Statesman endorsement: Our choice for the U.S. Senate Democratic primary in Idaho

Beating incumbent U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who won his second term in 2014 with 65% of the vote, is going to require an upset in deep-red Idaho.

Democratic primary voters will consider which candidate to send into battle against the Republican mainstay in Idaho politics, and Paulette Jordan has a better chance of pulling off the upset than her Democratic primary opponent Jim Vandermaas, an earnest candidate who is a political newcomer.

Vandermaas hits the right notes of compromise, commonsense solutions and knowledge of the issues. But we are concerned that he would not be ready to take on an established Idaho political figure and hold one of the highest political offices in the country.

Jordan would have her work cut out for her, but her political experience and prominence on the national stage would serve her well in November and in fighting for important issues such as health care, education and fiscal accountability in the U.S. Senate.

With that in mind, Jordan gets the Idaho Statesman editorial board’s endorsement in the Democratic primary.

Jordan, of Plummer in north Idaho, unseated a Republican incumbent in the Idaho House of Representatives in 2014, defeating Rep. Cindy Agidius. Jordan went on to successfully defend her seat in 2016.

Before the Idaho Legislature, Jordan was elected to the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council and also served with several national tribal organizations.

Jordan ran for Idaho governor in 2018, becoming the first woman nominated to the position by a major party in Idaho and the first Native American woman nominated for governor in U.S. history, defeating A.J. Balukoff in a rare contested Democratic primary. Jordan lost the November election to Republican Gov. Brad Little, but during that race, she drew national attention to her campaign.

Jordan touts her deep Idaho roots and cites public lands, health care and education as her top three priorities.

She also labels herself as a fiscal conservative and is critical of the national debt doubling on Risch’s watch. She criticizes Risch’s support of President Trump’s trade wars and what she calls the devastating effect they’ve had on Idaho’s farms and dairies.

When asked how a Democrat can win against a Republican in Idaho, she quickly cites the late former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus and U.S. Sen. Frank Church, two Democratic politicians who were well-respected in both parties and worked across the aisle, notably in public lands, wilderness and natural resource preservation. Church was also respected for his role as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, a position now held by Risch, who has been compared at times unfavorably to Church.

Jordan and Vandermaas cite health care and education as top issues, and both prioritize natural resources — with Jordan focusing on protecting public lands and Vandermaas focusing on fighting climate change.

Vandermaas, of Eagle, a retired law enforcement officer, has mounted a strong campaign, has thoroughly researched the issues and has racked up a string of endorsements, including from Jordan’s former opponent Balukoff. But Jordan is the stronger candidate in this race.

Jordan is strongest when she gets specific on the issues, and she’ll have plenty of fodder with which to go after Risch, pointing out, for example, that Risch fell asleep during impeachment hearings this year.

Our biggest hesitation about Jordan is that she doesn’t spend enough time on substantive details and instead turns her attention to personality and vague ideas, pledging on her website, for example, to focus on “American prosperity and to ensure everyone has clean water to drink, adequate health care, and world-class, affordable education.”

Whereas Vandermaas’ website has a page dedicated to several specific, detailed policy proposals on such issues as climate change, health care, jobs, wages, Social Security, the Second Amendment and several others, Jordan’s website lacks depth on policy proposals but features several ways to donate, get a yard sign, volunteer and apply for a job with the campaign. We’d rather see her devote more time to the details of the public policy that she discussed with our editorial board.

Because, come November, if a Democrat has a chance of beating the incumbent, that candidate will have to be a strong voice on the issues that matter to Idahoans and show that the incumbent is not delivering on them.

This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM.