Todd Achilles is an Army veteran and former Democratic state legislator from Boise, Idaho. Born in Oregon, he served as a tank commander in the U.S. Army from 1992 to 1995. After military service, he worked for over two decades in the technology sector, holding senior positions at T-Mobile, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and HTC. He was appointed to the Idaho House of Representatives in February 2024 to represent District 16B and was elected to the seat in November 2024. In July 2025, he resigned from the state legislature to focus full-time on his independent U.S. Senate campaign, becoming unaffiliated from the Democratic Party. He has degrees from Claremont McKenna College (B.A. in economics and international relations), University of Washington (M.B.A. in marketing and finance, and M.A.I.S. in international studies), and University of California, Berkeley (M.P.A.). Achilles is running as an independent to unseat Senator Jim Risch, positioning himself as a centrist alternative to the two-party system.
Achilles grew up on a family farm in Oregon and is the son of a Republican household. He attended Claremont McKenna College and earned advanced degrees from the University of Washington and UC Berkeley. He served as a tank commander in the U.S. Army from 1992 to 1995, deployments that shaped his views on government effectiveness. He spent over 20 years in the technology industry, including 13 years at T-Mobile (as executive director of product management) and leadership roles at HTC and HP. He holds an M.B.A. in marketing and finance, M.A.I.S. in international studies, and M.P.A. in public administration. He transitioned to politics after his technology career, initially registering as a Democrat and winning a state House seat in a special election. His decision to run for U.S. Senate as an independent reflects his frustration with both major parties' inability to address critical issues facing the country.