BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jim Risch has been elected to represent Idaho for a second term the same night Republicans claimed the Senate majority for the first time in eight years.

Risch, an attorney and longtime state senator who briefly served as Idaho governor before he was first elected to Congress in 2008, was challenged by Democrat Nels Mitchell, a Boise attorney, in Tuesday's election. Mitchell had criticized Risch for failing to work with Democrats in Congress and said the incumbent had lost touch with Idaho.

But voters solidly supported Risch, who is known as one of the most conservative members of the Senate. Risch has said his focus will be to continue reining in what he believes to be an excessive federal government.

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