The 1970 Election in Idaho

• DOI: 10.1177/106591297102400208
• Published date: 01 June 1971
• Date: 01 June 1971
• Author: Herbert S. Duncombe,Boyd A. Marttn
• Subject Matter: Articles

THE 1970 ELECTION IN IDAHO
HERBERT S. DUNCOMBE AND BOYD A. MARTTN
University of Idaho
EITHER party could claim a sweeping victory in the 1970 election. The
B’ Democrats gained in two state races. Cecil D. Andrus defeated incum-
-i- ~ bent Don W. Samuelson to become the first Democratic governor to be
elected in Idaho since 1944. A twenty-nine-year-old Democratic attorney, W.
Anthony Park, upset Republican incumbent Robert M. Robson. In the remaining
state races, Republican incumbents Jack M. Murphy and Pete T. Cenarrusa re-
tained their posts as lieutenant governor and secretary of state by large margins
while Democratic incumbents Joe R. Williams, Marjorie R. Moon and Del F.
Engelking were reelected just as easily. Republicans retained their majorities in
both houses of the Idaho legislature, receiving three additional seats in the House
of Representatives and losing two seats in the Senate.
Long-range trends are difficult to identify in Idaho because voters frequently
split their ballots. As Table 1 shows, the Republican percent of the vote for gov-
ernor has ranged from 51 percent to 55 percent in the past twenty years, but it
dipped to 48 percent in 1970. In contrast, the Republican vote for the two Idaho
congressmen averaged 63 percent in 1970 -
the highest perecentage in the past
twenty years. More than one-quarter of the state’s voters crossed party lines to
elect a Democratic governor and two Republican congressmen.1-
Voter interest in Idaho centered on the re-match between Governor Don
Samuelson and his 1966 opponent, thirty-nine-year-old insurance executive Cecil
Andrus. Andrus had lost the Democratic primary in 1966 and had entered the
gubernatorial campaign in mid-September upon the death of Charles Herndon
in an airplane crash. The Democratic State Central Committee chose Andrus to
succeed Herndon by a narrow two-vote margin, 84-82, leaving deep scars within
the Democratic party. Andrus was handicapped by lack of time to organize and
finance his campaign and was defeated by Samuelson by nearly 11,000 votes. The
two independent candidates in the 1966 gubernatorial campaign took many votes
from Andrus and may have contributed to his defeat.
Senator Frank Church and other prominent Democrats worked tirelessly to
heal the breach within the Democratic party, and by 1968 the Democrats presented
a united front. In his victorious 1968 campaign, Senator Church attracted a group
of vigorous Democrats and Liberal Republicans who had not previously been
active in party politics. Many of the same group reentered politics in 1970 to run
telephone campaigns, solicit funds, and distribute literature for Cecil Andrus. The
1
The extent of the cross-over in other races can be illustrated by the fact that Democratic
candidate for state treasurer, Marjorie Moon, carried all but one county and 62.7 per-
cent of the total vote while Republican Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa carried 34 of
44 counties with 60.3 percent. The Democratic candidate for state auditor received
57.1 percent of the vote. Republican Lieutenant Governor Jack Murphy gained 59.0
percent of the two-party vote, Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction Del
Engelking. 54.7 percent, and the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Anthony
Park, 52.6 percent.
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TABLE 1
REPUBLICAN PERCENTAGE OF THE VOTE FOR MAJOR OFFICES, 1950-70
* Only the vote for major party ca.ndidates was used in computing percentages. If the total vote had been
used in the 1966 gubernatorial race Don Samuelson would have received 41.4 percent; Cecil Andrus, 37.1;
Independents Perry Swisher and Phiúp Jungert, 12.3 and 9.2. If the total vote were used in the 1970 Second
Congressional District race, Orval Hansen would have received 65.8; Marsden Wells, 31.6; and Joel Ander-
son, 2.6 percent.
split between the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican party widened
during the four years of the Samuelson administration.
Governor Samuelson was opposed in the Republican primary by former State
Senator Eldon W. (Dick) Smith of Rexburg who had become a champion of higher
education as chairman of the State Board of Regents. Smith lacked extensive sup-
port from county and legislative district Republican party officials and barely quali-
fied for the state primary.2 He waged a strong primary campaign pledging vigorous
enforcement of antipollution laws, defending higher education and attacking Sam-
uelson’s fiscal policies and estimates.3 The Governor defended his record on fiscal
policies, education, and the environment. Samuelson won the primary 46,719 to
33,339, winning majorities in all but ten counties.
The Democratic Convention nominated three candidates for the primary.
Vernon Ravenscroft, state representative from conservative Gooding County,
mounted a vigorous campaign stressing the need to avoid diversion of Idaho water
and improved conditions for Idaho farmers .4 Cecil Andrus strongly supported con-
stitutional change to permit nineteen year olds to vote in Idaho, and criticized the
spending of the Samuelson’s State Department of Administrative Services. Lloyd
Walker called for the replacement of the Commissioner of Agriculture. In the
Democratic primary balloting, Andrus received 29,036 votes to Ravenscroft’s 23,369
and Walker’s 10,664. The Andrus margin came from northern Idaho and the
2
To run in the state primary, a candidate must receive 20 percent or more of the votes in
the state convention....