Risch wins Idaho GOP Senate primary, moves closer to fourth term

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, moved one step closer to a fourth Senate term after defeating two GOP challengers in a primary contest Tuesday evening.

Risch, 83, comfortably won Idaho’s Republican primary shortly after polls closed, the Associated Press reported.

He was endorsed by President Donald Trump, who has won every time he has appeared on the ballot in the solidly Republican state since 2016.

The Idaho Republican is chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has jurisdiction over the State Department and approves all ambassador appointments.

That position has put Risch at the center of Senate debates over Trump’s war in Iran, the military intervention in Venezuela and continued arms sales to Israel, among other topics.

He was first elected to the Senate in 2009 and previously served as the state’s governor and lieutenant governor.

The Idaho contest is one of more than a dozen Republican-held Senate seats this year that are not considered competitive.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is attempting a long-shot bid to flip control in November’s midterm elections that would require Democrats to pick up four GOP-held seats.

David Roth, a realtor who has previously run for statewide office, won the Democratic nomination.

Former state Rep. Todd Achilles, another candidate in the race, is running as an independent. Achilles is a former Democratic legislator who resigned from the state legislature to challenge Risch.

Idaho has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than half a century.