The GOP rancher trying to save Idaho from the far right

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Government, Politics

4.0 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jennifer Ellis is the face of the movement that handed Donald Trump his biggest defeat of the year. She leads Take Back Idaho, a political action committee founded last year to beat back the growing tide of extremist candidates in Idaho. Ellis’s main target on Tuesday was Janice McGeachin, the state’s far-right lieutenant governor, whom Trump backed in her gubernatorial primary challenge to incumbent Gov. Brad Little. Trump’s candidate lost by almost 21 points. For this week’s episode of Playbook Deep Dive, we sat down with Jennifer Ellis at her cattle ranch in eastern Idaho to understand how the state’s GOP establishment delivered this stinging rebuke to Trumpism. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Jennifer Ellis is a cattle rancher and co-founder of Take Back Idaho.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.Brook Hayes is a producer for POLITICO audio.Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm looking out at a broad green valley in eastern Idaho.
0:06.9	It's empty now, but pretty soon it will be filled with hundreds of head of cattle.
0:10.8	They don't come for another week.
0:12.2	In fact, that's why I'm fairly filthy.
0:14.6	I whipped up here yesterday just to start fencing, and then I got a call that you wanted
0:19.6	to talk.
0:20.6	I was like, sure.
0:22.6	Jennifer Ellis is a fourth-generation cattle rancher.
0:26.4	My grandkids will be sixth generation in livestock industry in Idaho, from two sides.
0:33.6	How are they going into the business, or does anyone leave and get out?
0:37.4	You know, the Spartans.
0:39.0	Or do you get in trouble if you do, too?
0:42.6	We're sitting outside her cabin next to her dog, Tink, which is a German Shepherd and
0:46.6	Corgi mix.
0:47.6	The German Shepherd part is on the head, and the Corgi part is on the body, and Tink looks
0:53.4	as unusual as you would imagine.
0:55.6	No offense, Tink.
1:00.2	This is Playbook Deep Dive.
1:01.5	I'm Ryan Liza.
1:05.7	Jennifer is a lifelong Republican.
1:08.5	You know, I think that's one of those things you're kind of born into.
1:12.3	Like a lot of conservative ranchers at West, she grew up arguing with environmentalists,
	...

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