AP: Simpson and Fulcher elected to U.S. House of Representatives
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IDAHO FALLS — Mike Simpson will keep his seat, and Russ Fulcher will take over Raul Labrador’s former seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Associated Press has called both Idaho Republicans the winners in their respective races, with Simpson elected to his 11th term and Fulcher elected to his first.
With 498 precincts reporting at 11:30 p.m. Simpson led challenger Aaron Swisher with 61 percent of the vote. Fulcher had a commanding lead over Cristina McNeil of 61 percent to her 32 percent. (Fulcher’s five other opponents each got less than 5 percent of the vote.)
“Simpson is one of the House’s leading advocates for a new energy policy and a renewed commitment to research and development of improved nuclear energy technologies,” according to Simpson’s congressional website.
Fulcher withdrew from the governor’s race in June 2017 to run for Congress. Fulcher chose to run for Labrador’s former congressional seat with Labrador’s endorsement.
“I believe that government exists to serve the people, not the other way around. Raúl and I have worked together for a long time to promote Idaho families and encourage government to act within its proper constitutional role,” Fulcher said in a previous news release.