Otter ran a low-key campaign as he was challenged by Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, acting the part of the favored incumbent and agreeing to only one face-to-face debate. Otter’s insistence on also including two long-shot candidates in that face-off attracted national attention to their antics and prompted Fulcher to declare it a “mockery.”
Fulcher’s pitch to repeal Idaho’s state health insurance exchange, dump core standards for school achievement and try to take over federal lands resonated with a wing of the party, but couldn’t dislodge one of the state’s most-elected officials ever. If Otter’s lead holds, he’ll face Democrat A.J. Balukoff in November in his bid for a third term; Balukoff is a millionaire businessman and the longtime chairman of the Boise School Board.
Otter, 72, has served two terms as governor, three in Congress, and 14 years as lieutenant governor.