Independent US Senate candidate Todd Achilles says he won’t caucus with either political party

Idaho independent U.S. Senate candidate Todd Achilles on Wednesday pledged to not caucus with either party if he’s elected. 

Achilles, who served in the Idaho Legislature as a Democrat before announcing his independent run for U.S. Senate, is running against incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Risch, who’s in his 18th year as a senator.

Achilles was joined at the Idaho state Capitol in Boise by Adam Brandon, the co-founder of a national advocacy organization promoting independent candidates called the Independent Leadership Council. Achilles also committed to serve a maximum of two terms, hold town halls in each of Idaho’s 44 counties every two years, and to engage in public debates. 

Brandon previously was president of FreedomWorks, which helped tea party candidates get elected to office. That organization dissolved in 2024, Politico reported.  

“Every vote that he casts, both parties are going to have to come to him for his vote to represent the state of Idaho, and I think that is incredibly, incredibly powerful,” Brandon said.

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In the letter Achilles signed to make these commitments, he said the U.S. Senate rules would still guarantee him a committee seat despite not caucusing with the major parties. 

The two independent U.S. senators — Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont — both caucus with Senate Democrats. When King won his election in 2012, he announced he would caucus with the Democrats because it would allow him to participate more in the committee process, PBS News reported at the time. 

Committee assignments are largely decided by party leaders and then formally voted on by the entire Senate. 

During the event, Achilles also signed a sworn, notarized statement that would resign him from office in 2039 — meaning if elected, he would only be able to serve two, six-year terms. A spokesman for the Achilles campaign said the letter will be sent to either the governor’s office or secretary of state to keep. 

“We’re serious about this,” Achilles said Wednesday. “That’s it. I don’t want to spend more than 12 years in D.C. I love Idaho’s mountains. I want to get back here and get my skis on and do what I love doing. So two terms. That’s it.”