A retired Air Force major general who once called herself a Republican is mounting an independent bid for Idaho’s First Congressional District, taking on four-term incumbent Rep. Russ Fulcher in what would be an exceptionally rare upset if successful.

Sarah Zabel, who moved to Idaho in 2020 after a three-decade military career and subsequent work at the RAND Corporation, left the Republican Party roughly eight years ago. She argues the GOP has abandoned the principles that once defined it.

“The Republican Party used to have principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility. It has flipped those entirely,” Zabel said.

An Unconventional Candidate

Zabel’s background spans military service in computer systems and cybersecurity, global policy research at RAND, and even a self-published book on the biology of depression. She retired from the Air Force in 2018 and has since settled in Idaho, where she gathered ballot petition signatures from voters spanning the political spectrum — Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and independents alike.

Her decision to run as an independent reflects a broader frustration with partisan politics, though the path she’s chosen is historically narrow. The last independent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives was in 2000, and no independent currently holds a seat in Idaho’s delegation.

Priority Issues

Zabel has centered her campaign on fiscal discipline, Social Security solvency, and immigration reform — issues she argues neither party is adequately addressing. She has pointed to projections suggesting Social Security recipients could face a 22 percent reduction in benefits if Congress fails to act, warning that the window for reform is closing.

She has also raised concerns about artificial intelligence and election integrity, specifically around deepfakes and AI-generated images ahead of the 2028 presidential election cycle. “They’re getting harder to identify. You see somebody has six fingers — OK, probably not,” she said, noting that even crude tells are becoming less reliable as the technology matures. Her campaign logo was itself designed with AI assistance.

Campaign Finances and Strategy

Zabel has contributed $30,000 of her own money to the race, covering more than half of her total campaign expenses. She is not running television commercials, focusing instead on digital advertising to stretch her budget. The lean financial profile stands in sharp contrast to what an established incumbent typically commands heading into a general election.

Fulcher, who has held the seat for four terms, will also face Democratic challenger Kaylee Peterson, who is running against him for the third consecutive time. Peterson’s repeated campaigns have not produced a victory in a district that leans heavily Republican, and Zabel’s independent run adds a new variable to a race that has otherwise followed a predictable pattern.

The Landscape Ahead

Independent bids for Congress face structural hurdles that go well beyond name recognition and fundraising. Without a party apparatus, candidates must build voter contact infrastructure from scratch and rely heavily on earned media and grassroots outreach. Zabel’s ballot petition success — drawing signatures from across party lines — suggests she has some cross-ideological appeal, but converting that into votes on Election Day is a different challenge.

Idaho’s First District stretches across the northern and western portions of the state, including the Boise suburbs, and has been reliably Republican in federal elections. Fulcher won his last race by a commanding margin, and flipping or even meaningfully contesting the seat will require Zabel to consolidate support from voters dissatisfied with both parties.

The 2026 cycle is already drawing attention at the national level, with Idaho’s Senate race part of a broader fight for chamber control that has put the state’s congressional contests under greater scrutiny. Meanwhile, campaign finance watchdogs have flagged concerns about late-disclosing PACs that could complicate transparency across competitive Idaho races this fall.

Whether Zabel’s independent candidacy represents a genuine threat to Fulcher or a principled protest campaign will likely become clearer as fundraising figures and polling emerge closer to the general election.