Paulette Jordan launches bid to unseat Sen. Risch

Idaho Democratic senatorial candidate Paulette Jordan has been around long enough to know a thing or two about politics in the Gem State. It’s certainly no mystery to her why Democrats fail to gain traction in statewide elections.

For one, people in rural communities wouldn’t vote for a Democrat if Mary Poppins were leading the ticket. Secondly, folks would vote for a dirty rat as a Republican before they’d support a Democrat. As they may rationalize, “He may be a dirty rat, but he’s our dirty rat.”

Jordan ran across a fair share of hardline Republicans during her run for governor two years ago, and she’ll be seeing more in her bid to unseat Sen. Jim Risch. That assumes, of course, that she will be the party’s nominee – which probably is a safe bet. She’s the only Democrat running with any kind of star power, and she’ll need all of that to take on Risch.

Jordan knows the skeptics are out there, but she thinks that rural voters will come to her side as they get to know her. And, along the way, she hopes her brand of politics could catch on with new voters. It will be an uphill climb, for sure, but Jordan appears to be ready for the challenge – while employing a different approach.

Jordan kicked off her campaign recently with an event at Boise’s Knitting Factory (it’s a music venue, not really a factory), and said nothing directly about Risch – or the partisan nature of the campaign – in her 20-minute talk. She received a rousing ovation from the crowd of more than 300. She was joined on the stage by House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel of Boise, sending a signal that leading Idaho Democrats are backing Jordan’s efforts (a contrast from two years ago).

“We have leaders such as President Trump, who are tearing our people apart. But this rally is not about division and rhetoric. It’s about love and respect,” Jordan told the crowd. “I learned in November of 2018 that people are ready for new leadership – the kind of leadership that our country, the United States of America, is looking for. Our brand of leadership does not pledge loyalty to either party whatsoever. We have to offer solutions but, first, we have to listen.”

Make no mistake about it, she’ll have a lot to say about Trump, Republicans and Risch as the campaign heats up. As Jordan tells me about Risch, “He is so far out of touch from the rest of Idaho that it is a complete injustice to every single one of us. We all watched as our current senator embarrassed Idaho by falling asleep on the job during one of our nation’s most historic events. This isn’t nap time. It’s time to get to work.”

On the partisan side, she’s involved with the Democratic National Committee – focusing on Native American issues and the environment. She should get a fair amount of support from the DNC. Risch, of course, will be touting the economic successes under Trump’s watch and his conservative record in the Senate. He already has said that the Democrats running against him “have a clear desire to advance the liberal socialist agenda.

Obviously, there will be plenty of political fireworks coming from both ends in the next eight months. A Risch/Jordan matchup has the potential to be a dream campaign … especially for political ad writers.

Conventional wisdom says this race should be an easy call. The last Idaho Democrat to serve in the Senate was Frank Church, and that was 40 years ago. Also, this is a presidential election year – when Republicans tend to win by even wider margins.

But Jordan has enough going for her to make things interesting, as well as entertaining for political junkies. She’s 40 years old, has plenty of charisma and gives a heck of a stump speech. Her campaign bank account won’t be nearly as high as Risch’s, but her campaign won’t be “low-budget” by any means.

Something that’s on her campaign’s “wish list” is for Trump to make an appearance in Idaho on Risch’s behalf. That could be a sure sign of Risch seeing her as a threat in this election.

Of course, a Trump visit to Idaho could happen regardless of what polls show in the Senate race.

Chuck Malloy, a long-time Idaho journalist, is a columnist with Idaho Politics Weekly. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com.