Brad Little just won his third Republican primary without holding a single rally, attending a single debate, or making a single public appearance of consequence. He outspent his closest challenger ten to one. Most of that money went to firms in Virginia, Florida, and Utah before a single Idaho voter was contacted.

In the May 2026 primary, Little raised $1,842,516. Mark Fitzpatrick, the closest challenger, raised $184,752. Little got 140,778 votes. Fitzpatrick got 68,546. The math works out to $13.09 per vote for Little and $2.70 per vote for Fitzpatrick.

Where did the other $10.39 go? Public records tell that story.

Interactive Visualization

Follow the Money: Brad Little's PAC Network →

Every documented transfer, every entity, every out-of-state vendor. Interactive diagram.

The Pattern Behind the Win

The Idaho Fidelity Foundation reviewed campaign finance records filed with the Idaho Secretary of State's Sunshine system, covering Little's campaign committee, his PACs, and the network of political committees connected to his operation across the 2022 and 2026 cycles. The pattern is the same in both: money raised from Idaho donors and businesses leaves the state and flows to a small group of out-of-state political firms.

The 2026 spending breakdown will not be fully available until after the election results are certified, expected in late June. What is already on record from 2022 establishes exactly how the operation works. In that cycle, confirmed out-of-state payments from Little's campaign and connected PACs exceeded $1.4 million against total fundraising of approximately $1.9 million.

The firms receiving that money were not chosen at random. They form a specific political network: a Washington DC television firm with roots in the national GOP establishment, a Florida data operation running opposition research for Idaho's most powerful business lobby, and a Salt Lake City firm whose staff came up through BYU's political science program. Together they built the infrastructure that won Brad Little three Republican primaries.

The Virginia Firm

FP1 Strategies is based in Arlington, Virginia. Terry Nelson, one of its founding partners, was political director of the Republican National Committee and ran the national political operation for Bush-Cheney 2004. The other co-founder, Danny Diaz, managed Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign after serving as RNC communications director.

FP1 lists Little on its own website alongside Republican governors Doug Ducey of Arizona, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Jim Justice of West Virginia, and Joe Lombardo of Nevada. The firm also runs independent expenditure campaigns for the Republican Governors Association, which received $50,000 from Little's Idaho Victory Fund PAC across three separate transfers.

This is not a coincidence. FP1 works for governors the national Republican establishment wants to keep in office. Brad Little is on their client list for a reason.

In the four months before the May 2022 primary, Little's campaign paid FP1 more than $1.3 million for broadcast advertising, including a $210,070 check one week before election day. That was roughly 70 cents of every dollar he raised that cycle. Political TV firms collect commissions on media buys, typically 15 percent. On a $1.3 million purchase, roughly $195,000 went to the firm before a single ad ran. That incentive structure is why consultants push television over cheaper digital alternatives. Bigger buys, bigger commissions.

Little raised the identical amount in 2026 as 2022 and ran the same invisible campaign. The full 2026 payment breakdown will be available after late June certification and will be reported when it is.

The Utah Operation

Television gets voters who are already planning to vote. Reaching the ones who might stay home, or might be convinced to vote against you, requires different tools. That work went to two firms in Salt Lake City.

Arena Mail and Digital collected money from Little's campaign and from Idaho Liberty PAC, the attack committee his PAC network funds. Arena's roots run through BYU. The firm did not limit itself to Little. Secretary of State Phil McGrane paid Arena more than $80,000. Lt. Governor Scott Bedke paid more than $200,000. Senate leaders Chuck Winder and Jim Woodward each paid tens of thousands. The Idaho Republican Party paid Arena roughly $30,000 in 2020.

One firm in Salt Lake City handled direct mail and digital advertising for the governor, the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, the Senate president pro tempore, and the state Republican Party. The Idaho Republican establishment does not run its own media shop. It outsources to Utah.

September Group LLC, also out of Salt Lake City, ran the ground operation. Idaho Sunshine records show Idaho Liberty PAC paid September Group $57,000 in October 2023, ahead of the 2024 primary season when the PAC went after conservative Republican state legislators.

State Sen. Tammy Nichols told Gem State Chronicle a constituent was approached by a September Group canvasser who said he was from Utah and called Idaho Liberty PAC "Brad Little's PAC." He told the voter he would be back in April before the primary. The full account is at Gem State Chronicle: "Is Brad Little Behind Attacks on Conservatives?"

