Kevin Richart, of Idaho Education News, picks his winners and losers from the GOP primary elections Tuesday:

• Loser -- Legislative Hardliners: A rough night on the far right. Some of the Statehouse’s most prominent conservatives failed to survive a closed GOP primary that, ostensibly, should favor hardliners. Seven legislative incumbents lost Tuesday, and four could be fairly labeled as hard-right Republicans: Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll of Cottonwood and Reps. Pete Nielsen of Mountain Home, Shannon McMillan of Silverton and Kathleen Sims of Coeur d’Alene.
• Winner -- JFAC continuity: Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Here, score a big win for continuity. The co-chairs of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee — Sen. Shawn Keough of Sandpoint and Rep. Maxine Bell of Jerome — survived GOP primary challenges. So did Rep. Wendy Horman, the Idaho Falls Republican who has been the lead writer of K-12 budgets in committee. For public schools, this all points to a committee that will stay the course on funding for teacher pay, literacy and classroom technology.
• Loser -- Idaho Freedom Foundation/Action: It wasn’t a great night for a group that went all in this primary cycle. Yes, the conservative group had a hand in ousting two House incumbents: Merrill Beyeler of Leadore and Paul Romrell of St. Anthony. But this group was going after bigger wins. The group threw plenty of criticism at Keough, and she won. Two House Republicans who publicly called out the Idaho Freedom Foundation — Luke Malek of Coeur d’Alene and Kelley Packer of McCammon — also survived conservative challenges. Wins like this have a way of emboldening fellow legislators. Full column here.