By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
The Idaho Republican Party held its 2024 presidential caucus March 2, with former-President Donald Trump handily winning the state’s 32 delegates to the Republican National Convention.
“Idaho has reaffirmed its steadfast support for President Trump today. We recognize that our state stands as a beacon of support for Republican ideals, reaffirming Idaho’s status as ‘Trump Country’ with his resounding victory in our caucus,” Idaho GOP Chair Dorothy Moon stated in a news release March 2.
The vote took place at 210 locations in 976 precincts across Idaho and drew 39,584 of the state’s approximate 580,000 registered Republicans — about 6.8% of eligible voters, according to February 2024 voter registration data from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
Former president Donald Trump. Courtesy of Creative Commons.
Of those, 33,603 voted for Trump (84.89%) and 5,221 cast ballots for former-South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (13.19%).
Though Trump and Haley were then the only major Republican candidates left in the race for the presidential nomination, candidates Ryan Binkley, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on the ballot. Of those, the highest vote-getter was DeSantis, with 534.
Calling it a “monumental event,” Moon lauded statewide Republican volunteers for planning, organizing and executing the caucus, adding, “Their tireless efforts ensured the smooth operation of the caucuses at 210 locations statewide, culminating in a resounding success.”
The Bonner County caucus took place at 12 locations, drawing 2,062 voters from among the 21,316 registered Republicans in the county — a turnout of 9.6%.
As with the statewide trend in the 2024 caucus, Trump support far exceeded the next nearest competitor, with 1,883 votes to Haley’s 152 votes.
Statewide caucus rules stipulated no early or absentee voting, and only registered Republicans were allowed to participate — including prohibiting reporters from the caucus locations, unless they were registered with the party.
Prior to this year, Idaho voters had typically selected presidential nominees in primary elections held in the second week of March. However, language in a 2023 House bill mistakenly eliminated those elections. When the Legislature failed to fix the problem, the Idaho Democratic and Republican parties determined to hold their own caucuses specifically for the nomination of presidential candidates.
The Idaho GOP voted at its summer 2023 conference to host its caucus on March 2 in order to give its members the chance to vote prior to “Super Tuesday,” on March 5, when the highest number of states cast their ballots for presidential nominees.
Despite that, local participation in the 2020 primary was more than double the 2024 caucus.
By comparison, the March 2020 GOP presidential primary saw a turnout of 4,445, or 22.7% of the then-19,497 registered Republicans in Bonner County, while Trump received the majority with 4,203 votes.
Despite that, Moon wrote on March 2, “The enthusiasm and dedication of supporters in Idaho is emblematic of the strength and unity of our party.”
In a written statement reported March 5 by the Idaho Capital Sun, political scientist and Alturas Institute President David Adler chalked up that low turnout to the preconceived outcome of the caucus.
“After all, for a state party in thrall to Donald Trump, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. No mysteries, no curiosities, no surprises,” he wrote.
As expected, Trump swept the “Super Tuesday” round of voting, bringing his total delegate count to 1,215 as of press time on March 6 — 220 short of the 1,215 necessary to win the nomination.
All Idaho voters will go to the polls for the Tuesday, May 21 primary election, which will feature candidates for state and local races — but not presidential candidates.
Idaho Democrats will hold their presidential nominating caucus on Thursday, May 23, which will allow absentee voting. Participants in the Democratic caucus will need to request an absentee ballot by Thursday, May 16. The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5.
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