The PAC Network

Not all the money traveled a straight line from Little's campaign to these vendors. Idaho Sunshine records show a layered structure of committees that moves contributions through multiple accounts before they reach vendors or attack targets.

Friends of Brad Little PAC shares a post office box -- PO Box 615 in Boise -- with the Idaho Victory Fund. Hayden Rogers, Little's 2022 campaign manager, is listed as treasurer on both entities. He joined the governor's office after the election and his name appears on the founding paperwork for both committees.

From	To	Amount	Period
Friends of Brad Little PAC	Idaho Victory Fund	$500,000	March 2023
Idaho Victory Fund	Idaho Liberty PAC	$235,000	2022 cycle
Idaho Victory Fund	Republican Governors Association	$50,000	2021-2022
Idaho Liberty PAC	September Group LLC (Salt Lake City)	$57,000	Oct 2023
Idaho Liberty PAC	Arena Mail and Digital (Salt Lake City)	$16,340	2022-2023
Brad Little campaign	FP1 Strategies (Arlington, VA)	$1,300,000+	2022 primary

Idaho Liberty PAC has used that money to target conservative Republican legislators. Senators Nichols, Lenney, Trakel, Zuiderveld, and Herndon have all faced attack advertising traceable to the PAC. The Idaho Freedom Caucus publicly named Idaho Liberty PAC as connected to Governor Little and documented $340,000 in transfers from the Idaho Victory Fund.

The IACI Machine

Running parallel to Little's campaign operation is a separate political infrastructure funded by the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry and its PAC, the Idaho Prosperity Fund.

Little chaired IACI for twenty years before he ran for governor. His current chief of staff, Zach Hauge, is a former IACI vice president. On legislation IACI opposes, Little vetoes. The alignment is not occasional.

Idaho Sunshine records show the Idaho Prosperity Fund paid $545,874 to Strategic Guidance Systems Inc., a Republican political consulting firm in Gainesville, Florida, across 64 transactions. SGS handles voter file analysis, opposition research, polling, and targeting. In plain terms, a Florida firm is building the lists that tell Little's allies which Idaho legislators to go after and which voters to reach. This relationship has not been previously reported.

The Idaho Prosperity Fund's largest donors include Idaho Power at $81,000, J.R. Simplot Company at $79,500, Blue Cross of Idaho at $79,500, and Micron Technology at $64,500. Idaho Power's rates are set by a commission the governor appoints. Micron received significant sales tax exemptions under a bill Little signed in 2022. These are not neutral business relationships.

IACI also wrote a $10,000 check directly to Brad Little For Governor. The organization Little led for two decades still funds his campaigns.

What This Bought

Fitzpatrick spent $2.70 per vote and got 68,546 of them with no institutional support, no party backing, and an active ground operation working against him. He did that with a mechanic's budget against a governor with $1.84 million and the full weight of the national Republican establishment behind him.

Little won. But consider what it cost to keep him there. A Virginia TV firm, a Florida data shop, a Utah canvassing crew, and a Salt Lake City mail operation. An attack PAC running Utah workers door to door in Idaho neighborhoods. A business lobby with a $545,000 relationship with a consulting firm in Gainesville that most Idaho voters have never heard of.

None of that infrastructure is Idaho. It was built somewhere else, paid for with money that Idaho corporations and donors handed to a governor who spent $13.09 per vote to beat a challenger who spent $2.70. Little made at least five trips to the White House in the opening months of Trump's second term, repositioned himself accordingly, and came away with an endorsement. The out-of-state money network and a presidential blessing he had to earn in person in Washington: that is what $13.09 a vote actually bought.

What Comes Next

This is the first part of the Idaho Fidelity Foundation's ongoing investigation into Brad Little's campaign finance network. Public records requests are pending with the Idaho Secretary of State for the 2026 primary voter history file and party registration data.

Additional records requests are being prepared for state contracts held by companies that appear in Little's donor records. The full 2026 campaign finance data will be available after certification. The Idaho Fidelity Foundation will report those figures when they are public.

Data Analysis

Idaho 2022 Republican Primary: Voter Age Analysis →

Who actually shows up to primaries in Idaho? Age breakdowns, turnout patterns, and what it means for 2026.