Election postgame 2020

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

The 2020 General Election is still ongoing, according to President Donald Trump’s lawyers, but the results are in for Idaho Legislative District 1 and awaiting canvassing, which elections officials say will occur Friday, Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. No results are final until then. 

Barring that, the local totals remain the same as they were on Election Day, Nov. 3, as incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Risch captured 17,964 votes for 66.43% to Democratic challenger Paulette Jordan’s vote of 29.88%, or 8,079. Likewise, incumbent Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher took 68.11% of the vote in District 1, with 18,213, to Democrat Rudy Soto’s turnout of 7,601 voters, or 28.42%.

Idaho District 1 Sen. Jim Woodward won a second term with 17,192 votes, amounting to 75.22%, versus Democratic challenger Vera Gadman’s 5,623, totaling 24.6% of the vote. Blanchard Republican Rep. Heather Scott earned yet another term in the Idaho House with 14,911 votes to Democratic challenger Gail Bolin’s 7,859, shaking out to 65.3% and 34.41% of the vote, respectively.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Sage Dixon held onto his District 1B seat with a handy 67.43% of the vote, pulling 15,421 votes, to Democrat Stephen Howlett’s 6,856 votes, amounting to 29.98%.

Republican Commissioner Steve Bradshaw bested Democrat Steve Johnson by a wide margin, 66% to 33.81%, with 17,566 and 8,999 votes, respectively.  Republican Commissioner Jeff Connolley, unopposed, drew 20,673 votes for 97.07% of the vote.

Incumbent Sheriff Daryl Wheeler secured reelection with 17,925 votes to Democratic challenger Cindy Marx’s 8,806 — breaking down to 66.87% to 32.85%.

Finally, voters retained unchallenged Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall with 20,833 votes, or 97.56% of the vote. Magistrate Judge Tera A. Harden kept her seat with 18,718 votes, or 83.28% and the constitutional amendment HJR4 passed in District 1 with 15,695 votes to 8,236; that is, 65.58% to 34.42%.

Trump won 66.91% of the local vote, with 18,369 votes, to President-elect Joe Biden’s 30.27%, garnering 8,310 votes. That victory notwithstanding, the president has refused to recognize the result of the election, which delivered about 75 million votes to Biden and 70 million to Trump — both record-breaking turnouts.

As the national drama plays out, with Trump and his lawyers challenging the legitimacy of the election — citing unconfirmed and so-far baseless claims of vote tampering — groups closer to home celebrated the “pro-conservation” bent of statewide election results.

Nonpartisan lobby group Conservation Voters for Idaho noted that “Idaho voters turned out to the polls to elect 20 pro-conservation candidates in local and state races across the state,” stating that “voters of all political persuasions, from the capital of Boise to remote rural regions, have overwhelmingly shown their support for these candidates who ran on the platform of protecting our clean air and water, our parks and trails, and farmland and open space.”