BOISE — Idaho Republicans celebrated election gains Wednesday, as minority Democrats said they faced a “double whammy” from the presidential race and the pandemic.

“One thing we learned is we’re a fast-growing state, and the people that choose to move to the state of Idaho, they’re conservative and they vote Republican,” declared Tom Luna, state GOP chairman.

House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said, “You can count on us to continue to hold the line to make Idaho a business-friendly state and to continue to attract like-minded people to move here.”

Republicans already held 80% of the 105 seats in the Idaho Legislature before this election; they upped that to 82% on Tuesday by gaining two seats in the House. They also flipped the Ada County Commission from a 2-1 Democratic majority to a 2-1 GOP majority.

Ada County Commissioner-elect Ryan Davidson attributed his victor to increased voter turnout.

“I think one of the biggest factors was President Trump,” Davidson said. “Our president inspired a lot more people to go to the polls who otherwise never would have.”

Davidson defeated incumbent Democratic Commissioner Diana Lachiondo. He also benefited from an independent campaign against Lachiondo funded by developers; she’s an advocate of development impact fees.

Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said Idaho Democrats suffered from the impact of a presidential year in a GOP-heavy state, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic putting a crimp on Democrats’ usual modes of campaigning.

“In Idaho … presidential years are always really tough for Democrats,” Rubel said. “It’s sort of the inverse of the national trend. I think at the national level, presidential years are usually stronger for Democrats in other states, but it’s always the opposite in Idaho.”

She noted Idaho’s high Republican registration numbers. As of Monday, 53% of Idaho’s registered voters were registered Republicans; 14% were registered Democrats; and 32% were unaffiliated, according to figures from the Idaho Secretary of State’s office.

“When you have the higher turnout, you have more people coming out to the polls who aren’t necessarily following all the ups and downs of the issues, they’re just coming out to vote their party ticket,” Rubel said. “And that does not benefit Democrats in a state where there are substantially more registered Republicans than there are Democrats.”

She said the pandemic also hurt Democrats.

“So many candidates and so many volunteers, particularly on the Democratic side where there was more concern about not wanting to be part of transmission … were afraid to knock doors. People were just very nervous about getting out there and facing all those in-person contacts,” she said.

Rubel said registered Republicans will vote with their party unless they have a reason to do otherwise, “and the way to do otherwise is to knock at the door and have a personal conversation and explain that you’re not a communist and Antifa.”

“The Republican apparatus is very good at caricaturing us and painting us as a lot of wild people who want to burn down everything,” she said. “The in-person knocking has always been our most valuable tool in debunking a lot of the nonsense that’s thrown out there about Democrats.”

Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, agreed. “We work very hard to keep our seats,” she said. “This has been a pretty uncertain time. Our strengths are to meet people and be with people and door-knock and be present, and have that one-on-one face time, and it’s extraordinarily hard during the era of COVID to do that.”

Republicans continue to hold every seat in Idaho’s four-member congressional delegation — including three they retained on Tuesday — and every statewide office.

GOP Gov. Brad Little said Wednesday, “I think it’s prima facie evidence that the people of Idaho agree with the principles of the Republican Party.”