Idaho Post-Election Update

Posted by Zach Forster on November 6, 2024

Idaho’s General Election saw a record voter turnout for the general election at roughly 69%. As a quick reminder, all 105 legislative seats were up for election, including 35 Senate seats and 70 House seats. With 26 uncontested legislative races and only 11 highly competitive races, once again Idaho’s general election was largely a formality in most districts. However, the Republicans did expand their already supermajority in the Idaho legislature by gaining four additional seats, further solidifying their control.

Legislative Races to Highlight:

Out of the 105 races, there were six that were extremely close:

• District 6 (Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce Counties), Senate – Republican Dan Foreman retained his seat against current Moscow city councilwoman Julia Park by about 1,800 votes.
• District 15 (Ada County), Senate – Republican Codi Galloway, a former legislator who lost in the 2022 election, won her seat back against Democrat incumbent Rick Just by about 900 votes.
• District 26 (Jerome, Blaine Counties), Senate – Former House member, Republican Laurie Lickley, beat current Democrat incumbent Ron Taylor by roughly 1,000 votes.
• District 15 (Ada County), House A – Democrat incumbent, Steve Berch defeated Republican Annette Tipton by 227 votes.
• District 15 (Ada County), House B – Republican incumbent Dori Healey defeated Democrat Shari Baber by roughly 1,800 votes.
• District 29 (Bannock County) House B – Republican Tanya Burgoyne defeated Democrat incumbent Nate Roberts by about 1,150 votes

Ballot Measures:

Also on the ballot, we saw two initiatives at play. The first being a constitutional amendment to the Idaho constitution, stemming from House Joint Resolution 5 that was passed last year, which passed overwhelmingly 65%-35%.

Additionally, Proposition 1, an initiative to replace the current closed primary election with open primaries and install rank-choice voting for the general elections, which failed by a significant margin, 70%-30%.

Organizational Session:

Now that the election is over, the legislature will shift its attention to the organizational session in the first week of December in Boise. This is where House and Senate leadership will be elected by their peers and committee rosters will be completed.

The Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee and the House Business Committee are particularly important for credit union legislation and will have a significant impact on our legislative success. There is a real chance that leadership on both committees will look different in 2025 as well as the members who serve on them.

Idaho’s Congressional Races:

Neither one of Idaho’s U.S. Senate seats were up this election cycle.

The focus was on the congressional races in Idaho’s first and second congressional districts. As expected, both Republican incumbents, Russ Fulcher in District 1 and Mike Simpson in District 2, won their races each by over 30 points.

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Idaho Advocacy.