Well-known candidates withdraw from May 21 primary elections
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IDAHO FALLS — Several candidates running for election in May’s primaries pulled their names from Bonneville County races prior to the 5 p.m. deadline Friday.
Two candidates for Bonneville County Commissioner, District 1 have withdrawn from the Republican primary race. Karl Casperson will now run unopposed, as Doyle Beck and Ty Hall are no longer running.
Beck serves as the Legislative District 32 Chairman in the Idaho GOP. EastIdahoNews.com was unable to reach Beck after multiple attempts Monday. Hall listed “personal reasons” on his withdrawal of candidacy form.
In Legislative District 35 State Representative Seat A, former state representative Chad Christensen stepped down from the race with current District 35 Rep. Kevin Andrus, meaning Andrus’ sole challenger will be Joseph Messerly, a Democrat, in the general election.
In a call with EastIdahoNews.com, Christensen explained Andrus had originally reached out to him to run for office as Andrus was considering not running, but ultimately Andrus and his wife determined to stay in the race, leading Christensen to decide to withdraw.
“Kevin’s always been a decent conservative,” Christensen said. “We served together four years. … He’s usually on the right side of things in my opinion, so that’s why I withdrew and am not going to challenge him. People asked me to stay in, but it’s too late in the game to get a real campaign going and raise money.”
Christensen does plan to run against Idaho Sen. Mark Harris in 2026, he said.
Across the Bonneville County GOP, at the precinct committee officer (PCO) level, multiple candidates removed their names from crowded races.
“We had six PCOs withdraw from the Republican PCO list. Some of those were three-way races before, and now they are two-way races,” Bonneville County Elections Supervisor Helena Welling said.
Idaho Sen. Kevin Cook, Carolyn Harrison, Justin Hayden, Devin Hebdon, Brian Minner and Christopher Poulter are no longer running for precinct committee officer positions.
The full, finalized list of Bonneville County candidates on the May 21 ballot is available at the county’s Election Office website.