Rep. Chris Abernathy, D-Pocatello, was defeated Tuesday by Republican challenger Dustin Whitney Manwaring in a rematch of their 2018 battle.

Manwaring won the race with 10,181 votes or 54 percent of ballots cast to Abernathy's 8,753 votes or 46 percent of ballots cast.

The results of the race reversed the 2018 outcome when Abernathy unseated the incumbent Manwaring to take office.

Rep. Randy Armstrong, R-Inkom, received 15,331 votes or 67 percent of ballots cast en route to winning his re-election bid against Democratic challenger Mike Saville of McCammon, who received 7,466 votes or 33 percent of ballots cast.

Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-Inkom, also won re-election, easily defeating a challenge from Pocatello Libertarian Dan Karlan.

Guthrie won the race with 17,067 votes or 78 percent of ballots cast to Karlan's 4,916 votes or 22 percent of ballots cast.

The COVID-19 pandemic was among the major topics discussed by the candidates during the campaign.

Armstrong said he is especially concerned that residents have sacrificed their constitutional rights for the sake of combatting the coronavirus.

“It’s completely out of control,” Armstrong said of the government response to COVID-19. “The virus is legit but nobody really knows how bad it is.”

Guthrie, who works as a rancher, advocates for keeping the state’s economy open amid future waves of the pandemic, noting job losses and quarantining can also lead to rises in domestic abuse, divorces and suicides.

“The government is kind of picking winners and losers by restrictive actions, too,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie worries Idaho school students are falling behind in their educations because school districts throughout the state have gone to schedules with certain weekdays devoted to remote learning. He’d like for the state to prioritize keeping students in the classroom.

Campaign finance records show Abernathy had a beginning balance of $486 and received $14,286 in total contributions to his campaign war chest during the year, making total payments of $6,677 on his race.

Manwaring had a beginning balance of $8,118 and raised $24,848. He spent $7,397 on his campaign.

Armstrong started his campaign with $6,702 in his war chest and raised another $6,800. He spent $3,347 on his campaign.

Saville raised $10,328 and spent $9,612 on his campaign.

Guthrie started his campaign with a balance of $17,524 and earned another $10,900 in contributions. He spent $2,555 on his campaign.

Karlan didn’t raise any funds or make any expenditures on his campaign.