Boise attorney Christ Troupis, who represented the Idaho Republican Party in its successful lawsuit against the state to close the GOP primary, announced his candidacy today for Idaho Attorney General, challenging GOP Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “I believe the time is right to ensure that Idahoans have a meaningful choice in this year’s election,” Troupis declared on the Statehouse steps to about 40 supporters, who cheered, applauded, and occasionally called out “amen.”

Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, introduced Troupis. “We need some changes there, and he is the answer,” Pearce said. “He’s a constitutional attorney who’s shown his moxie.”

Troupis said he’s changing the spelling of his first name for the campaign from Christ to Chris, which is how his first name always has been pronounced anyway; he'll go by C.T. "Chris" Troupis. “I don’t want the election to be about my name,” he said. Christ, pronounced Chris, is his given name, bestowed by his parents as a shortened version of his Greek father’s first name, Christos.  “I’m proud of my name,” Troupis said. “It’s just that ‘Chris’ is a better name to run on.”

Wasden is seeking re-election to a fourth term; he was unopposed when he won his third term in 2010. In 2006, he won his second term with 62 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Bob Wallace.