Three out of four candidates running to represent Idaho in the U.S. Senate discussed their differing approaches on tariffs, military actions, immigration, and more Wednesday night in Caldwell. The race’s incumbent, Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, declined to participate.
Independents Todd Achilles and Natalie Fleming, and Libertarian Matt Loesby, spoke at the forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, Caldwell Chamber of Commerce and the local American Association of University Women at Caldwell City Hall.
The three candidates differed in their proposals to address the federal budget deficit, reform immigration, and rein in military action abroad. Risch’s campaign manager Marc Kilmer told the Idaho Capital Sun in an email that Risch didn’t participate because, “It was organized by someone who has publicly endorsed our opponent, and therefore we felt it would not be an impartial debate.” Kilmer said the endorsement came from former Idaho Republican state Rep. Julie Yamamoto of Caldwell, but it wasn’t clear how she was connected to the organizers. He couldn’t immediately be reached to clarify.
League of Women Voters of Idaho President Jean Henscheid told the Sun she didn’t know of any organizers that endorsed a candidate in the race.
To watch the entire forum, visit the City of Caldwell Youtube page.
How would the candidates address the high cost of living and tariffs? All of the candidates agreed that the existing 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods, should be rolled back and implemented more strategically. Achilles argued that Congress needed to “take back control” of tariff policy from the White House, and manage them in a “more strategic way” to protect domestic industries.
“Congress needs to stand up and be an independent branch of government, and execute their constitutional duties, which is to be in control of tariffs,” he said.
Loesby argued that tariffs were a small part of the problem when it came to addressing high costs of living for Americans. He agreed that the existing high tariffs should be rolled back and the taxes on imported products should be used to address trade imbalances with China. To address cost of living challenges, he said the U.S. needed to “end all these horrific foreign wars,” and “deport the millions of people who should not be in our country” to address housing costs.
Fleming called the trade war with Canada, who imposed retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., “mind-boggling,” and said the import taxes should be rolled back. To address the high cost of living, she argued that the immigration systems should be reformed so immigrant workers can more easily work in the U.S. legally.
“We all know that we have some wonderful immigrants who are building our homes and are providing food for us,” Fleming said. “And so we need to streamline the immigration process for them.”
Candidates agreed Congress needed to intervene in foreign conflicts, Iran War Fleming criticized the U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for “embracing conflict and violence.” She cited American military support for Israel against Iran and Palestine.
“We have become the aggressors overseas,” Fleming said. “So it is Congress’s role to stop this, and they’re just kind of a lame duck Congress not doing anything to stop any of this.”
Achilles, who served overseas in the military,
