2024 election successful for local, national Republicans

President-elect Donald Trump surfaced as the landslide winner of the 2024 Presidential Election over Democrat opponent and current Vice-President Kamala Harris.

 The 47th President of the United States secured his non-consecutive, second presidency with victories in the key swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, putting him over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the election, the Washington Times reported early Nov. 6.

 He is the only U.S. president elected to non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1893.

 In Washington County, he received 4,429 votes, according to unofficial results. Harris received 1,010 votes.

 Republican U.S. Rep. Dist. 1 incumbent Russ Fulcher won his race against Democrat opponent Kaylee Peterson, receiving 4,330 votes to Peterson’s 938. Statewide, Fulcher received 325,771 votes, with Peterson receiving 115,293.

 Republican incumbent Mike Simpson won the U.S. Rep. Dist. 2 seat over Democrat David Roth by a 249,387 to 124,525 vote margin.

 Republican District 9 State Sen. Brandon Shippy received 4,471 votes in Washington County to Democrat opponent Rachel Buck’s 964.

 State Representative District 9, Seat A, Republican John C. Shirts received 4,744 votes in Washington County, with Democrat Thomas P. Albritton receiving 706.

 State Representative District 9, Seat B, Republican Judy Boyle retains her position, receiving 4,152 votes in Washington County, with Democrat Jody Keeler receiving 1,160.

 In local races, Jim Harberd garnered the most votes for County Commissioner District 1 with 4,576 votes. Democrat Carolyn Wesner had 789 votes.

 County Commissioner District 3 incumbent Republican Gordon Wilkerson had 4,367 votes and Democrat Linda Strain had 1,037.

 Washington County Sheriff Matt Thomas, a Republican, ran unopposed. The total votes cast for Thomas was 5,005.

 The prosecuting attorney race was also unopposed with Republican True Pearce getting 4,767 votes.

 In Washington County, measure HJR5, an amendment to Idaho’s constitution providing that individuals who are not citizens of the U.S. may not be qualified electors in any election held within the State of Idaho, garnered 3,656 yes votes and 1,811 no votes.

 Statewide, 565,303 residents voted in favor of HJR5, while 305,156 voted against it.

 Proposition 1, which sought to eliminate political primaries and introduce ranked choice voting in Idaho, failed, with 4,493 in Washington County voting against the measure and 984 voting in favor.

 State results show 611,854 voting against Prop. 1 and 265,151 voting in favor.

 John Shirts spoke with the Signal American last week, offering his thoughts about the 2024 election season.

 “Yeah, I think everyone is extremely happy around our part of the world and to see not only local Republicans, but nationally and I think it’s just tremendous, it really is,” he said in a phone interview. “As I go chat with people, everyone seems pretty happy and you can take that as a really good sign. For us now, it’s just kind of turning to governance. The real work begins now, trying to take what we campaigned on, a pro-police, pro-ag, pro-veteran platform, and translating that into legislation and good governance.”

 Shirts said he is preparing for the upcoming legislative issues and expects to tackle issues surrounding last summer’s fire season and water.

 “I’ve just had a chance to meet with a lot of folks around our district, and around the state, and just trying to get their input about what things are important to them,” he said. “For example, like this wildfire issue is going to be a really large issue. I think people have had enough with how the federal government is managing our wildfire response. 

 “I’ve had conversations with the governor’s office and other people and just trying to brainstorm, to think of how to be more effective and hopefully get the federal government on board with being effective in fighting fires because, as you know, this last fire season was just awful. So, we are just trying to think proactively about things like that.”

 Water, he added, will be another issue that affects agriculture.

 “I’ve had a lot of conversations on water issues with our farmers and ranchers, about things we can do to be proactive and hopefully not have the same issue they are having in eastern Idaho here because we know water is going to become more and more scarce,” he said. 

 “It’s just trying to be proactive and thinking about what steps we can take now … so, just starting those conversations and hopefully that will bear fruit at the upcoming session.”