Two things are clear from last week’s 2026 mid-term election – Idaho is one of the seven most Republican states in the country, and no political party can take its voters for granted if it wants to stay in power.

In Idaho, the Republican incumbents waltzed to easy victories without debating their opponent, never holding an unscripted town hall meeting, never taking a position on the proposed radioactive waste repository in eastern Idaho or on the construction of data centers on public lands, or mentioning their support for private-school vouchers.

As usual, Governor Brad Little, Senator Jim Risch, and Congressmen Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher relied almost exclusively on paid TV spots using their treasure chest of campaign donations from special interest groups to win the day.

They won re-election despite Idahoans suffering from soaring diesel, gas, and food prices. They won even though the Trump Administration has declared war on Hispanics, the very workers our state’s farmers, ranchers, and dairy industry depend on for their survival. They won even though the incumbents want to invite the other 49 states to send 33 percent of their radioactive waste to eastern Idaho. They won even though the Trump Administration wants to sell or give AI corporations and billionaires thousands of acres of public land on which to build data centers. They won even though they have done nothing to stop Trump’s unpopular Iran War.

One wonders just how much pain Idahoans can bear before they decide that re-electing the same people to high office meets Einstein’s definition of insanity – keep doing the same thing repeatedly and getting the same results.

The story was different in the rest of the country. Voters, including Republicans, made it clear that they had enough of President Trump’s policies, his unnecessary war, his high tariffs, his high gasoline and diesel prices, his corruption, and the daily chaos he is creating across the nation.

This was one of the most historic mid-term elections in modern history. The Republicans lost more seats in the U.S. Senate than any president’s party since Dwight Eisenhower in 1958. But that is not all – the Tuesday night massacre took place in some of the most Republican states in the nation.

Texas elected a Democratic Senator for the first time since 1988 and the first Democratic governor since 1990.

Kansas elected the first Democratic senator since 1932.

Iowa elected a Democratic senator and governor for the first time in 24 years.

South Carolina elected the first Democratic senator in 28 years.

North Carolina elected the first Democratic senator in 20 years.

Georgia elected the first Democratic governor in 28 years.

Arizona re-elected its Democratic governor and gave the Democrats majorities in both the state Senate and House for the first time since 1966 – 60 years ago.

In Maine, the voters turned out Senator Susan Collins who was first elected 30 years ago.

Unbelievably, Scott Colom, a 43-year-old black prosecuting attorney, is on the cusp of winning a U.S. Senate seat from Mississippi, historically one of the most racist states in the country. If he does, he will be the first black Mississippi senator since Reconstruction in 1875.

What’s even more amazing is that the voters, including Republican cross-over voters, elected the most diverse slate of candidates in the history of the United States – the first openly gay senator, the first Muslim senator, three female senators, 12 female governors, the first black and female governor of Georgia, the first Hispanic Governor of Texas, in New Mexico the country’s first Native American governor, and in Iowa the first Paralympian to the Senate. In Florida, voters even elected the state’s first black governor. And it is the first time in history that three ordained ministers were elected to the Senate in the same year.

The Voter Trends study by The New York Times showed that Democrats increased their support in every demographic category over the Republicans compared to the 2024 election, including an 18 percent increase among men, normally the GOP’s strongest base. And a 12 percent increase among both white men and women.

The Times study showed that Democrats increased their support among 18–29-year-olds by 33 percent, 30–44-year-olds by 24 percent, Hispanics by 29 percent and even among Baby Boomers, Trump’s most loyal voters, by 6 percent.

So, what does this mean for Idaho? Plenty.

No one could have predicted that staunchly Republican states like South Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Kansas could overnight elect Democrats to high office. The “Red Wall” fell on Tuesday just as the “Blue Wall” fell in the 2016 presidential election. Disgruntled voters of both parties are ready to throw the rascals out when they are not serving their citizens’ best interests. One Texas Republican who voted Democratic for the first time told the Times that he would be “watching” he people he voted for “closely” to see if they “followed through” with their promises.

This year’s election means that no incumbent is safe if they are not working for the people – at least in every state except Idaho, Oklahoma, Wyoming, West Virginia, Arkansas, and the Dakotas. But even in ruby red Idaho there are warning signs for the Republican Party.

The Times study showed that Idaho Democrats performed better in every demographic category – male and female, young and old, white, and Hispanic – than they did in the 2024 election.

There were three demographic categories where Idaho Democrats significantly increased their support – 18-29-year-old voters by 34 percent, 30-44-year-old voters by 22 percent, and Hispanic voters by 34 percent. A majority of Idaho’s youngest voters and Hispanics voted for Democratic congressional candidates.

This trend should give the Idaho Republican Party pause because these young people will be voters for decades and the Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in our state. Idaho’s Republican leaders have work to do if they want to win over these voters.

As one looks into the political crystal ball, one can see clouds that could make politics more unsettling for Idaho’s cocksure Republican office holders in future elections.

In Texas and Arizona, voters crushed Republican office holders who passed vouchers for private and religious schools. In Texas, GOP Governor Greg Abbott, who made vouchers his hallmark issue, was defeated by Gina Hinojosa, who as a Democratic legislator made a name for herself by opposing vouchers. In Arizona, voters flipped both the Arizona House and Senate to the Democrats after the Republicans passed the first universal voucher law in the country. With the Democrats holding a trifecta – the governorship and the Legislature – they are vowing to pass voucher reform.

In Texas, voters elected the first Comptroller of Public Accounts in 30 years. For voucher supporters it is unfortunate that the new Comptroller Sarah Eckhart is a staunch opponent of Texas’ voucher law and now has the power to investigate the books to see which families are really benefiting from the voucher program.

“This (voucher program) is a state subsidizing of a private industry that was doing just fine without it,” Houston’s Fox affiliate quoted Eckhart as saying. “And as we’ve seen, most parents with children who are utilizing the voucher already had their kids in private school already.”

Eventually voucher supporters like Governor Little will have to give Idahoans information about which families are receiving vouchers, whether their kids have ever attended public school, and what the family income is of voucher recipients. The voters who are paying for the freight will demand it.

Another danger area: In states across the country, including red states like Ohio and Iowa, voters turned out Republicans who supported the construction of data centers. In Idaho, outside AI companies and tech billionaires have applied to build data centers on public lands in three counties. And these applications could be just the beginning.

Again, eventually Governor Little, the Idaho Legislature, and members of Idaho’s congressional delegation will have to take a position on the very unpopular issue of data centers that benefit AI billionaires. The wrong position could create a citizen revolt that would cost them dearly as it did Republicans in other states.

And how are Idahoans going to react when they finally realize that Governor Little wants to accept 33 percent of all the radioactive waste in the country and plop it down in eastern Idaho where it will stay and pile up for decades over the most seismically active region in our state.

If there is any lesson from the 2026 mid-term election, it is this: Voters are fed up. They have a short fuse for both political parties. And they will reward the office holders who work in their interest and punish those who don’t.

Governor Little and the members of Idaho’s congressional delegation can be happy about winning what will probably be their last election without breaking a sweat. But younger and more ambitious Republican officeholders should learn from the mistakes of their elders.

Even in the safest of Republican states voters do not like to be scorned.

Rod Gramer is an Idaho native, a longtime journalist, and advocate for public education.