Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of candidate profiles Idaho Education News will publish ahead of the May 19 primary election. We’re highlighting competitive races impacting education policy. Click here to see our Elections webpage featuring a list of all candidates and much more. Click here to see your voter information. Follow our elections blog for breaking news and insights.

The three powerhouse candidates running for Senate in District 8 have served in the Legislature for a combined 13 terms.

Sen. Christy Zito, R-Mountain Home, a Senate Education Committee member, faces a three-way primary in May against former House Majority Leader Megan Blanksma and longtime legislator Terry Gestrin.

They each have different philosophies that guide their decision making:

• Zito supports budget cuts and severing dependence on the federal government.
• Blanksma two years ago opposed a massive shift in how the state budget works.
• Gestrin focuses on helping solve problems for folks in the sprawling rural district that encompasses Valley, Boise, Custer and Elmore counties.

The victor will face Democrat John Garrett in November.

Two years ago, Zito’s race landed at No. 10 for most expensive primaries, according to the secretary of state’s website. PACs spent $90,988 to oppose Zito, $20,977 to support her and Zito’s campaign spent $47,233, a total of $159,107.

PACs were less interested in Blanksma’s 2024 primary for House Seat B, but still took notice. Make Liberty Win, a national PAC that receives funding from the libertarian Young Americans for Liberty, spent $5,410 to oppose Blanksma. The same group spent $5,118 to support Zito in the 2024 primary.

Gestrin last ran in 2022, when he lost his four-way primary to Geoff Schroeder. Gestrin said he held off on running in 2024 because his wife had some health issues. “You take care of family first,” he said.

Zito said she views issues from multiple lenses.

She’s a mother, a grandmother, a farmer, a taxpayer, a legislator, a Senate Education Committee member and a former Glenns Ferry trustee.

“I think that gives me a pretty broad view,” she said.

Now in her fourth term — two in the House and two in the Senate — Zito is part of the Gang of Eight, a hardline conservative group formed last year. The members have made a budget pledge to vote against new federal funding, new state employees and increases to existing budgets.

“I think we’ve been very successful because we’ve shed light on the budget situation here in Idaho,” Zito said

She doesn’t think Idaho should take federal grants or “entwine ourselves” with the federal government in any way. She said federal money can risk the state’s sovereignty and can end suddenly.

“We can’t rely on the federal government,” she said. “We just can’t.”

Zito last year supported the Parental Choice Tax Credit, created by House Bill 93, and told EdNews this week that she would be in favor of increasing the $50 million cap.

“There have been over 6,000 families apply for that tax credit,” she said. “And it’s a tax credit, and it’s less than it costs to educate a child in public education.”

But she said she is not against public education. She supports whatever works best for each individual child. We don’t all learn the same way, she added.

This session she has spoken in support of a bill, HB 745, that would prohibit school districts from automatically deducting teachers’ union dues from paychecks. It is now held in a Senate committee.

“I, personally, across the board, really don’t believe that those who are paid by the taxpayers should be able to belong to a union,” Zito said.

On social issues, Zito’s campaign website says she wants to protect future generations from the woke “radical trans agenda.”

She said that agenda is “messing with our children” and she doesn’t believe surgeries and hormone therapies should be performed on children.

“I think there’s a lot of encouragement out there for this that parents don’t know about,” Zito said.

She wants that transgender agenda to be left out of schools so children should not have to deal with it.

“I believe that sexual identity is something that you’re born with,” Zito said. “I believe that sexual education should be done at home.”

As an undefeated legislator — she’s won 12 of 12 races — Zito said it’s very humbling that her constituents have placed their trust in her.

“I hope I live up to that expectation and that faith that they put in me,” she said.

Blanksma said she can make a laundry list of all of Zito’s votes that go against the needs of her constituents.

That includes voting against agriculture extension offices, water storage funding and supporting the Parental Choice Tax Credit, which Blanksma said primarily benefits families in the Treasure Valley.

“We’ve watched Senator Zito’s votes for years, and I don’t feel that they’re representative of the district that she’s supposed to serve,” Blanksma told EdNews.

