Republicans sweep up in elections across Idaho

BONNERS FERRY — Idaho election results at the U.S. and statewide level followed the red-state trends Idaho has embraced for most of it’s political life, re-electing Sen.Jim Risch and Representative Raul Labrador by 30 percent margins each.

Gov. Butch Otter had a smaller but comfortable 15 percent margin over Democratic challenger A.J. Balukoff.

Republicans took every state office, with the closest margin in the Superintendent race with Republican Sherri Ybarra taking a 1.4 percent margin of victory over Democrat Jana Jones with just over a 5,700 vote edge.

The mid-term election in Boundary County was no different, and in fact Republicans far outweighed Democrats in the statewide victories, with 73.6 percent of voters choosing Risch and 71.4 percent choosing Labrador.

Otter had 58.4 percent of the vote to Balukoff’s 24.9 percent. Libertarian John T. Bujak was the next closest in the six-way governor race, with 7.3 percent of the vote.

In District 1 state races, Republican incumbent Sen. Shawn Keough garnered 65 percent of the vote in her victory. Constitutional party candidate and Bonners Ferry resident Christian Fioravanti had 36.6 percent of the Boundary County vote, and 35 percent of the District 1 vote overall.

“I very much appreciate all those who voted for my re-election to the Idaho State Senate,” Keough posted on her Facebook page shortly after the numbers were in early Nov. 5. “Thank you! It is my honor and privilege to be of service to our area,” she said.

Republican candidates easily defeated their Democratic challengers in the District 1 representative races, with Heather Scott winning over Laura Bry with 66.1 percent of the vote, and 80 percent of the Boundary County vote.

Sage Dixon had 65.5 percent of the District 1 vote to defeat Andrew Sorg. Dixon garnered 71 percent of Boundary County’s electors.

Incumbents won the hotly contested commissioner races, with LeAlan Pinkerton winning back his District 1 seat for a four-year stint with 52.6 percent of the vote to Ron Smith’s 43.4 percent.

Pinkerton says the issue of funding for the Restorium was the one of the big issues he had to visit over and over.

“People are passionate on both sides. Right decisions are hard but you have to stand there and make the hard decisions, and stand by them,” he said.

Pinkerton says that in the end, the majority seems to agree with him.

“I think it’s a confirmation that where I’ve been trying to take the board is a direction Boundary County wants to go,” Pinkerton said. “The reason I started on the board was the limited access to natural resources in our county. We need broader access. That’s the backbone of our county, if we can fix and expand that access, we will be able to stimulate our local economy.”

Pinkerton is hopeful and optimistic for the outlook of Boundary County, with representatives Dixon and Scott looking to take the area down a similar path.

“Over time, that will surely help,” Pinkerton says. “They will have to learn the ropes, but they have plenty of energy and wherewithal. I’m not a patient guy, but I’m looking forward to seeing successes.”

Pinkerton is also looking forward to greater cooperation between the five northern counties.

“Coordination, cooperation, words are just words,” he says. “I’m looking for action. North Idaho is headed towards a vision with a similar outcome for all the counties. That’s progress — reward through better access to our natural resources.”

Walt Kirby will add another two years to his decade of service as a Boundary County Commissioner, with a 232 vote margin over Democrat Tim Tucker, 40.4 percent of the vote to Tucker’s 33.6. Terry Capurso had 21 percent of the vote and John White gathered 100 of the 3,417 votes cast in Boundary County, 61 percent of the registered voters on the roll.

Kirby was out collecting his election signs Nov. 5.

“I don’t like to leave them up any longer than they have to be,” he said. “I’ve been out everywhere this morning. I saw Tim (Tucker) and we thanked each other for a clean campaign with no dirt thrown. I’m thankful for everyone who supported me. We are looking forward to continuing to work through the county’s business.”

Kirby attributes a lot of his success to a smooth year at the County Commissioner’s office.

“We got the levy down, tax breaks down, all the budget requests were taken care of, and the ambulance is well-funded. No one came by to tell us their taxes were too high. We have 350 miles of roads in good shape - we just keep after it a little at a time.”

Ongoing land purchases at the airport are one of the upcoming issues Kirby is working on, as well as working towards the reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools federal funding.

“I try to do what’s right for the county and good for the people,” Kirby says. “Sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it’s wonderful. I’ve been here for 43 years and wouldn’t trade a minute of it.”