Primary voters will head to the polls in Idaho Tuesday to select candidates for a competitive governor’s race. And in a deep-red, essentially one-party state, the winner of this heated, expensive three-way Republican primary will likely be the next governor of Idaho.
Three GOP candidates are in a dead heat: Current Lt. Gov. Brad Little is the establishment favorite. Rep. Raul Labrador, the founder of the House’s ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, is running on a socially conservative, “tough on immigration” agenda and focusing on small government and school choice; plus, he’s anti-Obamacare. Then there’s the political outsider Tommy Ahlquist, a former physician and wealthy real estate developer from Boise.
On the Democratic side, it’s a classic intraparty fight between the old Democratic establishment and a new young, progressive base.
Paulette Jordan, a 38-year-old state legislator and a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, represents the young, fresh progressive face in the race. She’s picked up all the national endorsements, from Planned Parenthood to People for Bernie Sanders. But the state’s Democratic establishment is lining up behind A.J. Balukoff, a 72-year-old Idaho business executive who ran for governor in 2014.
Brad Little, the establishment pick, wins the Republican primary in Idaho’s governor’s race
Brad Little, Idaho’s lieutenant governor, wins the Republican primary in the governor’s race. Otto Kitsinger/APLt. Gov. Brad Little, the state establishment’s pick, has claimed the Republican nomination in Idaho’s governor’s race after a heated and expensive campaign, beating Rep. Raul Labrador and entrepreneur Tommy Ahlquist.
For months, the three Republicans have been leading the pack in a crowded seven-person primary to succeed Gov. Butch Otter, a Republican who decided not to seek a fourth term. The candidates poured millions into the gubernatorial primary. Little reported raised more than $1.2 million in the first four months of 2018, loaning himself $800,000, only second to Ahlquist’s spending — a whopping number in Idaho politics.
Read Article >Paulette Jordan, running to be the first Native American governor, wins Idaho’s Democratic primary
Paulette Jordan John Locher/APPaulette Jordan is trying to make history in Idaho. On Tuesday, she won the Democratic nomination in Idaho’s governor’s race, forwarding her long-shot goal of becoming the United States’ first Native American governor.
A two-term state lawmaker of the Coeur d’Alene tribe, Jordan beat out A.J. Balukoff in a competitive primary Tuesday night, a race that became something of a familiar establishment-versus-newcomer Democratic Party fight.
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