Blanksma is a former House majority leader, but her time in leadership abruptly ended in February 2024. Her Republican colleagues in the House ousted her from the role over what she described as a disagreement on how the state’s budget should work.

“The speaker and I had a difference of opinion,” Blanksma said.

The previous system took state agency budgets as a whole, but statehouse leaders and budget setters shifted the process to what is now known as “maintenance” and “enhancement” budgets.

Blanksma was opposed to that idea. She said the new system makes it harder for Idahoans to track how much the state is spending, while the old system was easier for everyone to see.

“I just thought that was a much more transparent way of doing business,” she said.

In her four terms at the Statehouse, one of Blankma’s biggest education initiatives was the Idaho Launch program.

In 2023, she sponsored House Bill 24 that created the grant program that now provides up to $8,000 in tuition support for high school graduates who go on to in-demand career programs.

“What I wanted was a program that would help these kids that wouldn’t necessarily get the help, the ones that want to go to lineman school,” she said.

Becoming a lineman is expensive, Blanksma said, and is cost prohibitive unless a big company like Idaho Power pays for classes. The Launch program aims to make that easier for students who take a path outside of the traditional four-year university system.

“I think there is an excitement for it,” she said.

Blanksma’s time in the Legislature ended after the 2024 primary, when she lost to Rep. Faye Thompson by a 2.6-point margin. Thompson is now a member of Zito’s Gang of Eight.

“A lot of what they’re espousing is — this ‘gang’ — is talking about all sorts of across-the-board cuts,” Blanksma said.

She said budget cuts have real effects on people and taking a hatchet to programs can have impacts on local communities.

After being ousted from leadership and then losing her re-election bid, Blanksma said she has been receiving calls from her neighbors who asked her to run again. She said she sat down with her husband before deciding it was worth getting back into the fray.

“I’m not dwelling on losses,” Blanksma said. “We’re looking to try to get a win here and try to have a more positive situation for the four counties in District 8.”

Gestrin has a simple answer on what it means to be a legislator.

“Fixing problems for people,” he said.

The former Valley County Commissioner and five-term lawmaker owns a small business in Donnelly called Long Valley Farm Service, where he sells feed and storage sheds, among other things.

His rural colloquialisms come out when questioned on social issues, such as the “radical trans agenda” that Zito mentioned. He’s not concerned about that.

“That was a snake raised its head, but I think that’s been put back in the hole,” Gestrin said.

On the problems he fixes for people, Gestrin said he helped pass a bill that allowed off-road vehicles on state highways. He said folks in his district would get ticketed for driving their side-by-sides up to the local cafe.

“It’s those kinds of things,” Gestrin said. “That’s what I bring to the table.”

On education issues, Gestrin said he’s not sure how the Parental Choice Tax Credit helps people. He said locally everything is tied to the McCall-Donnelly School District.

“We have quite a bit of school choice, but it’s sure inflicted pain on — or perceived pain — on school districts,” he said.

Gestrin said he’s noticed a problem with education after the pandemic. More people started homeschooling, he said, but he’s not sure that’s best. While he’s seen some homeschoolers have great outcomes, some parents are relying too much on computers to teach their kids.

He said he saw a young man who “hated our country” after being homeschooled.

“And I go, what kind of a curriculum did you find on the internet?” Gestrin said. “You know, there’s got to be some kind of a standard, I would think.”

He said all schools should have some accountability, even private schools that enroll students who benefit from the tax credit.

“That’s the thing they need to understand,” Gestrin said. “They’re going to use state money, you’re going to have strings tied up with it.”

Gestrin’s been around for a while and said he’s a “known commodity” in his district. He describes himself as a common sense guy who doesn’t throw fire bombs at his opponents.

“I do my thing and I leave other people to their thing,” he said. “They’ve got to defend what they do, and they’ve got to defend where they stand. That’s not up to me to point that out.”

Gestrin said he’ll have his cell phone listed if anyone has concerns. His campaign website is not active and the last time he posted on social media was 2015.

“That’s the one thing that I need,” he said. “I need to find myself some help with this website and social media.”