Drivers on Interstate 84 got a plain-spoken civics lesson this weekend in the Treasure Valley. Activists stood on the Eagle Rd overpass and unfurled a handmade banner, big enough to read at highway speed, with four words on it: ACHILLES IS A DEMOCRAT. The Idaho Transportation Department’s I-84 Mobility Improvement Study puts traffic on the stretches of I-84 on either side of the Eagle Road interchange at roughly 148,600 to 166,200 vehicles a day. Spread over 24 hours, that is more than 6,000 vehicles an hour on average, and more than that at rush hour.
Emmett’s Grandad Farms shared a photo of the scene Sunday evening on X, with a message of its own: “Todd Achilles is a snake and a grifter. Idahoans, remember that when you vote this Tuesday.” The post drew hundreds of likes and dozens of reposts within hours.
Todd Achilles is a snake and a grifter. Idahoans, remember that when you vote this Tuesday.
Grandad Farms (@grandadfarms) November 1, 2026
@Achilles4Idaho
A banner like this on an overpass is an honest attempt by its handlers to continue to bring transparency to the U.S. Senate race. And honesty has been in short supply in this race. Achilles is running for the U.S. Senate against Jim Risch as an “independent.” Consider what that label is covering.
Achilles served in the Idaho House as a Democrat, was elected to that seat as a Democrat in 2024, and resigned in 2025 to launch his independent bid. When the actual Democratic nominee, David Roth, refused to get out of the way, the Ada County Democrats handed him an ultimatum, and he soon dropped out. Roth himself told the Idaho Statesman that “many of the precinct captains and leadership in Ada County are strong supporters of Todd Achilles.” Today the Ada County Democrats’ own 2026 voter guide recommends a vote for him. His listed endorsers include NOW PAC and the American Federation of Government Employees. One of his top individual donors is a Seattle man who gave $14,000, and after Idaho his biggest sources of contributions are California and Washington, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.
That is not a man without a party. That is a party without its label on the ballot.
We have covered this before. His record in Boise tells the story: votes against parental school choice, against medical freedom, against keeping men out of women’s facilities, and his role in the 2024 ranked choice voting push. We laid it out in Todd Achilles can change party shirts, but he can’t change his voting record and in Idaho’s Leftist in Sheep’s Clothing. Risch put it simply: “Changing your party label doesn’t change your record.”
Here is the good news. A rebrand only works on people who aren’t paying attention, and Idahoans are paying attention. You see it in the folks who spent their weekend hauling a homemade sign up to an overpass, in the farm families sharing it, and in the neighbors talking about it over the fence. Enough of us know exactly what this campaign is. Tomorrow, Idaho gets the last word, and we expect the voters to see through the costume and turn Todd Achilles away at the ballot box.