Gary Raney and Judith Ellis steer Defend and Protect Idaho as Way Back money is deployed into Idaho legislative primaries

Defend and Protect Idaho provides a concrete example of outside money being absorbed by an Idaho-controlled PAC and then deployed into Idaho legislative races. The PAC’s official site identifies Judith Ellis as treasurer. Contemporary Idaho reporting identifies retired Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney as chair. Idaho Capital Sun reported that Way Back PAC contributed $350,000 in 2026 and quoted Raney saying Way Back reached out to his group and was interested in their perspective on Idaho politics; Raney said the groups researched each other and found their missions aligned. This is direct evidence that the external PAC sought local Idaho political perspective before the funding relationship, but it does not show that Way Back selected individual Idaho targets or controlled PAC decisions. Idaho Education News reports Defend and Protect spent $751,017 in the 2026 primary: $268,463 supporting 20 candidates and $482,554 opposing 14. Reported candidate-level spending included $27,234 supporting Megan Blanksma, $97,874 opposing Dan Foreman, $66,381 opposing Josh Keyser, $65,492 opposing Christy Zito, and $84,659 successfully opposing Twin Falls Republicans Glenneda Zuiderveld, Josh Kohl and David Leavitt. Current FEC-derived Way Back reporting separately shows $350,000 paid to Defend and Protect Idaho during Apr. 1-June 3, 2026. The record therefore establishes an outside-funding→Idaho-PAC→candidate-support/opposition pipeline with identifiable Idaho leadership. It does NOT establish that Western Futures Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund or another upstream Way Back/WFF funder earmarked money for these specific Idaho candidates.