Idaho: who should earn your vote for Congress in 2026

Opinion · The paper’s scorecard

Idaho: every race for Congress on the 3 November 2026 ballot, and how the candidates measure up against our standards.

Sitting and former members are scored on the same key votes, read from the official House and Senate roll calls; each vote links to the record. Candidates who have never served in Congress have no votes to score, and outside the battlegrounds we have not researched them, so they are marked as not scored. Where only one candidate could be measured, the mark rates that record on its own; it is not a verdict on the opponent. How the marks work · All states

U.S. Senate R+18

Leans our way: Jim Risch

Todd Achilles

Independent

No congressional voting record; not scored

Natalie Fleming

Independent

No congressional voting record; not scored

Leans our way

Jim Risch

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 23 key votes · total +1

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
?Hard on violent crime

With us (10)

Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Source
Voted against the Inflation Reduction Act. Source

Against us (13)

Voted for the June 2026 bill adding about $70 billion for immigration enforcement. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 package that carried the law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source

District 1 R+22

✓ Meets our standards: Russ Fulcher

Meets our standards

Russ Fulcher

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 26 key votes · total +3

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✓No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (19)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (7)

Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source
Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source

Kaylee Peterson

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 2 R+13

✓ Meets our standards: Mike Simpson

Ellie Gilbreath

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

Meets our standards

Mike Simpson

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 25 key votes · total +5

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
~No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (18)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (7)

Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source
Voted for reauthorizing FISA Section 702 without a warrant requirement. Source
Voted for a further clean extension of FISA surveillance authorities in 2026. Source

Photo credits. Official congressional portraits are works of the U.S. government and in the public domain.