Tuesday’s primary election in Idaho saw seven incumbent lawmakers lose their positions in the Legislature. It also whittled down the candidates vying for a seat on Idaho’s Supreme Court.
Many match-ups featured moderate Republicans against candidates from the far right wing of the party.
Reporter Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review writes the “Eye on Boise” blog and was among those watching the election closely.
“We saw, particularly in the Republican Party, which dominates Idaho politics, a lot of push and pull between the different factions and particularly a strong push by kind of the right end of the political spectrum to gain more ground in the Idaho Legislature,” says Russell.
Some of the legislature's most conservative voices lost Tuesday. That includes incumbent Republican Senator Sheryl Nuxoll of Cottonwood, and Representative Kathy Sims of Coeur d'Alene. Nuxoll lost by just 121 votes to Carl Crabtree.
In the Idaho Supreme Court race, four candidates were running for the judge’s seat. But none of them garnered more than 50 percent of the vote. That means the top two will face off in the general election. Rupert attorney Robyn Brody and GOP state senator Curt McKenzie will continue their campaigns into November.
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