Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate David Roth announced Tuesday that he has dropped out of the race to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jim Risch of Idaho. Risch is seeking a fourth six-year term with the endorsement of President Trump.
Roth wrote: “After much consideration and many conversations with my family and my supporters, I have made the difficult decision to exit this race and focus where I think I can have a larger impact.” He added, “I have concluded that I can make the greatest difference by focusing my time and energy on helping Democrats win up and down the ballot and in communities across Idaho.”
After much consideration and many conversations with my family and my supporters, I have made the difficult decision to exit this race and focus where I think I can have a larger impact. Thank you to all of my strong supporters, donors, and volunteers. I appreciate you all. pic.twitter.com/ATEe8qtgYQ
— David Roth For Idaho (@rothforIdaho) July 28, 2026
Andrew Yang, who ran as a Democrat in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, left the party and co-founded the Forward Party with former Republican New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman, responded to Roth’s announcement by writing: “Holy cow this means that Independent Senate candidate @Achilles4Idaho has a one-on-one matchup with 83-year old Republican incumbent Jim Risch and Idaho just became a competitive Senate seat.”
[NOTE: Independent Natalie Fleming and Libertarian Matt Loesby remain in the race.]
As seen below, Independent candidate Todd Achilles has been running an ad campaign against Risch, a former Idaho governor whom he describes as “the oldest and richest” in the U.S. Senate with the tagline, “It’s time to retire Risch.”
From my interview of @Achilles4Idaho from https://t.co/PjWTwI7FIz pic.twitter.com/aH4z2fyHbh
— Andrew Yang
(@AndrewYang) July 29, 2026
Yang (who has donated to Achilles’ campaign) wrote of the Independent candidate, a former state legislator and U.S. Army veteran: “In Idaho, running as a Democrat is a waste of time; Trump won the state by 36.5% over Harris in ’24, for example. But anti-D.C. sentiment runs high. And Todd is tapping into that.”
Former U.S. Representative Larry LaRocco (D-ID), 79, also questioned Risch’s decision to run for a fourth term in his Idaho Capital Sun op-ed titled, ‘Idaho’s Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Risch wants to serve in Senate until he’s 89. Really?’
LaRocco wrote: “Risch creates a whole new category of ‘career politician’ in Idaho. He is the seventh richest U.S. senator, serving today with an estimated net worth of $54.5 million.”
[NOTE: LaRocco ran for the state’s lieutenant governorship in 2006 and for the U.S. Senate in 2008, but was defeated by Risch in the general election both times.]