Idaho goes to the primary polls with fringe-right forces in play

Idahoans will vote Tuesday to narrow their choices for governor. Whichever Republican wins the primary will almost certainly become the next governor. In some ways, the race is shaping up to be a microcosm of American politics right now. A far-right candidate backed by Donald Trump is pushing voters further to the fringe.

The race is between the current Gov. Brad Little — endorsed by the National Rifle Association and leading in the polls—and the Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, a former state lawmaker with ties to white nationalists. Jim Brunner covers politics for The Seattle Times and has written about the contest. He told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about how the race is playing out in one of the most conservative states in the country.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Jim Brunner: Brad Little has been in office for one term. He's generally known as a conservative. He signed one of the most strict abortion ban laws in the country. He is touting his conservative record, but Donald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin.

She has been noticed in recent years for when Little went out of state a couple of times. She used the acting governor's powers to issue executive orders saying, for example, there can't be any mask mandates or vaccine mandates of any kind throughout Idaho. There never had been any statewide mandates, but she was trying to ban them all at the local level. This led Little to fly back and say, I'm rescinding this kind of publicity stunt order.

Little has taken a light touch on the Covid pandemic, when compared to Washington state for example, but even the smallest restrictions are too much for McGeachin and some of the far-right candidates running this year.

Kim Malcolm: McGeachin also has ties to white nationalists.

Most notably, she was one of the very few elected officials in the entire country who spoke earlier this year at AFPAC, the America First Political Action Conference in Florida, run by pretty well-known white nationalists. You see rhetoric there around "great replacement theory." You see anti-Semitic comments. You see cheering for Vladimir Putin. And you see founder Nick Fuentes saying, the secret weapon of this group is young white men.

She is fairly open about her ties. She hasn't backed down from that.

She said, I didn't really know who they were. She has not exactly repudiated them, but she also said, This is a distraction, and the media and my political opponents are trying to use guilt by association.

If Janice McGeachin performs strongly, if she even prevails in the race, would that tell us anything about the fate of some Washington state Republicans who are up for re-election this year?

There are some similarities between the far-right candidates in Idaho and some of the challengers here, like Loren Culp, who have been talking about how the 2020 election was stolen. He's also engaged in some of the Covid denialism and anti-mandate rhetoric that's firing up a lot of McGeachin supporters, for example.

I attended a rally in Meridian, Idaho. It's just extraordinary that you have the sitting lieutenant governor of the state of Idaho on stage with a host of far-right speakers. They included people like Stew Peters, who to most people is probably an obscure radio and podcast host. He got up on stage and said, The coronavirus probably doesn't exist, it's basically a hoax, and we need to try to execute Anthony Fauci. He got really big cheers, then posed for pictures with Janice McGeachin, and afterward got a gift bag from her.

Is there anything else you think Washingtonians should know about this race?

We have cross-state ties with Idaho. We've already seen they have an abortion trigger law. If Roe v. Wade is struck down, abortion advocates say that will bring people seeking abortions into Washington state. That law has exemptions for rape and incest. McGeachin, if she's elected, wants to get rid of those exemptions. So, what happens in Idaho doesn't necessarily stay there.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.