An Idaho independent candidate seeking a U.S. Senate seat met with more than 50 Idaho Falls residents at a meet and greet event Wednesday in the local Elks Lodge.

Todd Achilles, 58, is running against incumbent GOP Sen. Jim Risch, 82, in the November election.

Certainly the ages of the two candidates stand out.

“The guy is the fourth oldest and the seventh richest in the U.S. Senate,” Achilles said of Risch, who won his first election as Ada County prosecutor in 1970. Achilles was 3 years old at the time.

Achilles, a former Democratic Idaho state representative and tech professional, stepped down from his legislative seat in July 2025 to launch his campaign. His goals focus on protecting public lands, campaign finance reform, including banning stock trading for members of Congress, term limits, reducing national debt and challenging corporate monopolies.

The former U.S. Army tank commander and platoon leader believes the time is right for independent candidates.

“It’s the two-party system that’s destroying Congress right now,” Achilles said. “When I see what’s happening in Congress right now I’m deeply concerned about the future of the country. Honestly I don’t think we’re going to make it to our 260th birthday, if we don’t get our act together.”

According to Achilles, electing more independents to the Senate can help break the intransigence in Washington, D.C.

The Senate is currently controlled by the Republican Party, which holds a 53-47 majority over the Democrats (including two independents, Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucus with them).

According to Achilles, the best estimates have the Dems gaining three seats in November. That would still keep the GOP in control at 50-50 by having the tiebreaker in any tie votes with the vice president.

But if two of the four independent candidates running for Senate seats win, that would put the Senate at 48 seats apiece for the GOP and Dems and bring the independent total to four.

“So now the independents get to set the agenda,” Achilles said. “I’ve talked with Sen. King and Sen. Sanders. We can start to drive the reform that we know needs to happen: term limits, age limits, money in campaigns. All this stuff that everybody in the country sees that we know needs to happen.

“But it won’t happen if either one of the parties maintains control,” Achilles said.

“So that’s the theory of change. That’s how one skinny kid from Oregon, representing Idaho in the Senate, could actually make this stuff happen.”

Achilles is part of a 2026 independent wave of military veterans challenging incumbent U.S. senators in deep-red states, aimed at creating an independent fulcrum in the Senate. Along with Dan Osborn (Nebraska), Brian Bengs (South Dakota) and Ty Pinkins (Mississippi), these four independents are running to break the two-party system’s majority control.

Osborn is an industrial mechanic, union leader, and U.S. Navy/National Guard veteran who gained national attention after a surprisingly strong 2024 independent campaign (securing 47 percent of the vote). He is running again in 2026 against Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, running on a populist, worker-focused platform.

Bengs is a veteran who is challenging Republican Sen. Mike Rounds. He has said that Osborn’s 2024 run made his own independent bid possible.

Pinkins is a U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service who is running as an independent against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Ongoing trends about party membership declining in the GOP and the Dems also helps independent candidates.

“Now there are more independents than there are Republicans or Democrats,” Achilles said. “That hasn’t happened before.

“When we closed the Idaho primaries in 2012, 70 percent of Idahoans were unaffiliated with either party,” Achilles said. “That was by far the highest in the country. Now since closed primaries, we kind of had to go into our corners, but we’re still 30 percent independent in this state, basically twice as many registered independents as Dems.

“Yes, we haven’t had an independent senator in this state, but we haven’t had these kind of numbers supporting independents in the past that we do now. So this is where the door is beginning to open.”

According to Achilles, his bid is further helped by current events.

“If you look at what’s going on in the country right now, particularly these economic issues and the inability of millennials or Gen Zs to be able to afford a home or have a real job or achieve the American dream,” Achilles said. “All of this happened under Jim Risch’s watch. He’s been there the whole time.

“He keeps voting against Idaho interests again and again and again,” Achilles said. “He played games on public lands. Finally at the last moment he voted not to sell public lands. That should have happened four months prior.

“He voted for the Medicaid cuts, which has a disproportionate impact in Idaho because of all of our rural hospitals, because we don’t have a lot of big employers. So we have more people dependent on health exchange and on Medicaid than other states do. Sixty percent of our hospitals are small rural hospitals.They’re barely keeping the doors open in these hospitals and these Medicaid cuts can be the difference.”

Achilles wants the chance to debate Risch. That seems unlikely to happen.

Risch has not yet issued a direct, personal response to Achilles’ candidacy. His campaign strategy appears focused on his own platform and alignment with national Republican leadership rather than engaging with his independent challenger.

When Achilles first announced his run, Risch’s campaign declined to comment on the specific challenge. Instead, the senator has focused his public messaging on his re-election goals, stating he wants to “continue working with President Trump to get government out of the way” and focusing on issues like reducing government spending and cutting red tape.

Risch, a three-term incumbent, is running on a record of 16 years in the Senate and carries an endorsement from Trump.

“Jim seems more interested in being an insider in D.C. than support Idaho,” Achilles said. “Jim hasn’t had a public in-person, open-access town hall since he entered the Senate in 2009. I’m approaching 90 of these sorts of events in all 44 counties.

“I’ve talked with people,” Achilles said. “I tell you I got more red hats, cowboy hats, trucker hats and hard hats showing up in my events, and people are mad. People are really frustrated with what’s going on and frustrated with the representation, but Jim cannot show up for a public town hall in Idaho.

“This guy needs to retire,” Achilles said. “We’re building our organization from ground up, but we’ve just gotten amazing response all over the state. We’ve got close to 600 volunteers now that are signed up. We’ve got county captains across the state.”

Achilles believes he has a path to victory.

“The way we beat him is with volunteers,” Achilles said. “It’s door to door and our plan is we want to knock on 30 percent of the doors in the state. That’s about a quarter million doors. We need 2,500 to 3,000 volunteers by August to be able to do that.”

His campaign needs volunteers to do more than that though.

“It’s not just door knocking and it’s not phone banking,” Achilles said. “It’s folks being active on social media, liking and reposting and making comments and engaging. That’s the medium where people are spending their time right now.”

Achilles believes independent candidates are the answer to national politics.

“We’ve got folks that profit from the division,” Achilles said. “We need to step across that division. This campaign is about Idaho. It’s about the Senate. It’s about the Constitution and doing your constitutional duties.

“It’s so much more liberating and effective running as an independent than with a party label behind you,” Achilles said. “Nobody has ever slammed the door on my face as an independent.v