Former Idaho AG recalls a gracious concession in a close Idaho governor’s race

Idaho, along with the rest of the country, is enduring the spectacle of President Donald Trump’s continuing refusal to concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. Trump relies on a specious assertion that widespread fraud was running rampant on Election Day, tainting the election results in the battleground states that Biden won.

This claim of fraud is not supported by any substantive evidence, even in the many courts where the Trump campaign has filed lawsuits seeking the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters. All of these courts have thrown the claims out unceremoniously, some with scathing comments from Trump-appointed judges.

It is not my purpose in this piece to rehash the sad failure by the president and his minions to come to grips with reality in what is a clear-cut victory for Biden. Rather, I would like to cite an Idaho example of how decent and thoughtful people of good will addressed and resolved a difficult electoral situation.

Back in 1986, the late Gov. Cecil Andrus and former lieutenant governor and attorney general David Leroy were locked in a fierce battle for the governorship.

Andrus had already been elected to the office twice, in 1970 and 1974. In the middle of his second term, he was appointed secretary of the interior by President Jimmy Carter and resigned as governor. After Carter’s defeat in 1980, Andrus returned to Idaho.

Gov. John Evans, who had succeeded Andrus, chose to run for the U.S. Senate in 1986, resulting in an open governor’s seat. This set up a huge battle between two political heavyweights. Everyone active in politics knew this one was going to be a nail biter. And it was. Andrus squeaked out a win, edging Leroy by 3,635 votes. That margin represented 0.9% of the 387,000 total votes cast.

On the day after the election, Andrus claimed the win, and soon after Lt. Gov. Leroy conceded. Marc Johnson, the former Andrus campaign press secretary, in his recent Many Things Considered column, cited Leroy’s concession as “gracious” and quoted from it: “There must be a time when the vote is final, and we should go forward with the people’s business.”

Cecil and David were and are valued friends of mine. I know from personal experience that they are men of principle. Their competitive fire, which they were both blessed with in abundance, would never interfere with their duty to the state and the country.

I know this: If Cecil Andrus had woken up the morning after that 1986 election behind by 3,635 votes, he would have conceded the election also, probably choosing similar words in doing so. If someone had seriously suggested to either of them that they should make an effort to suborn perjury or pressure duly elected officials (such as Electoral College electors) not to carry out their duties, Andrus and Leroy would have dismissed it immediately.

It is well past time for the president of the United States to finally act like one.

It brings to mind the words of the great lawyer Joseph N. Welch, as he finally brought down Joe McCarthy, of infamous renown: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”