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Republican Party primaries in Idaho, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 12
- Early voting: Oct. 22 - Nov. 2
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: Yes
- Voter ID: Photo ID required
- Poll times: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Primary elections—in which registered voters select a candidate whom they believe should run on the party's ticket in the general election—can reflect internal conflict over the direction of a party.
Heading into the 2018 election, the Republican Party's legislative record during Donald Trump’s presidency figured into several Republican primaries. This record included the passage of major tax legislation in December 2017 and the confirmation of federal judges. It also included a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill in March 2018, which Trump opposed, and unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[1][2]
Trump, himself, also played a role in Republican primaries. His approval rating reached 90% in June among self-described Republicans, according to a Gallup survey.[3] Many Republican candidates campaigned on their support for Trump, and negative ads accusing opponents of criticizing the president were common.[4][5][6] A May report found Trump's name or image had appeared in 37% of all Republican campaign ads at that point in 2018.[7]
This page focuses on the Republican primaries that took place in Idaho on May 15, 2018. In addition, the page provides context for understanding the state party apparatus.
Battleground primaries
Battleground elections are those that Ballotpedia expected would either be more competitive than other races or attract significant national attention.
Federal elections
U.S. House
District 1
Republican primary candidates
District 2
Republican primary candidates- Michael K. Simpson (Incumbent) ✔
State elections
Idaho Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas • Thirty one years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Gubernatorial election
Republican primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Not on ballot
- HyDee Liebelt[8]
Lieutenant gubernatorial election
Republican primary candidates
Attorney general election
Republican primary candidates
- Lawrence Wasden (Incumbent) ✔
Secretary of state election
Republican primary candidates
- Lawerence Denney (Incumbent) ✔
State party overview
- See also: Republican Party of Idaho
State political party revenue
State political parties typically deposit revenue in separate state and federal accounts in order to comply with state and federal campaign finance laws. The following table displays the Republican Party of Idaho's revenue over a six-year period from 2011 to 2016. Revenue totals are broken down by account type and year. The data was compiled through publicly available state and federal campaign finance reports.
| Republican Party of Idaho revenue, 2011 to 2016[9][10] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Federal account | State account(s) | Total |
| 2011 | $318,357.98 | --[11] | $318,357.98 |
| 2012 | $9,447,841.94 | $204,434.29 | $9,652,276.23 |
| 2013 | $221,962.16 | --[11] | $221,962.16 |
| 2014 | $271,252.60 | $215,962.70 | $487,215.30 |
| 2015 | $205,396.15 | --[11] | $205,396.15 |
| 2016 | $311,095.34 | $622,682.10 | $933,777.44 |
Idaho compared to other states
The Democratic Party and the Republican Party maintain state affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and select U.S. territories. The following maps display total state political party revenue per capita for the Democratic and Republican state party affiliates from 2011 to 2016. The blue map displays Democratic state parties and the red map displays Republican state parties. Click on a state below to view the state party's revenue per capita totals:
Total Democratic and Republican state political party revenue per capita in the United States, 2011-2016
Primary election scheduling
Idaho was one of four states to hold a primary election on May 15, 2018.
Voter information
How the primary works
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Idaho, parties decide who may vote in their primaries. As of July 2025, the Democratic Party allows unaffiliated voters to vote in its primary, while the Republican Party only allows voters registered with its party to vote in its primary. Unaffiliated voters can choose to affiliate with a party on Election Day.[12][13][14]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
Poll times
In Idaho, all polls are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time. In some instances, polls may open at 7:00 a.m., at the discretion of the local clerk. Idaho is split between Mountain and Pacific time zones. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.[15]
Registration requirements
- Check your voter registration status here.
To register to vote in Idaho, an individual must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the Idaho county in which they are registering for at least 30 days before the election, and at least 18 years old on or before Election Day.[16][17]
Registration in advance of election day may be completed online, in person at the county clerk's office, or by mail. The deadline to register to vote online is the 11th day before the election. A registration application submitted by mail must be received by the 5:00 p.m. on the 11th day before the election. Voters may also register in-person at an early voting location or on Election Day.[16][18][19][20]
Idaho requires a photo ID and proof of residence to register to vote in person. According to the secretary of state's website, a valid photo ID is one of:[18]
- Idaho Driver’s License
- Idaho Identification Card
- Passport or Federal ID
- Tribal ID Card
- Concealed Weapons License issued by a county sheriff in Idaho
A valid proof of residence is one of:[18]
- Above photo ID with the correct address
- Proof of insurance
- Mortgage, lease, or rental agreement
- Property tax assessment, bill
- Utility bill (no cell bills)
- Bank/credit card statement
- Paystub/paycheck
- Intake document to a care facility
- Enrollment letter from an Idaho high school or university
- Letter from a social service agency
A voter registering to vote by a mail application must provide their Idaho driver's license number or their social security number. If the voter is registering for the first time they must also include a copy of a photo ID and proof of residence. Eligible documents are listed above.[16]
Automatic registration
- See also: Automatic voter registration
Idaho does not practice automatic voter registration.
