The 1966 Idaho gubernatorial election was held on November 8.

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee

Don Samuelson Donald William Samuelson (July 27, 1913 – January 20, 2000) was an American Republican politician who served as the 25th governor of Idaho, from 1967 to 1971. He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid (1970). ...

defeated Democratic nominee

Cecil Andrus Cecil Dale Andrus (August 25, 1931 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician who served 26th and 28th governor of Idaho, for total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981 during the ...

with 41.4% of the vote in a four-way race (two independents). In early August, three-term incumbent Robert E. Smylie, the dean of American governors, was soundly defeated in the Republican primary by Samuelson. Andrus was a close runner-up in the Democratic primary to Charles Herndon, who was killed in a plane crash six weeks later in September. This was the sixth consecutive Republican victory for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, but Democrats won the next six, with four by Andrus. The next gubernatorial election in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

was a rematch, with different results.

Primary elections

Primary elections were held on August 2, 1966.

Democratic primary

Candidates

*Charles Herndon,

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

attorney *

, Orofino state senator *William J. Dee, Grangeville state senator

Results

*Herndon was killed in a plane crash in the central Idaho mountains in mid-September.

Republican primary

Candidates

, Sandpoint state senator * Robert E. Smylie, three-term incumbent

Results

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates *Don Samuelson, Republican *Cecil Andrus, Democratic Other candidates *Perry Swisher, Independent,

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the P ...

state senator (Republican) *Philip Jungert, Independent, Lewiston businessman (Democrat)

Results

References

{{US Third Party Election 1966

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...