Idaho Gov. Brad Little won the GOP gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, beating a Trump-backed challenger who had repeatedly criticized the incumbent for not being conservative enough.
The race was called with 23 percent of precincts reporting and Little receiving 64.1 percent of the vote, while Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin had 23.4 percent.
The intra-party contest between Little and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin was an example of Republican voters nationwide choosing between established candidates and those endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Little and McGeachin often clashed over coronavirus precautions and the role of government. Last year, McGeachin tried to seize power twice when Little was out of state on business by issuing an executive order banning vaccine mandates.
“I was honored to serve the great state of Idaho in good times and in difficult times,” Little said at a Republican gathering in downtown Boise after winning the primary. “Once again, I am humbled by the wonderful opportunity to serve and work for the great people of Idaho.”
McGeachin was in a private meeting in Boise where reporters were not allowed. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Little didn’t gloat in his speech, with much of it sounding like a standard stump speech recounting the state’s red-hot economy and the big income tax cuts of the past two years, plus of shooting the Democrats.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little won the GOP gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, beating a Trump-backed challenger who had repeatedly criticized the incumbent for not being conservative enough. He is pictured voting in Idaho on Tuesday
Little and McGeachin often clashed over coronavirus precautions and the role of government. McGeachin tried to take over twice last year when Little was out of state on business. She is photographed in January 2022
“Leftist states are dysfunctional places with broken policies that limit opportunity,” Little said. “We’d like to build a wall around Idaho and make California pay for it.”
Idaho is among the fastest growing states in the country, with some of these new residents coming from California.
Republicans are almost guaranteed to win the general election, as Democrats have not held the governor’s office since 1995 or the state office since 2007. Republicans have supermajorities in the House and Senate, and Democrats have neither they only answer more than half of the legislature. It has 105 places.
Several groups encouraged independents and Democrats to register as Republicans to stop a slate of far-right candidates, including McGeachin. The number of voters doing so appeared to be too small to make a significant difference, but Alicia Nelson took that route and voted for Little over McGeachin, as well as other mainstream Republicans.
“In Idaho you have a lot of crazy people, so you have to weed them out to get to some kind of logical thinking,” he said.
Bill Brown stuck with the Democratic primary as he has for decades, but acknowledged the dominance of the Republican party in Idaho.
“It’s turned so right it’s scary,” he said.
Little was attending a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Tennessee last May when McGeachin issued an executive order banning mask mandates. Little quickly rescinded the order and denounced his actions as “irresponsible and self-serving political action.” He has never issued statewide COVID-19 mask mandates, instead saying local officials should be able to do what they see fit.
“Leftist states are dysfunctional places with broken policies that limit opportunity,” Little said. “We’d like to build a wall around Idaho and make California pay for it”
He tried again a few months later, when Little was out, and issued an executive order expanding a directive that no Idaho government could require vaccine passports. He sought to add K-12 schools and colleges to the ban.
McGeachin accused Little, the first-term governor, of rejecting conservative principles, writing on Twitter that “protecting individual liberty means fighting tyranny at ALL levels of government.”
Little, a rancher from southwest Idaho, served as lieutenant governor from 2009 to 2019 before becoming governor. He is introducing the record $600 million income tax cut he signed earlier this year that includes a one-time reduction of $350 million in rebates and $250 million in permanent income tax cuts for to people and companies.
Little, 68, also highlighted his “Leading Idaho” plan that includes a record $300 million increase in education spending, in addition to spending an ongoing $200 million for roads and bridges, the largest increase great ever for transportation.
McGeachin, 59, had, and frequently touted, an endorsement from Trump, who won Idaho with 64 percent of the vote in the last general election. McGeachin has also promoted Trump’s lies that stole the 2020 election from him through massive voter fraud.
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announcement
Leslie Hayes votes in the state’s primary election with her twin daughters Adelayde and Zoey in the Idaho Republican primary
“Once again, I am humbled by the wonderful opportunity to serve and work for the great people of Idaho,” Little said in his speech.
Voters head to the polls in Idaho. Republicans are almost guaranteed to win the general election, as Democrats haven’t held the governor’s office since 1995 or the statewide office since 2007.
