Idaho Gubernatorial Election, 2014

Idaho's 2014 elections U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • Other executive offices • State Senate • State House • State ballot measures • School boards • Judicial • Candidate ballot access

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Idaho Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: May 20, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

November 4 Election Winner: Butch Otter

Incumbent prior to election: Butch Otter

Idaho State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General Down Ballot Treasurer, Controller, Superintendent

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State executive offices in Idaho

The Idaho gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Butch Otter (R) ran for re-election, as the state has no gubernatorial term limits. Otter won another four-year term against Democratic candidate A.J. Balukoff and four third party candidates.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Idaho, parties decide who may vote in their primaries.^[1] As of October 2025, the Democratic Party allows unaffiliated voters to vote in its primary, while the Republican Party only allows voters registered with its party to vote in its primary. Unaffiliated voters can choose to affiliate with a party on Election Day.^[2][3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

As of 2014, the governor's office had been held by the Republican Party since 1995. Polling in mid-October showed the race between Otter and Balukoff tightening to a four-point margin, as third party candidates accumulated support from 12 percent of respondents.

Candidates[edit]

General election[edit]

Butch Otter - Incumbent ^[4]
A.J. Balukoff^[5]
John T. Bujak^[6]
Pro-Life^[7]
Jill Humble^[6]
Steve Pankey^[6]

Lost in the primary[edit]

Walt Bayes^[6]
Harley D. Brown^[6]
Russell Fulcher^[8][9]
Terry Kerr^[6]

Results[edit]

General election[edit]

Governor of Idaho, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Butch Otter Incumbent	53.5%	235,405
	Democratic	A.J. Balukoff	38.6%	169,556
	Libertarian	John T. Bujak	4.1%	17,884
	Independent	Jill Humble	2%	8,801
	Constitution	Steve Pankey	1.2%	5,219
	Independent	Pro-Life	0.7%	2,870
	N/A	Write-ins	0%	95
Total Votes				439,830
Election results via Idaho Secretary of State

Primary election[edit]

Republican primary[edit]

Governor of Idaho, Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Butch Otter Incumbent	51.4%	79,779
Russell Fulcher	43.6%	67,694
Harley D. Brown	3.3%	5,084
Walt Bayes	1.8%	2,753
Total Votes		155,310
Election results via Idaho Secretary of State.

Democratic primary[edit]

Governor of Idaho, Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
A.J. Balukoff	65.3%	16,751
Terry Kerr	34.7%	8,887
Total Votes		25,638
Election results via Idaho Secretary of State.

Polls[edit]

Note: An asterisk (*) denotes incumbent status.

Past elections[edit]

2010[edit]

Idaho Governor, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	C.L. "Butch" Otter Incumbent	59.1%	267,483
	Democratic	Keith Allred	32.9%	148,680
	Independent	Jana M. Kemp	5.9%	26,655
	Libertarian	Ted Dunlap	1.3%	5,867
	Independent	Pro-Life (Marvin Thomas Richardson)	0.9%	3,850
Total Votes				452,535
Election results via Idaho Secretary of State

2006[edit]

Idaho Governor, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	C.L. "Butch" Otter	52.7%	237,437
	Democratic	Jerry M. Brady	44.1%	198,845
	Constitution	Marvin Richardson	1.6%	7,309
	Libertarian	Ted Dunlap	1.6%	7,241
Total Votes				450,832
Election results via Idaho Secretary of State

2002[edit]

Idaho Governor, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Dirk Kempthorne	56.3%	231,566
	Democratic	Jerry M. Brady	41.7%	171,711
	Libertarian	Daniel L.J. Adams	2%	8,187
	Independent	Kevin Powers	0%	13
Total Votes				411,477
Election results via Idaho Secretary of State

Voter turnout[edit]

Political scientist Michael McDonald's United States Elections Project studied voter turnout in the 2014 election by looking at the percentage of eligible voters who headed to the polls. McDonald used voting-eligible population (VEP), or the number of eligible voters independent of their current registration status, to calculate turnout rates in each state on November 4. He also incorporated ballots cast for the highest office in each state into his calculation. He estimated that 81,687,059 ballots were cast in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, representing 35.9 percent of the VEP.^[10] By comparison, 61.6 percent of VEP voted in the 2008 presidential election and 58.2 percent of VEP voted in the 2012 presidential election.^[11]

Quick facts

• According to PBS Newshour, voter turnout in the 2014 midterms was the lowest since the 1942 midterms, which took place during the nation's involvement in World War II.^[12]

• Forty-three states and the District of Columbia did not surpass 50 percent turnout in McDonald's analysis.

• The three states with the lowest turnout according to McDonald's analysis were Texas (28.3 percent), Tennessee (28.6 percent), and Indiana (28.8 percent).

• Maine (58.5 percent), Wisconsin (56.5 percent), and Colorado (54.5 percent) were the three states with the highest turnout.

• Twelve states increased voter turnout in 2014 compared to the 2010 midterm elections.^[13]

Note: Information from the United States Elections Project was last updated on December 16, 2014.

Campaign finance[edit]

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $6,830,320 during the election. This information was last updated on May 12, 2015.^[14]

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
A.J. Balukoff	Idaho Governor		$4,150,884
Butch Otter	Idaho Governor		$2,489,671
Russ Fulcher	Idaho Governor		$147,221
John T. Bujak	Idaho Governor		$21,989
Steve Pankey	Idaho Governor		$8,827
Pro-Life (Marvin Thomas Richardson)	Idaho Governor		$8,066
Walt Bayes	Idaho Governor		$2,574
Jill Humble	Idaho Governor		$1,088
Terry Kerr	Idaho Governor		$0
Harley D. Brown	Idaho Governor		$0
Grand Total Raised			$6,830,320

Key deadlines[edit]

Recent news[edit]

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Idaho + governor + election + 2014"

See also[edit]

• Governor of Idaho
• Idaho state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014

External links[edit]

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Idaho

Footnotes[edit]

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