Election results early Wednesday showed a big shakeup in the Magic Valley, with four incumbents voted out.

Several Twin Falls Republican incumbents lost their seats: Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld lost to Brent Reinke, Sen. Josh Kohl fell short against Casey Swensen, and Rep. David Leavitt was defeated by Cherie Vollmer. Rep. Steve Miller, R-Fairfield, also lost to Chance Requa.

The results represent a shift to more mainstream Republicans in the Magic Valley. Zuiderveld, Kohl and Leavitt are members of the hardline Gang of Eight.

Rep. Clint Hostetler, R-Twin Falls, also a Gang of Eight member, is the only incumbent in District 24 and 25 to keep his seat.

The Magic Valley shifted to the center, but North Idaho shifted to the right.

Two incumbents lost in District 1. Scott Herndon defeated middle-of-the-road Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, in their fourth matchup and Jane Sauter defeated House Education member Rep. Mark Sauter, no relation. In District 4, Rep. Elaine Price defeated challenger Christa Hazel, a win for the hardline conservative Kootenai County Republican Central Committee over the mainstream North Idaho Republicans. 

Meanwhile, in Idaho Falls, Rep. Barbara Ehardt fought off her challenger, firefighter Connor Cook.

In District 28, Sen. Jim Guthrie and Rep. Rick Cheatum will move on to the November general election. Guthrie defeated challenger David Worley, and Cheatum fought off James Lamborn and Mike Saville.

Democrats see limited but competitive primaries

While Republicans battled in 46 primaries, Democrats faced off in five primaries.

Rep. Soñia Galaviz, D-Boise, easily won her primary against Justin Mitson for the Senate seat in reliably blue District 16. She vacated her seat in the House, paving the way for nonprofit director Megan Woller, who won her primary against West Ada union leader Jeffrey Watkins.

All three seats in District 6 had Democratic primaries. Back in 2020, two Democrats held seats in the district but Republicans have dominated since then. Senate primary winner Robin Weldy and House primary winners Trish Carter-Goodheart and Kathy Dawes hope to change that in November.

Still waiting for results

As of 2:250 a.m., we were still waiting for results in six districts and counties:

• District 2 – Benewah (one primary)
• District 7 – Idaho (two primaries)
• District 9 – Washington (three primaries)
• District 30 – Bingham (two primaries)
• District 31 – Clark (one primary)
• District 35 – Bear Lake (one primary)

Incumbents tested across Idaho

Of the 105 members of the Legislature, 42 incumbents faced primary challengers on Tuesday.

By 2:50 a.m., eight of those incumbents lost their primaries. In addition to the four from the Magic Valley and the two from North Idaho, Rep. Lucas Cayler lost his race to Debbie Geyer and Rep. Tanya Burgoyne lost to Jennifer Miles.

With Cayler’s loss, the Gang of Eight is down to three members.

By the numbers

• 46 Republican primaries
• 5 Democratic primaries
• 2 Senate Education Committee members primaried
• 7 House Education Committee members primaried
• $4.8 million raised in campaign contributions
• $3.6 million reported spending through independent expenditures

See our live tracker for results of the most important races for education policy. Click here for more on those races. 

Winners below will have a ✅ next to their name. Incumbents are marked in bold.

These results are unofficial and collected from county websites and VoteIdaho.gov.

Democratic primaries