Tea party groundswell sweeps away incumbents, as North Idaho bucks state trend
Even as a push from the right to take over the Idaho Republican Party was falling short at the state level, it was succeeding beyond expectations in North Idaho, where two longtime state lawmakers were unceremoniously dumped in Tuesday’s GOP primary. A third was turned out after just one term, and four arch-conservative incumbents whose challengers were endorsed by GOP Gov. Butch Otter cruised to victory in a low-turnout election that saw barely over one in five registered voters cast a ballot. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.
Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, the Senate education chairman and seven-term senator who lost to city hall critic Mary Souza, said, “It was real apparent that there were two camps in Kootenai County, and both camps had candidates for most offices, and I guess the camp for the far right was better able to get its supporters to the polls.” Said Rep. Ed Morse, who lost to retired insurance agent Eric Redman, “There was pretty much a tea party groundswell up here in Kootenai County and in Bonner County.”