Idaho voters are set to cast ballots Tuesday in statewide primary elections that will choose nominees for the November general election, the Associated Press reported in its Decision Notes guide. The contests determine candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House, as well as statewide offices, setting up how each party’s nominees will enter the fall campaign.
For the U.S. Senate, AP Decision Notes said Republican Sen. Jim Risch faces three primary challengers: Joe Evans, Denny LaVe and Josh Roy. AP also reported that Risch’s fundraising ahead of the final weeks of the primary campaign outpaced the challengers.
On the Democratic side for the Senate nomination, AP said the candidates are David Roth, Nickolas “007” Bonds and Brad Moore. AP said only Roth reported raising money for his campaign—about $7,500—and that Roth’s campaign was out of funds as of March 31, according to federal campaign finance records. AP added that Roth was the Democratic nominee in the 2nd Congressional District in 2024 and for U.S. Senate in 2022.
For governor, AP reported that Republican Gov. Brad Little is seeking a third term and faces a larger field, including seven competitors. AP said Little’s campaign had raised about $1.9 million by mid-May and had about $1.2 million in the bank, while Mark Fitzpatrick—the nearest competitor in fundraising—raised about $185,000 and had about $35,000 in the bank; AP said the rest trailed far behind.
AP said the Democratic field for governor is led by attorney Terri Pickens, noting she was unopposed for the party nomination when she ran for lieutenant governor in 2022. AP reported that Pickens faces three other candidates in 2026. AP also said primaries for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state controller, state treasurer, state attorney general and state schools superintendent are on the ballot, but the Democratic and Republican candidates for those offices are running unopposed.
Beyond the campaign fields, AP’s guide outlined the rules and logistics voters will follow Tuesday. It said polls close at 8 p.m. local time—10 p.m. ET in most of the state and 11 p.m. ET in Pacific time areas—reflecting Idaho’s two time zones.
AP also described who can vote in each party’s primary. It said any registered voter may participate in the Democratic primary regardless of party registration, while only registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary. AP added that eligible voters may register in person at the polls during the early voting period or on Election Day, and that unaffiliated voters may affiliate with a party on Election Day.
AP put the electorate size in context as of Feb. 2, saying Idaho had a little more than 1 million registered voters: about 628,000 Republicans, about 120,000 Democrats and about 259,000 not affiliated with any party. It also said voter turnout in 2022 primaries saw Republican primary vote totals ranging from about 265,000 to 282,000—about 27% of registered voters at the time—and Democratic primary totals ranging from about 25,000 to 33,000, roughly 3%.
In terms of early voting and ballot activity, AP reported that in 2022 about 14% of the Republican primary vote and about 29% of the Democratic primary vote were cast before primary day. As of May 12, AP said about 38,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, including about 27,000 in the Republican primary and about 9,600 in the Democratic primary.
AP also described how vote counts typically move in Idaho and when it plans to call races. It said nearly all of Idaho’s 44 counties tend to release all or almost all their early and absentee voting results in the first update of the night, and that about half release all their results in that first update regardless of whether ballots are cast early or by absentee. AP said in the 2024 general election it first reported results at 11:13 p.m. ET, 13 minutes after final polls closed, and that the last update that night was at 6:23 a.m. ET with about 90% of total votes counted.
For winners, AP said it does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it determines there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. It added that if a race has not been called, it will continue to cover newsworthy developments while making clear that no winner has yet been declared. AP also said Idaho has no automatic recounts, but a candidate may request and pay for one, while the state or county pays for a recount if the vote margin is 0.1% of the total vote margin or less or if the recount changes the outcome.