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An Idaho Republican Thwarts His Challenger After a Clash Over Dams and Endangered Salmon by Neil Vigdor New York Times, May 18, 2022

Native Americans and environmental groups have long sought the removal of
four dams from the lower Snake River, and gained a powerful booster in Mr. Simpson.

Representative Mike Simpson, Republican of Idaho, fended off a primary challenge from a familiar foe on the party's far-right flank, who had tried to persuade conservative voters that a $34 billion proposal by Mr. Simpson to remove several dams from the Snake River to save endangered salmon there did not mesh with their values.

Mr. Simpson defeated Bryan Smith, a lawyer from Idaho Falls who opposed the major infrastructure project, in a rematch of their 2014 primary race in the Second District. The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning.

Mr. Simpson, 71, a fixture in the House since 1999, had declined to debate Mr. Smith, underscoring the deep-seated animosity that had developed between the Republican rivals.

Native Americans and environmental groups have long sought the removal of four dams from the lower Snake River, and gained a powerful booster in Mr. Simpson. The river flows more than 1,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, from Wyoming to Washington State, where the four dams proposed for removal are situated.

Mr. Smith, 59, has been a staunch critic of the project, one that he contended would hurt grain growers in the region and increase electricity rates. He has argued that wind and solar power cannot replace the electricity produced by the system of dams.

In all but one of his 12 campaigns for Congress, Mr. Simpson had received at least 60 percent of the general election vote in the district, which encompasses eastern and central Idaho, including most of the state capital, Boise.

While Mr. Simpson and Mr. Smith had sparred over infrastructure and environmental stewardship, the candidates also traded barbs over who had been more loyal to former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Simpson's campaign distributed a mailer with an altered photo of Mr. Smith in a #NEVERTRUMP hat, claiming that Mr. Smith had opposed Mr. Trump as the Republican presidential nominee during the party's convention in 2016, The Idaho Press reported.

At the time, Mr. Simpson was a pledged delegate for Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, the winner of Idaho's primary, and was bound to support Mr. Cruz at the convention. He later supported Mr. Trump in 2016 and was a delegate for him in 2020.

Mr. Smith had called Mr. Simpson a Republican in Name Only and had drawn attention to Mr. Simpson's comments repudiating Mr. Trump after an "Access Hollywood" recording emerged in 2016 of Mr. Trump glorifying sexual assault.

Mr. Simpson twice voted against the impeachment of Mr. Trump, but opposed a measure seeking to overturn the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. as president.