Republican Idaho Gov. Otter Wins Rare 3rd Term
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has won a rare third term leading the state.
Otter, a long-time politician who served in both the state legislature and Congress before he first won the governor’s post in 2006, faced a difficult race against his Democrat challenger, Boise businessman A.J. Balukoff. Another challenger, Libertarian attorney John Bujak, threatened to siphon votes from the right, along with a handful of lesser-known independent and third-party candidates.
But Otter’s cowboy charm and political experience prevailed with voters in one of the most Republican states in the nation. That makes Otter the second governor in Idaho history to be elected to a third consecutive four-year term, along with Robert Smylie, who served from 1955 to 1967.