After being elected for a second term in the Idaho House of Representatives in November of 2024, Todd Achilles has stepped down in the hopes that he can unseat longtime Republican U.S. Senator Jim Risch in 2026.
Achilles, a U.S. Army veteran, left the Democratic Party when he chose to run for the senate as an Independent, a decision he said he made after witnessing dysfunction in American politics.
“We’ve reached a point where we are just fundamentally failing as a country now. I think the cause of that failure is the two-party system,” he said in an interview with The Argonaut.
Achilles said, “I think the beauty of having Independents basically acting as a fulcrum in the Senate is that you’re not beholden to the White House, regardless of which party’s in control of you…Be that fulcrum, get the politics out of it and just focus on the policy.”
Achilles is traveling to Idaho towns to hear what issues Idahoans care the most about.
Healthcare
“Each one of these towns has got their own issues, particularly these rural hospitals. 60% of all hospitals in Idaho are rural, they’re critical access hospitals,” said Achilles, later saying that cuts to Medicaid because of the One Big Beautiful Bill would cause 75,000 people in Idaho to lose access to healthcare.
“They’re still going to get sick, they’re still going to get hurt,” he said.
While Idaho faces losses to healthcare access, it also deals with the consequences of its abortion ban, which went into effect on August 25, 2022.
Idaho lost 35% of its practicing OB-GYNs since the ban went into effect, leaving many women without access to maternal healthcare, according to a study published by the Jama Network.
“About half of pregnancies don’t result in a healthy birth, and there’s just a massive amount of complexity there,” Achilles said. “To not allow doctors and families to make these decisions, it’s just fundamentally wrong.”
Affordable Living
“Idahoans can’t afford to live in Idaho,” said Achilles.
“Idaho’s a low wage state with high costs. And again, it didn’t just happen,” he said. “It was policy that got us there and so we need to unwind those policies and create a more competitive more affordable economy.”
“The idea that we’re going to grow our economy by having a low-wage state undermines everybody else in the economy, because people that have their backs to the wall can’t go out. They’re not going to go out for dinner, they’re not going to go buy a car, all of those things. So, you have a really inefficient, slow economy if you’re a low-wage state,” Achilles said.
“If you’re a millennial or Gen Z, the American Dream is largely out of reach. If you’re a billionaire or you’ve got a couple hundred million in the bank, you’re doing great…the system is set up for you,” said Achilles. “Everybody else, we’re paying for it.”
“The One Big Beautiful Bill, really the lead architect on that was Senator [Mike] Crapo,” said Achilles.
The One Big Beautiful Bill was passed into law in July, which includes significant budget cuts to programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in order to fund tax cuts and increased spending for border control, among other initiatives.
“There’s effectively a $200 billion carve out in private equity,” said Achilles. “Private equity has done more damage to the U.S. economy and workers in this country than anybody else. So why the hell are we giving private equity a $200 billion handout and then we’re pulling back on Medicaid and we’re pulling back on SNAP and we’re, you know, threatening public lands and we’re cutting back on the [Veteran’s Association] and all these other things. I mean, that is just a fundamental mismatch between the policies that we need for Idaho and then what’s getting passed.”
Idahoans had several other concerns, including the sell-off of public lands.
“To undermine or to sell our public lands rips apart who we are as Idahoans,” said Achilles.
The One Big Beautiful Bill no longer includes the sell-off of public lands, but was at the center of public discourse when Sen. Mike Lee of Utah attempted to include a provision in the bill which would sell public lands for housing development.
“The conversation we need to have is management of public lands,” he said, “We’ve been starving the Forest Service and we’ve been starving the BLM. BLM has got a tiny budget, and they do amazing work. We need to fully resource these agencies to be able to take care of our lands properly.”
Achilles also discussed Idaho’s agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which allows law enforcement to aid in the deportation of undocumented immigrants from Idaho jails. “There’s a piece of the agreement between the state and ICE, which I do support, which is if somebody is convicted of a crime and they’re an undocumented immigrant, then yes, they should not be allowed to stay in Idaho.”
“We need a fence and a gate that works,” said Achilles. “The border has gotten a little bit better over the last six months. I think President Trump gets some credit for that. But the gate still doesn’t work.”
Achilles also shared criticisms of current ICE procedure. “The face coverings, not identifying themselves, you know, clearly just going after brown people. That’s just flat out wrong. That’s not who we are as a country. We can’t tolerate that stuff,” he said.
The primary election filling period begins February 23, 2026, prompting campaigning for Idaho candidates.
Mackenzie Davidson can be reached at [email protected].
Jon Beckmon
He is really a democrat just going independent because he knows a democrat can't win in most of idaho. Doesnt matter he will be crushed .
C.J.Gussenhoven
Risch has long had trouble addressing the issues that face Idahoans. It's not clear how Mr. Achilles sees a plan forward but he certainly gets the issues.
Kristy Battista
You had me at Independent party! I so agree with what you said. I have been so frustrated with everything along the party lines with no independent thoughts.
Kristy Battista
You had me at Independent party!