It sounds like the 3rd and 4th place finishers were perhaps more conservative than Bentz, who sounds like the farm candidate.
3 (viable) conservative candidates could have given this to Bueller, he didn’t even get a quarter of the vote though, pretty pathetic for past gubernatorial nominee.
The 3rd place finisher was Jason Atkinson. He endorsed Pig Vomit for President, so there goes his credibility. Crumpacker, the 4th place finisher, has had relatives serve in Congress from both Oregon and Indiana.
Actually, the one thing about Bentz is that he lives about a mile or so from the Idaho state line. That district is so massively large (bigger than many states) that most of it will be living hundreds of miles away from their Congressmember. This seat, of course, is the one the Dem legislature corrals all the Republicans into (if there was any fairness, 3 out of the 5 seats would be Republican).