Keough handily defeats Tanner

SANDPOINT —  Shawn Keough swept past her opponent Tuesday earning more than three quarters of the vote in the District 1 primary election.

Keough, R-Sandpoint, was among Republican incumbents in the two northern districts to secure their seats going into the November election.

The seven-term senator handily defeated Steve Tanner of Bonners Ferry by garnering 76 percent of the vote. She earned 1,008 votes in Boundary County and 3,272 in Bonner County compared to 468 and 857 respectively for Tanner, who lives in Bonners Ferry.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, earned 49 percent of the vote in the District 2 race to defeat front-running opponent Dennis Engelhardt of Sagle.

Engehardt garnered 36 percent, and James Stivers of DeSmet, who lost to Broadsword in the 2008 primaries, tallied 15 percent.

Broadsword won by a 1,692 to 1,240 vote margin in the district, with the closest results in Bonner County with a margin of 590 to 557.

Representatives Eric Anderson, R-Priest River, and George Eskridge, R-Dover, both ran unopposed in the primaries.

Statewide, Republican Sen. Mike Crapo defeated primary opponent Claude M. (Skip) Davis III, by a 79 to 21 percent margin, and Democrat P. Tom Sullivan defeated William Bryk, 75 to 25 percent. Crapo and  Sullivan will vie for the Senate seat in November.

Democrat incumbent Walt Minnick ran unopposed in the District 1 congressional primaries. He will meet Republican Raul Labrador who bested opponent Vaughn Ward by a 48 to 39 percent margin in the five-candidate race.

Incumbent Republican Mike Simpson will meet Democrat Mike Crawford in the District 2 race in November, and Eagle Democrat Keith Allred will face C.L. “Butch” Otter in November’s gubernatorial contest.