Incumbent Idaho Gov. Brad Little held off seven challengers — including his own Trump-endorsed lieutenant governor — to secure victory in the Republican primary Tuesday and become the odds-on favorite to win a second four-year term.
The race was called with 23% of precincts reporting and Little receiving 64.1% of the vote, while Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin had 23.4%.
The two spectacularly fell out last May after McGeachin issued an executive order banning mask mandates while Little was attending a Republican Governors Association meeting in Tennessee.
Little, who never issued a statewide mandate and had left decisions on masking to local officials, quickly rescinded the order and decried her actions as an “irresponsible, self-serving political stunt.”
A few months later, with Little out of state again, McGeachin issued an executive order expanding on a directive that no Idaho government department could require vaccine passports. The lieutenant governor sought to add K-12 schools and universities to the ban and accused Little of rejecting conservative principles, writing on Twitter that “protecting individual liberty means fighting against tyranny at ALL levels of government.”
McGeachin is no stranger to controversy. A group of retired Idaho county sheriffs and police recently formed a political action committee to oppose her due to her courting of antigovernment and anti-law enforcement groups such as the Three Percenters militia group. Earlier this year, she delivered a taped speech to the America First Political Action Conference, a white nationalist gathering.
Trump had endorsed McGeachin in November, calling her a “true supporter of MAGA since the very beginning.”
Little will face Democrat Stephen Heidt in the November election. No Democrat has held the Idaho governor’s office since 1995, nor has any party member held statewide office since 2007.