, narrowly clinched the secretary of state race with a winning plurality of 43%. McGrane was the only GOP candidate of the three to publicly state that President Joe Biden legitimately won the presidency in 2020 \u2013 meaning the majority of Idaho Republicans voted for either state Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, or state Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur d\u2019Alene, both of whom embraced false claims of widespread voter fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McGrane, however, does not think the results are reflective of Idaho Republicans\u2019 thoughts on the 2020 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe average person doesn\u2019t know what a secretary of state is or what they do,\u201d McGrane said Wednesday, adding that he thinks \u201ca lot more of the results are a reflection of that collective effort just to get our names out there in front of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McGrane said he is looking forward to spearheading voter education initiatives such as providing voter information guides, increasing confidence in Idaho\u2019s election security while working to enhance its cybersecurity safeguards and bolstering turnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While McGrane pulled off a win, another race that featured the legitimacy of the 2020 election as a common wedge issue culminated in the Little-backed candidate losing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawrence Wasden\u2019s nearly 20-year career as the state\u2019s attorney general will come to an end after he was defeated by former U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador by a roughly 14-point margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wasden came under fire for declining to join Texas\u2019 lawsuit against Pennsylvania\u2019s handling of the 2020 election \u2013 something Labrador said he would have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labrador, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus who lost a gubernatorial bid to Little in 2018, received a range of endorsements, including from 33 members of the state Legislature, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know this was a big decision moving on from a 20-year incumbent. I appreciate your trust and your support,\u201d Labrador said at the Wednesday rally and thanked Wasden for his service. \u201cIn November, the citizens of Idaho will have an opportunity to ratify the choice tonight and we need to be together as a united team no matter who you voted for in this primary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A second incumbent Republican elected statewide also lost in Tuesday\u2019s primary. Sherri Ybarra, who was running for a third term, lost to Debbie Critchfield, former president of the Idaho State Board of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday\u2019s results marked not just an ideological divide, but a geographical one as well, with most northern counties favoring statewide candidates not backed by Little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take Kootenai County for example, where Moon and McGeachin both came out on top with 55% of the vote and Giddings received 63%. Or Bonner County, which saw similar margins as Kootenai \u2013 McGeachin with 52%, Giddings with 62% and Moon with 60%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McGrane said that in hindsight he wishes he spent more of his campaign in North Idaho and added that increasing engagement with northern voters is important for every candidate to ensure \u201cthat anybody here elected serves the entire state from up to the Canadian border all the way down to Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Little will be heavily favored in the November election against Democrat Stephen Heidt, a teacher from Marsing. If Little secures a second term, the Legislature he will be working with likely will change significantly, as 11 incumbents lost re-election, including state Rep. Chad Christensen, a member of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia. As of Wednesday afternoon, an additional four incumbents are trailing behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Little said Tuesday he hopes in his next term to improve investments in education, transportation and increase tax relief, but first has to \u201cfigure out who [his] team is, both the constitutional officers and the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the fairly divisive primary election, Republican leaders underscored the need to unite as a party ahead of the November general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to view the disagreement as a strength, and not something to overcome,\u201d Little said in his victory speech. \u201cIt means our party is attracting a broad range of people. But now is a time to band together, to get back to focusing on what we agree as Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Brad Little defeated Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, by 20 percentage points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-idaho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":742,"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcprojects.medill.northwestern.edu\/sosfordemocracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}