Our new book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. It includes a chapter on congressional and state elections. Claremont McKenna College alum Todd Achilles is running for the Senate.
Sarah Cutler at The Idaho Statesman:
Todd Achilles is no longer an Idaho state legislator, and he’s no longer a Democrat. Instead, he’s an independent, now challenging a longtime Idaho Republican senator for his seat in Congress.. Achilles, 58, weighed the decision to run against U.S. Sen. Jim Risch for a long time, spurred by frustration with the state of the economy and the dysfunction of the two-party system, he told the Idaho Statesman.
Idaho’s Republican congressional delegates, including Risch, in recent months have faced public outcry over some of President Donald Trump’s policies, including proposals backed by Trump to sell public lands in Idaho for development. Risch has called on lawmakers to reject the proposal — though in April, he voted to reject a budget amendment that would have banned the government from reducing the federal deficit using proceeds from the sale of public lands. “Everybody’s frustrated by the debt, deficits and dysfunction in Washington, DC,” he said. “Too many people are struggling. Their wages are low. They’re having to get health care from Medicaid programs. The whole system is broken.”