After a long and busy campaign season, primary elections for a number of offices both local and across the state were held Tuesday at the Oneida County Event Center, which saw steady streams of voters until the polls closed.  While the election was a primary election, rather than the general, the primary often is the election in the Republican stronghold of Oneida county.

Up for primary election this May are U.S. Senator, and U.S. Congress, district 2, at the national level.  Mike Crapo is considered a strong favorite for the primary in Idaho, as he has served as a Senator from Idaho since 1999, with the accompanying name recognition and warchest.  Mike Simpson has potentially taken more heat this primary from challengers such as Bryan Smith, but is still favored to win in the 2nd district statewide.  

Oneida county is routinely cited as the most conservative county, voting-wise, in Idaho, so the way voting shakes out here is a bell-wether many state and national campaigns will analyze moving forward to the general election.

State offices voted on were Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Controller, State Treasurer, State Attorney General, School Superintendent, State Senator from District 27, and State Representatives from Districts 27A and 27B. 

The primary race for the top two executive positions generated the most interest throughout the spring, with current Governor Brad Little seen as facing his strongest Republican opponent in the person of current Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin.  The race between the two has been acrimonious, to say the least, and to some extent represents a national split in directions for the GOP.  Priscilla Giddings is also a high profile candidate for in the Lieutenant Governor’s race to replace McGeachin.  She is running against Scott Bedke.  

At the county level, Commissioners from districts 2 and 3 were up in the competitive races.  In District 2, the contest was between current County Commissioner Ken Eliason and candidate Andee Parry.  In District 3, current Commissioner Bob Christophersen faced off against Brian Jeppsen.  In general, the race for the positions has been genial on the part of the candidates themselves, though their supporters have been often vocal in the process.

In the other county primaries, County Clerk (Lon Colton), Treasurer (Leigh Love), Assessor (Kathleen Atkinson), and Coroner (Brad Horsley) all ran unopposed for the primary.  Supreme Court nominees (Colleen Zahn and Robyn Brady), Appeals Court Judge (Molly Huskey), and Sixth District Court Judges (Rudolph Carnaroll, Javier Gabiola, Mitchell Brown, and Robert Naftz ) also ran unopposed.

Ballots for Democratic, Libertarian, Constitution Party, and Non-Partisan primaries were also available at the polls, though the numbers reported for each are generally quite low.

Owning to the paper’s press time, and the lateness of ballot reporting, the Enterprise will include the full election results as an insert in the May 19 edition, which will be available on stands May 18.  The results are provisional until certified.