Idaho Rep. Labrador headed for fourth House term

Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador, a conservative firebrand who has been stumping for Donald Trump around the country, is headed to a fourth term in the U.S. House – even as he mulls a run for governor of Idaho.

Labrador faced a spirited challenge from Boise attorney James Piotrowski, a labor lawyer and Democrat who faulted Labrador for his unwillingness to compromise. But Labrador, co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, turned that into a badge of honor, proclaiming that gridlock benefits Congress and was envisioned by the founders.

Early returns showed Labrador well ahead in Idaho’s heavily GOP 1st Congressional District, with 68 percent of the vote.

“Hello, Idaho Republicans – what a great night!” he said as he took the stage at the state GOP election-night watch party in Boise. “What do you think about the results?”

Labrador noted that he was out campaigning with Trump around the nation last week.

“You would watch the media, you would watch the TV, and people were saying that there was no way Donald Trump could win,” Labrador said.

He said it reminded him of six years ago, when people said he couldn’t win. Now he’s well ahead in his bid for a fourth House term.

“We don’t know what is going to happen in this national election yet,” Labrador said. “It looks like we’re going to win. But the establishment … has been repudiated, and it looks like time to change what’s happening in Washington, D.C. I went back there with a mission to clean house, and some of us have been able to change some things, but it is now time for us to get together as a party and to ensure that the people come first, not the politicians, not the establishment, not the bureaucrats, but the people of the United States.”

Piotrowski criticized Labrador for voting against the military budget and other key funding measures. “The 1st District needs a congressman who works for Idaho, not for his own ideology,” he said. Piotrowski made public lands access a central issue of his campaign; it was his first run for office.

Labrador listed his top issues as opposition to abortion and Obamacare; supporting development of natural resources on federal lands; supporting civil liberties; cutting federal spending; and reforming immigration laws through a “step-by-step approach” rather than a comprehensive overhaul. This year, he sponsored legislation on criminal sentencing reform and state management of federal lands.

He’s said he’ll decide after the election whether to run for governor in 2018.