“In the five potential losses, any chance that the challengers were either running on the right or are equally conservative but running on truly local issues?”
I can’t say for sure but it’s doubtful. All 5 of the defeated conservatives had all the right endorsements as far as I can tell, and it would be difficult to outflank them to the good side. It could very well be that voters fall for the throw-the-bums-out “logic” and fail to recognize who is a bum and who is not because they have no clue who these representatives are or how they vote.
Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any personal foibles which would explain any specific defeat.
It should be noted that every single incumbent who lost, even the RINOs, are from very safe Republican districts. Unless there is a complete revolt by squishy voters in the general election, the GOP should easily hold every one of these seats. There are very few marginal districts in Idaho, and none of those are involved here.
I understand the throw-the-bums out side effects.
My Uncle was a small town mayor in Oregon-—a non partisan office (he was a registered and committed Libertarian) He went down in the 2010 wave after about 20 years in office.
His widow is now on Council.