Online registration
- See also: Online voter registration
Idaho has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.
Same-day registration
- See also: Online voter registration
Idaho allows same-day voter registration.
Residency requirements
Idaho law requires 30 days of residency in one of the state’s counties before a person may vote.
Verification of citizenship
Idaho does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual applying to register to vote must attest that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury.
All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment.[21] Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.
Verifying your registration
The page Voter Information Look-Up, run by the Idaho Secretary of State's office, allows residents to check their voter registration status online.
Voter ID requirements
Early voting
Idaho permits early voting. Learn more by visiting this website.
Early voting in Idaho varies by county, but may begin no earlier than the fourth Monday before Election Day.[22][20] To find dates and times in your county, check with your county elections office here.
Early voting permits citizens to cast ballots in person at a polling place prior to an election. In states that permit no-excuse early voting, a voter does not have to provide an excuse for being unable to vote on Election Day. States that allow voters to cast no-excuse absentee/mail-in ballots in person are counted as no-excuse early voting states.
Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia permit no-excuse early voting.
Absentee voting
All voters are eligible to vote absentee in Idaho. There are no special eligibility requirements for voting absentee. To vote absentee, an application must be received by election officials no later than the 11th day preceding the election.[23][24][25]
Pivot Counties
- See also: Pivot Counties by state
No counties in Idaho are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.
In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Idaho with 59.3 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 27.5 percent. Independent candidate Evan McMullin received 6.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Idaho voted Republican 70 percent of the time and Democratic 30 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Idaho voted Republican all five times.
Presidential results by legislative district
The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Idaho. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[26][27]
| In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 4 out of 35 state House districts in Idaho with an average margin of victory of 13.5 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 4 out of 35 state House districts in Idaho with an average margin of victory of 17 points. |
| In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 31 out of 35 state House districts in Idaho with an average margin of victory of 38.6 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 31 out of 35 state House districts in Idaho with an average margin of victory of 39 points. Trump won three seats controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections. |
| 2016 presidential results by state House district | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Obama | Romney | 2012 Margin | Clinton | Trump | 2016 Margin | |
| 1 | 33.87% | 62.34% | R+28.5 | 26.01% | 65.46% | R+39.5 | |
| 2 | 26.93% | 70.62% | R+43.7 | 20.64% | 71.95% | R+51.3 | |
| 3 | 29.14% | 68.14% | R+39 | 21.06% | 70.57% | R+49.5 | |
| 4 | 39.16% | 57.97% | R+18.8 | 32.30% | 58.13% | R+25.8 | |
| 5 | 45.88% | 49.34% | R+3.5 | 39.67% | 46.41% | R+6.7 | |
| 6 | 37.09% | 60.34% | R+23.3 | 27.14% | 63.35% | R+36.2 | |
| 7 | 30.10% | 66.90% | R+36.8 | 19.98% | 72.55% | R+52.6 | |
| 8 | 29.55% | 67.36% | R+37.8 | 21.50% | 69.20% | R+47.7 | |
| 9 | 25.68% | 71.70% | R+46 | 17.21% | 74.09% | R+56.9 | |
| 10 | 38.47% | 58.37% | R+19.9 | 29.81% | 58.12% | R+28.3 | |
| 11 | 23.55% | 73.82% | R+50.3 | 17.04% | 72.09% | R+55.1 | |
| 12 | 31.70% | 65.46% | R+33.8 | 24.33% | 62.75% | R+38.4 | |
| 13 | 30.45% | 66.85% | R+36.4 | 25.08% | 62.48% | R+37.4 | |
| 14 | 28.40% | 69.37% | R+41 | 25.20% | 62.69% | R+37.5 | |
| 15 | 40.27% | 56.38% | R+16.1 | 36.12% | 49.48% | R+13.4 | |
| 16 | 51.36% | 45.03% | D+6.3 | 47.20% | 39.26% | D+7.9 | |
