BOISE — Idaho GOP Sen. Jim Risch held off a challenge from Democrat Paulette Jordan in his bid for a third six-year term in the U.S. Senate, as results were tallied on election night.

Risch ended with 537,456 total votes, or 62.58 percent, and Jordan with 285,824 votes, or 33.28 percent. Trailing were independent Natalie Fleming with 25,328 votes, or 2.95 percent, and Constitution Party candidate Ray Writz with 10,172 votes, or 1.18 percent.

“I’ve been doing this long enough that Idahoans know me and they know what to expect from me,” Risch told the Idaho Press on election night. “Whenever I cast a vote, there’s never a question about where it’s going to come from.”

Risch, 77, is a trial lawyer who was a longtime state senator, lieutenant governor and briefly governor, before first being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2009. He currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He proudly touts his record as one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, and has become a strong ally of President Trump.

Jordan, 40, is a former two-term state representative and Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council member and was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2018. She went after Risch as “the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with the culture of Washington, D.C.,” and promised a more inclusive approach that she said is the legacy of her Native American ancestors.

“I will certainly be back again,” Jordan declared on election night.

Although Risch never responded to a call from Jordan for town-hall style debates around the state, both campaigned actively, hitting the television airwaves hard with campaign ads and traveling to appearances around Idaho.

The two differed on everything from trade policy to immigration to health care, with Risch continuing to call for repeal of the Affordable Care Act and Jordan advocating to expand it. They also clashed over the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Risch defending Trump and Jordan charging that inaction by leaders like Risch and Trump was responsible for thousands of American deaths.

“Regardless of how it turns out tonight, we have already accomplished the greater good,” Jordan said. “We have already made strides in our state to wake people up, so that they can see … that there are good people who are willing to fight for them.”

Risch, who has won all but one of the campaigns for office he’s waged over the past five decades, said, “I think the message is that they’d like to stay the course and keep Idaho the great place that it is.

Idaho Press reporter Olivia Heersink contributed to this story.