Todd Achilles

Todd Achilles is an Independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Idaho. An Army veteran and technology executive who also teaches public policy, he was appointed to the Idaho House in 2024 and resigned in 2025 to challenge Sen. Jim Risch.[1][2] In his Ballotpedia survey, he lists his campaign priorities as stopping corruption in Congress, strengthening the middle class and protecting public lands.[1]

Achilles says he grew up on a family farm, and the Spokesman-Review reports he was born in Oregon.[1][2] He earned a B.A. in economics and international relations from Claremont McKenna College, an M.B.A. and a master's in international studies from the University of Washington, and an M.P.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.[1] He served in the U.S. Army from 1992 to 1995, joining through an ROTC program and serving as a tank commander and armor officer.[1][2]

Achilles spent more than 20 years in senior roles at technology companies, by his own account at T-Mobile, Hewlett-Packard and several startups.[1][2] Ballotpedia lists his experience as including executive director of product management at T-Mobile, president at HTC, vice president and general manager at HP, and CEO of Evoca.[1] He bought a vacation home near Ketchum about two decades ago and moved his family full-time to Boise roughly ten years later, the Spokesman-Review reported; he lives in Boise with his family, according to his Ballotpedia survey.[1][2] He founded Veterans for Idaho Voters and has worked as a professor.[1]

Achilles was a registered Republican until he changed his party affiliation to qualify for appointment, and in February 2024 Gov. Brad Little appointed him to the Idaho House of Representatives (District 16B) as a Democrat, to the seat vacated by Rep. Colin Nash.[1][2] He won the seat in November 2024, defeating Jackie Davidson with 59.8% of the vote, and served on the Agricultural Affairs, Commerce and Human Resources, Ways and Means and State Affairs committees.[1] He resigned from the House at the end of June 2025 and left the Democratic Party to challenge Risch, saying that Risch "just doesn’t represent the state anymore."[1][2]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.