Christy Zito

Sen. Christy Zito’s relationship to Greg Pruett’s propaganda network is structural, not promotional. She holds a formal executive title and a board seat at Pruett’s flagship organization, ran the day-to-day during her 2022–2024 hiatus from the legislature, and is the only Idaho legislator with a dedicated Pruett-registered thank-you domain. Five separate Pruett-operated surfaces all point at her. She is the partner inside the network’s content stack.

Inside this dossier:

• Political Director and Board Member of the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance (rebranded Honor Idaho February 2026). Formal executive title at Pruett’s flagship — not a supporter or ally relationship.
• Ran I2AA during her 2022–2024 hiatus from the legislature. Per Wikipedia, she did not seek re-election to D23 in 2022 because she went on to work for I2AA. Two years inside the operation between elected offices.
• Five Pruett surfaces promote her. I2AA / Honor Idaho, Idaho Dispatch, Keep Idaho Free, GregPruett.com (with a dedicated “Christy Zito Archives” tag), and the standalone ThankChristyZito.com domain. No other Idaho legislator gets this treatment.
• I2AA’s first-ever TV ad was for Zito. $2,005 on CBS2 Boise, April 21, 2020. Required a Steve Taggart Sunshine Act complaint and an Idaho SOS referral to the Attorney General before disclosure was filed.
• Bryan Smith’s $1,600 anchored that disclosure. Single largest itemized donor on the belated April 27, 2020 I2AA filing. The IFF Vice Chair paid for the Pruett ad celebrating Zito.
• 2024 Young Americans for Liberty Conference attendee alongside the Magic Valley Miracle Four (Hostetler, Kohl, Leavitt, Zuiderveld). Beat incumbent Sen. Geoff Schroeder in the May 21, 2024 D8 primary.

Who she is

Christy Zito is the Republican senator for Idaho Senate District 8. She beat incumbent Sen. Geoff Schroeder in the May 21, 2024 primary. Per Wikipedia and Idaho EdNews, her prior legislative time runs through three districts:

• Idaho House D23, December 1, 2016 through November 30, 2020 (two terms; succeeded Rich Wills)
• Idaho Senate D23, December 1, 2020 through November 30, 2022 (one term; succeeded Bert Brackett)
• 2022–2024 hiatus from the legislature, went to work for the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance (per Wikipedia: “did not seek re-election because she went on to work for the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance”)
• Idaho Senate D8, December 1, 2024 to present (beat incumbent Schroeder in primary)

Born in Utah. AS in farm and ranch management from Bridgerland Technical College. Five children. Self-described gun-rights activist.

Her signature legislative achievement is HB 206 (2019), the Idaho law allowing concealed carry without a permit for ages 18-20. Gov. Brad Little signed it on April 2, 2019.

Zito’s voting record is not the headline. Her relationship to Greg Pruett’s propaganda network is. She is Pruett’s partner — a formal executive title and a Board seat at Pruett’s flagship organization, plus a two-year stretch running the day-to-day during her break from the legislature. Wikipedia documents it.

The Pruett relationship is structural, not promotional

Every political operator endorses legislators. Pruett endorses one legislator like a partner.

• Zito is Political Director and Board Member of the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance (rebranded Honor Idaho in February 2026). That is a formal executive title and a Board seat at Pruett’s flagship organization, not a supporter or ally relationship.
• She ran I2AA during her 2022-2024 hiatus from the legislature. She handled the day-to-day political operation of Pruett’s flagship while she was out of elected office. Wikipedia’s biographical entry on Zito says her decision not to seek re-election to D23 in 2022 was “because she went on to work for the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance.”
• Pruett’s personal blog GregPruett.com runs a dedicated “Christy Zito Archives” tag with nine-plus posts. Headlines include “Idaho Gun Owners Unleash BIG Surprise for Pro-Gun Champion, Rep. Christy Zito!” During her 2022-2024 hiatus, Pruett ran “Idaho Republicans Elected a Pro-Abortion Atheist” about her replacement.
• I2AA ran its first-ever TV ad to promote Zito. Cost: $2,005. Aired on CBS2 Boise April 21, 2020. Pruett bragged about it on Facebook.
• ThankChristyZito.com. Pruett registered a standalone domain to thank one Idaho legislator. No other Idaho legislator has anything like it. The domain ran during her tenure and has since been abandoned.
• Zito scored 100 percent on I2AA’s candidate survey. Pruett’s own scoring metric rates her perfect.

Five Pruett-operated surfaces all point at Zito: I2AA / Honor Idaho, Idaho Dispatch, Keep Idaho Free, GregPruett.com, and ThankChristyZito.com. Zero other Idaho legislators get that treatment from Pruett’s portfolio.

This is not normal advocacy. Professional gun-rights groups run ratings, endorsements, and scorecards. They do not build year-running blog archives around single legislators. They do not register dedicated thank-you domains. They do not burn their first TV ad on one person.

The 2020 I2AA TV ad promoting Zito ran on CBS2 Boise April 21, 2020 and cost $2,005. Total I2AA ad spend that cycle: $4,430. I2AA fundraising total: $15,869. Single largest itemized donor: Idaho Falls attorney Bryan Smith at $1,600. Pruett filed late after Steve Taggart’s Sunshine Act complaint; Idaho Secretary of State Lawrence Denney referred the matter to the Idaho Attorney General before Pruett complied.

