Oregon Public Broadcasting

Wednesday was a highly unusual, if not historic, day in Idaho. A Democrat has won one of the state’s four seats in Congress.

Boise businessman Walt Minnick held onto a small lead over incumbent Bill Sali during the final counting of ballots this morning. North Idaho correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports.

Walt Minnick joins a short list of Democrats who have held northern Idaho’s congressional seat during the last two generations. Larry LaRocco is the only other person on that list and he lasted only four years.

Minnick says he recognizes that history. He says Republicans have traditionally done a better job of representing the beliefs of the district’s conservative rural voters.

Walt Minnick: “So now my challenge is to show that a Democrat can effectively represent those same things and I intend to do that.”

If he doesn’t, he could suffer the same fate as Republican Bill Sali, two years and out.

It’s not as if Minnick has a grand mandate. His margin of victory over Sali is about one percentage point. That’s close, but not close enough to trigger a recount.

Sali says he’s not ready to concede defeat yet. He says he wants to make sure the election was conducted fairly first.