Conservatives Gain Ground in Idaho Legislature

November 10, 2022

Pocatello, ID–In a state in which voting Republican is as much part of the culture as eating potatoes, the true political divide is found within the Republican Party itself.  It’s truly the “People’s Party”, home to a broad spectrum of political viewpoints, from “far-right extremists” to career politicians who openly support and campaign for Democrats.

As is customary nationwide, the Idaho Secretary of State divides election results by political party.  By this measure, Republicans did very well in Tuesday’s election: they won 82% of the legislative seats and 100% of the state-level offices.

For those who call themselves Constitutional Conservatives, however, that data is insufficient.  As the past two years made plain, any Republican office-holder who chooses pragmatism over the Constitution is remarkably similar to a Democrat.  Therefore, to truly measure the quality of Idaho’s legislature, it is necessary to further divide the election results.  This was done by comparing Idaho’s unofficial election results (available here) to a variety of conservative voter guides and endorsement records.

By this measure, the incoming Idaho Senate will consist of 7 Democrats (20% of total members), 16 Establishment Republicans (46% of the total), and 12 known Conservatives (34% of the total).  For Conservatives, this is an increase of 600% over last session’s two senators.

Conservatives also gained ground in the Idaho House of Representatives, with 19 incoming members (27% of the total members).  This is a slight gain over the approximately 15 seats they held last year.  The Republican Establishment’s 40 representatives still hold the majority of House seats, and 11 Democrats account for the remaining 16%.

The newly-elected legislators will take office in January of 2023.