Some independent candidates are just a name on a ballot. 

Not Todd Achilles. 

Achilles, an independent U.S. Senate candidate and former state legislator, said he’s held more than 250 events across Idaho’s 44 counties since launching his campaign last summer.

He’s challenging three-term incumbent Sen. Jim Risch, a Republican, and in a state where Republican voters are the dominant force and unaffiliated voters outnumber Democrats two to one, he believes that he and other independent candidates stand more than a fighting chance. 

“People are tired of the two-party system,” Achilles told The Press during a sit-down interview Wednesday. “They’ve had enough. You can’t tell the difference between a corporatist Republican and a corporatist Democrat. They’re both taking checks from the same special interests. There’s no damn difference.” 

Over his campaign so far, Achilles said he’s heard consistent concerns from Idahoans across the state. 

“Everybody wants the same two things,” he said. “Get Congress functioning again and fix this rigged economy.” 

The former would require “breaking the grip of the two-party system,” Achilles said, as well as implementing term limits, eliminating gerrymandering and “getting money out of our elections.” 

Achilles said he believes it’s possible through a coalition of independent candidates for Senate in Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Mississippi and Colorado. Running on platforms focused on issues like health care, housing costs and preserving public land, Achilles said the candidates hope to win office and “operate as a fulcrum” to start a reform agenda. 

“If just two out of the six of us win, the Senate could be 48, 48 and four,” he said. 

Housing costs remain a top issue for Idahoans. Achilles pointed to the Miracle on Britton neighborhood in Post Falls, which he has toured, as one part of the solution to Idaho’s housing woes. 

“It’s a great model,” he said. 

Britton is a fee-simple, shared-equity neighborhood built through a certified deed restriction management program. The deed restrictions mean the 28 homes in the neighborhood are designated for a certain income, must be owner-occupied, and use a resale formula that allows wealth creation while keeping the homes attainable for future Kootenai County workers. 

“It gets everybody that foot in the door to start building equity,” he said. “How do we scale this thing up and take it throughout the state?” 

Achilles questioned what good Risch has done for Idahoans during his three terms in office and said Idaho voters from across the political spectrum are ready for something new. 

“This is not a good year to be an 83-year-old running for a fourth term,” he said. “People are tired of it.” 

He described what it means to him to fight for Idahoans. 

“It’s taking every possible opportunity to protect public lands and Jim’s missed a whole bunch of those,” he said. “It’s untying the hands of unions, rolling back some of these right to work bills and allowing unions to compete on a level playing field again.” 

He said he supports “going after the vertically integrated health care companies” that are “running roughshod” over the nation’s health care system and rejects the Medicaid cuts that were approved as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which have a disproportionate impact on rural hospitals. 

“There is a path here that represents old Idaho values,” he said.