A vote here signs directs residents to their polling location for the primary election on May 21, 2024 at Thunder Ridge High School in Idaho Falls. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)
Prominent incumbent Republican legislators including Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise; Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle; and Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot; were trailing in early, unofficial primary election results released Tuesday night.
Winder, the highest ranking member of the Idaho Senate, trailed Republican challenger Josh Keyser in the District 20, Idaho Senate Republican primary election. With 98% of Ada County precincts reporting, Keyser held a 267 vote lead over Winder, according to the Ada County Elections Office.
Keyser: 3,136 votes, 52.4%
Winder: 2,852 votes, 47.6%
On the other side of the state, Young, who is the vice chair of the Idaho House State Affairs Committee, trailed Republican challenger Ben G. Fuhriman of Shelley in the District 30, Idaho House Seat B race by the slimmest of margins. With 100% of Bingham and Butte County precincts reporting, Fuhriman was ahead by less than 10 votes, according to unofficial results released by the two counties
Fuhriman: 3,763 votes, 50.1%
Young: 3,753 votes, 49.9%
In other early, incomplete results released Tuesday, Herndon trailed Republican challenger Jim Woodward, also R-Sagle. Unofficial results released by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office showed Woodward with 756 vote lead shortly before 10:30 p.m. Mountain time.
Herndon: 797 votes, 34%
Woodward: 1,553 votes, 66%
2024 Idaho primary election voter turnout
This year, all 105 seats in the Idaho Legislature are up for election, even though not all of the races are contested. In addition to legislative elections, Tuesday’s primary election also featured congressional primary elections, races for county positions such as sheriff, county commissioner and prosecutor, as well as hundreds of races for neighborhood level political positions called precinct committeemen, which make up the grassroots of the state’s political parties.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time across the state on Tuesday and initial results were first posted by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office at about 9 p.m. Mountain time.
Patriotic and GOP themed decorations line the stage at the Idaho Republican Party’s primary election watch party at the Riverside Hotel on May 21. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun)
During a 9 p.m. Mountain time conference call with news reporters as the final polls closed, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said more than 150,000 voters had voted in-person. That number did not include voters who voted by absentee ballot or participated in early voting. McGrane estimated the percentage of voter turnout could land somewhere in the mid 20-percent range. If that estimate holds true, McGrane said turnout would surpass the 2016 primary election turnout of 23% but would fall short of turnout from the 2022 and 2020 primary elections. During the most recent primary election in 2022, turnout was 32.5% in Idaho, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
“There have been no real issues. It’s been a very smooth election from the county perspective,” McGrane told reporters Tuesday night.
GOP chairwoman: primary election has been ‘pretty doggone brutal’
On Tuesday, hundreds of Republican candidates, voters and boosters gathered at the Riverside Hotel located just outside of Boise for the Idaho GOP’s election night watch party. At the event, Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon told supporters this year’s primary election was one of the most divisive in recent years.
“It’s been pretty doggone brutal,” Moon said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
From left, Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, Idaho Republican Party office administrator Marilyn Holly and Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon wait for primary election results to be announced on May 21, 2024. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun)
This primary season, hundreds of contested precinct committeeman elections are being staged between competing factions that are battling for control of the Idaho Republican Party. A group of traditional establishment Republicans is seeking to take control of the party back from Moon, who gained power at the 2022 Idaho Republican State Convention, and her supporters. The chairmanship of the Idaho Republican Party will go up for a vote again this summer at the Idaho Republican Party’s upcoming state convention in June.
Tuesday’s primary election results won’t become official until the State Board of Canvassers certifies the election results. The canvass is scheduled to occur at 11:15 a.m. June 5 at the Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls, McGrane said.
The winners of Tuesday’s primary election advance to Nov. 5 general election.
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