Idaho’s Tuesday primaries will determine party nominees for federal and statewide races, with the contests setting the stage for the November general election, the Associated Press reported in its decision notes. The races also highlight how Idaho’s political landscape funnels most outcomes toward Republican incumbents, even as Democrats contest several nominations. Here are the key details AP said it will monitor as votes are tallied.
On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch is seeking a fourth term and faces three primary challengers: Joe Evans, Denny LaVe and Josh Roy, AP said. Risch’s campaign, the AP notes, raised more money than the challengers in the final weeks of the primary campaign.
For the Democratic nomination for Senate, AP listed David Roth, Nickolas “007” Bonds and Brad Moore. The AP said only Roth has reported raising money for his campaign—about $7,500—but his campaign had run out of funds as of March 31, citing federal campaign finance records. AP also said Roth was the Democratic nominee in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District in 2024 and for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Gov. Brad Little is running for a third term and is facing seven Republican primary competitors, according to AP. The AP said Little’s campaign had raised about $1.9 million by mid-May and had about $1.2 million in the bank, while the nearest competitor, Mark Fitzpatrick, had raised about $185,000 and held about $35,000 in the bank. AP said the remainder of the field trailed far behind.
Democrats are also contesting more than one statewide nomination on Tuesday. AP said attorney Terri Pickens leads the Democratic field for governor in fundraising and was unopposed for the party nomination when she ran for lieutenant governor in 2022, facing 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, with the Democratic and Republican candidates for those offices running unopposed.
Idaho is also described by AP as one of the most reliably Republican states. AP said President Donald Trump received about 67% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, its fourth-best state performance behind Wyoming, West Virginia and North Dakota. AP added that Idaho last elected a Democrat for U.S. House in 2008, for governor in 1990 and for U.S. Senate in 1974.
For voters, AP said polls close at 8 p.m. local time, which corresponds to 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time depending on Idaho’s time zones. AP said polls in most of the state observe Mountain time and close at 10 p.m. ET, while polls in Pacific time close at 11 p.m. ET. AP also laid out party rules: any registered voter can participate in the Democratic primary regardless of party registration, while only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary.
AP said eligible voters may register in-person at the polls during early voting or on Election Day, and unaffiliated voters may affiliate with a party on Election Day. As of Feb. 2, AP said Idaho had a little more than 1 million registered voters: about 628,000 Republicans, about 120,000 Democrats and about 259,000 unaffiliated voters, according to the AP’s cited registration figures.
AP said turnout in recent state primaries was much higher on the Republican side. In the 2022 state primaries, AP reported Republican primary total votes ranged from about 265,000 to 282,000—roughly 27% of registered voters at the time—while Democratic primary votes totaled about 25,000 to 33,000, or about 3% of registered voters. AP added that about 14% of the Republican primary vote and about 29% of the Democratic primary vote were cast before primary day in 2022.
Ahead of election-night reporting, AP said that as of May 12, 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 said nearly all of Idaho’s 44 counties tend to release all or almost all their early and absentee results in the first vote update of the night, adding that about half of counties release all their vote results in that initial update regardless of how ballots were cast.
On how quickly races may be called, AP said it does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. AP said that if a race has not been called, it will continue to cover newsworthy developments such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, while making clear it has not declared a winner and explaining why. AP also cited its prior Idaho general election timeline, saying it first reported results at 11:13 p.m. ET on Election Day, about 13 minutes after final polls closed, with the last vote update at 6:23 a.m. ET with about 90% of total votes counted.
AP also described recount rules in Idaho. AP said there are no automatic recounts, but a candidate may request one and pay for it regardless of the margin. AP added that the state or county pays for the recount if the vote margin is 0.1% of the total vote margin or less, or if the recount changes the outcome. AP said it may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if it determines the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Finally, AP said the election will mark the start of the midterm countdown: as of Tuesday, there will be 168 days until the 2026 midterm elections, according to AP’s decision notes.