| 17 | 54.87% | 40.25% | D+14.6 | 48.92% | 35.61% | D+13.3 | |
| 18 | 50.74% | 45.74% | D+5 | 49.32% | 37.45% | D+11.9 | |
| 19 | 62.17% | 34.02% | D+28.2 | 61.76% | 27.06% | D+34.7 | |
| 20 | 31.96% | 65.66% | R+33.7 | 27.79% | 57.58% | R+29.8 | |
| 21 | 33.56% | 63.72% | R+30.2 | 29.26% | 57.07% | R+27.8 | |
| 22 | 28.40% | 68.66% | R+40.3 | 21.33% | 65.07% | R+43.7 | |
| 23 | 27.41% | 69.63% | R+42.2 | 18.40% | 72.24% | R+53.8 | |
| 24 | 30.28% | 66.54% | R+36.3 | 24.58% | 61.74% | R+37.2 | |
| 25 | 23.52% | 73.82% | R+50.3 | 17.71% | 70.40% | R+52.7 | |
| 26 | 45.05% | 52.29% | R+7.2 | 42.82% | 47.54% | R+4.7 | |
| 27 | 16.19% | 81.96% | R+65.8 | 14.64% | 72.01% | R+57.4 | |
| 28 | 31.76% | 66.06% | R+34.3 | 25.38% | 57.30% | R+31.9 | |
| 29 | 43.30% | 53.10% | R+9.8 | 36.52% | 46.08% | R+9.6 | |
| 30 | 19.06% | 78.92% | R+59.9 | 17.63% | 62.15% | R+44.5 | |
| 31 | 21.71% | 76.35% | R+54.6 | 17.59% | 65.61% | R+48 | |
| 32 | 17.05% | 81.10% | R+64.1 | 17.13% | 65.98% | R+48.9 | |
| 33 | 30.56% | 66.37% | R+35.8 | 26.72% | 54.03% | R+27.3 | |
| 34 | 6.92% | 92.00% | R+85.1 | 8.01% | 59.90% | R+51.9 | |
| 35 | 12.96% | 85.32% | R+72.4 | 9.79% | 72.97% | R+63.2 | |
| Total | 32.62% | 64.53% | R+31.9 | 27.49% | 59.26% | R+31.8 | |
| Source: Daily Kos | |||||||
See also
| Federal primaries in Idaho | State primaries in Idaho | Idaho state party apparatus | Idaho voter information |
|---|---|---|---|
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Footnotes
- ↑ ‘’National Review’’, “Trump Is Not Blameless in the Spending-Bill Disaster,” March 28, 2018
- ↑ The New York Times, "A New Guide to the Republican Herd," August 26, 2012
- ↑ Gallup, "Trump Job Approval Slips Back to 41%," June 25, 2018
- ↑ Daily Commercial, "Trump hurdle looms large in Florida GOP governor primary," July 30, 2018
- ↑ Daily Commercial, "These 2018 Primaries Are Worth Watching," July 25, 2018
- ↑ Washington Post, "Republican primary candidates have one goal: Securing Trump’s endorsement or denying it to an opponent," July 25, 2018
- ↑ USA Today, "Donald Trump once divided Republicans; ads for midterms signal that's no longer true," May 17, 2018
- ↑ The Green Papers, "Idaho 2018 General Election Candidates," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Idaho Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance," accessed May 2016 (Search terms Idaho Republican Party and Idaho Democratic Party)
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Candidate and Committee Viewer," accessed May 2016 (Search terms Hawaii Republican Party and Hawaii Democratic Party)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Biennial reporting schedule.
- ↑ Idaho Secretary of State's Office, "Primary Elections in Idaho," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," accessed July 2, 2024
- ↑ ACLU Idaho, "2024 Your Rights as an Idaho Voter," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ Idaho Statutes, "Section 34-1101," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Idaho Secretary of State, "Idaho Voter Registration Form," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ Idaho Secretary of State, "Citizenship & Voting," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Idaho Secretary of State - Vote Idaho, "Registering To Vote," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ Idaho Legislature, "Idaho Statutes § 34-408," accessed June 26, 2025
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Idaho Legislature, "2025 Legislation - House Bill 278," accessed June 26, 2025
- ↑ Under federal law, the national mail voter registration application (a version of which is in use in all states with voter registration systems) requires applicants to indicate that they are U.S. citizens in order to complete an application to vote in state or federal elections, but does not require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the application "may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process."
- ↑ Idaho Legislature, "Idaho Statutes § 34-1012," accessed June 25, 2025
- ↑ Idaho State Legislature, "Idaho Statutes 34-1001," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ Idaho State Legislature, "Idaho Statutes 34-1002," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ Ada County Elections, "Absentee Voting," accessed July 2, 2025
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