— Post Register, 2020-04-28

How a Zito bill moves through the Pruett network

In 2025, Zito sponsored SB 1298, the Stand Your Ground Shield Act. Watch what ran on it:

1. I2AA / Honor Idaho published action alerts and editorial coverage. Honor Idaho ran “Stand Your Ground Bill Adds Real Immunity, Real Protection” on February 18, 2026 under Pruett’s byline.
2. Idaho Dispatch covered the bill as news. The frame: common-sense reform opposed only by enemies of freedom.
3. Keep Idaho Free fundraised on it with “the left is coming for your guns” appeals.
4. GregPruett.com endorsed Zito personally for sponsoring it. The “personal” blog lets Pruett say things his 501(c)(4) cannot.
5. ThankChristyZito.com added the bill to the gallery of Zito wins.
6. Zito’s own Senate Substack published “STAND YOUR GROUND SHIELD ACT” repeating the same message.

Five Pruett-operated surfaces plus Zito’s own Substack. One bill. One operator. A casual reader could see all of it and believe independent voices were converging on the same conclusion. They are reading one hand.

Who funds her — IFF leadership and the GOP chair, by name

Per the Idaho SOS Sunshine campaign-finance database, donations of $500 or more to Christy Zito’s Senate D8 campaigns from named IFF leadership, affiliated PAC vehicles, and the Idaho GOP Chair:

Amount	Donor	Cycle
$1,000	Doyle Beck (IFF Board)	2024 P
$500	Brent Regan (IFF Board Chairman)	2024 P
$1,000	Smith, Driscoll & Associates, PLLC (Bryan Smith’s law firm)	2024 P
$1,000	Stefan Gleason	2024 P
$500	Michael Gleason	2024 P
$500	Rhino PAC	2020
$1,000	Dorothy Moon (Idaho GOP Chair)	2021
$500	Faye Thompson	2024 P

The reciprocal: Christy Zito gave $999 to Dorothy Moon’s 2022 Secretary of State campaign. Moon gave Zito $1,000. Zito gave $999 back.

Citizens Alliance of Idaho PAC also backed Zito in 2024. Per Steve Taggart’s April 7, 2026 Political Potatoes investigation, CAI is the Idaho state PAC affiliate of Citizens Alliance of America (CAA). The CAI donor profile and out-of-state money trail are documented on the Citizens Alliance organization page and in the Follow the Money investigation.

The YAL pipeline. Per the Political Potatoes Zuiderveld-Maloney-YAL piece, Zito attended the 2024 Young Americans for Liberty Conference with Glenneda Zuiderveld, Clint Hostetler, Joshua Kohl, and David Leavitt. The network treats that cluster as its 2024 Magic Valley / South Idaho yield. YAL’s spending arm Make Liberty Win was on track to drop a planned $1.1 million in Idaho in 2024 until the 16-legislator Hazlitt Coalition withdrawal of May 14, 2024 cut the program short. Citizens Alliance scaled up to fill the gap. The full money map is in Follow the Money.

Per Taggart’s piece and verifiable in the Idaho SOS Sunshine database, CAI’s 2024 slate behind Zito lost most of its primaries.

What she’s voted for

Zito voted against HB 445, the 2025 Idaho water-stewardship bill that would have codified water agreements and funded aquifer recharge. The Times-News editorial board called out the bill’s opponents in 2025. The HB 445 roll call is on file at LegiScan.

She voted against a legislator pay hike during her current term. The IFF fiscal-restraint script.

Her contested-bill voting record matches the Senate-side IFF-aligned bloc the Idaho Freedom Foundation Freedom Index scores at the top.

The von Ehlinger context

Zito’s Senate colleague Glenneda Zuiderveld posted a Bible-verse defense of then-Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger on July 1, 2021, while his case for raping a 19-year-old legislative intern was active. Von Ehlinger was later convicted. Zito did not publicly distance herself from Zuiderveld’s post. Both senators still vote inside the Senate-side IFF bloc at the top of the IFF Freedom Index.

Where she sits in the network

Zito is the Pruett network’s deepest relationship inside the legislature. Above her: the Idaho Freedom Foundation runs the policy shop. Beside her: the State Freedom Caucus Network whips the votes. Citizens Alliance funds the primaries. Pruett’s six surfaces, all run by one man, carry the public narrative.

Pruett and Zito are partners running the same story from two sides — Pruett owns the publication side, Zito owns the legislative side.

Connected pages

• Greg Pruett dossier, the network operator who built the I2AA / Honor Idaho apparatus Zito serves as Political Director and Board Member
• Idaho Freedom Foundation organization page, the policy shop Zito’s voting record aligns with at top-of-Index scoring
• State Freedom Caucus Network organization page
• Citizens Alliance organization page, the funding pipeline backing her 2024 primary
• Glenneda Zuiderveld dossier, Senate colleague, fellow 2024 YAL Conference attendee, posted Bible-verse defense of von Ehlinger
• Scott Herndon dossier, chamber Idaho Freedom Caucus director
• Bryan Smith dossier, IFF Vice Chair whose $1,600 funded the I2AA pro-Zito 2020 TV buy
• Follow the Money investigation

Have evidence?

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