Mark Fitzpatrick

Who he is

Mark Fitzpatrick was born in Los Angeles in 1978. He served as a Newport Beach (California) police officer from 1999 through 2014. His parents now live in Eagle, Idaho. He owns the Old State Saloon there, plus a wedding venue dedicated to “celebrating traditional marriage,” a real estate brokerage, and a 2025-built events center adjacent to the saloon.

This is his first political candidacy at any level. He is running for Idaho Governor in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary against incumbent Gov. Brad Little.

His path from unknown saloon owner to gubernatorial candidate runs through one product: deliberately-engineered viral-outrage promotional events, each timed to a national cultural-flashpoint news cycle, each designed to maximize earned media. The Idaho Freedom Foundation gave him a “Citizen Hero Award” for the strategy. Then his own featured speakers said the quiet part out loud and Idaho Republican Party event hosting at his venue had to end.

The Hetero Awesome Fest receipts

In June 2024, Old State Saloon announced June as “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month.” Free beer to “any heterosexual male dressed like a heterosexual male.” Thursday all-day happy-hour pricing for heterosexual women. “Straight male clothing” contest. The post went viral. National outlets including KTVB, NBC News, and Fox News covered it. Fitzpatrick promised to bring it back in 2025 “10 times bigger.”

The 2025 expansion was not a saloon promotion. It was a multi-day festival. Per KIVI TV reporting and the primary-source Old State Saloon’s Impact on Idaho Politics accounting, the speaker roster included:

• Dave Reilly. Identified by InvestigateWest in December 2023 as a participant in planning communications for the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The Idaho Freedom Foundation had previously contracted with Reilly as a messaging consultant; the disclosure of that hire cost IFF President Wayne Hoffman his job in January 2024. At Fitzpatrick’s festival, broadcasting live on The Backlash podcast with Fitzpatrick seated beside him, Reilly praised Boise by saying: “It’s clean. There aren’t any black people here.” Per on-scene reporting, Fitzpatrick’s grin widened.
• Rebecca Hargraves (Backlash co-host). Documented on-record statements at Fitzpatrick’s event: “Wait until they find out that our population in Idaho is only 0.3% Jewish. Far too high, IMO.” And separately: “I’m racist. You people aren’t breaking any stories here.”
• Ian Carroll. Photographed alongside Fitzpatrick at the event. Described in reporting as an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who blends anti-vaccine messaging with antisemitic narratives.
• Gabriel Ranch. Presented “The Inevitability of Christian Nationalism.”
• Austin Whitsitt. Presented “Flat Earth Biblical Cosmology.” Whitsitt, who has appeared on Alex Jones’s InfoWars to teach flat-earth theory, argues that “NASA is a satanic deception” and that the Earth is flat.

Red Chair Lavender, a vendor, publicly cut ties with Old State Saloon over Reilly’s “no black people” remark. Vendor owner Bill Southerland: “We have a lot of loyal supporters and the people that know us, know we are just farmers. Everyone has their own battles to overcome and fight, and we didn’t need Old State’s battle.” Fitzpatrick’s public response, per KIVI, was that the Reilly comment was “not a wise or kind thing to say” but that he disagreed it warranted cancellation, and he told his customers to “go and support” the vendor that had cut ties with him.

The 2025 festival cost approximately $85,000 to produce. Recoverable revenue was approximately $25,000 from vendors and sales plus a $10,000 donation. Fitzpatrick absorbed approximately $50,000 in operational loss to host the speaker roster above. The festival was a political product, not a profitable saloon event.

DOCUMENTED — JUNE 2025 HETERO AWESOME FEST

At the 2025 Hetero Awesome Fest hosted by Mark Fitzpatrick at Old State Saloon, featured speaker Dave Reilly (a 2017 Unite the Right rally planning-communications participant) said on-scene that Boise is 'clean. There aren't any black people here.' Featured speaker Rebecca Hargraves said Idaho's 0.3% Jewish population is 'far too high, IMO,' and separately said 'I'm racist.' Fitzpatrick was seated next to Reilly on the live podcast broadcast and did not object. He absorbed approximately $50,000 in operational loss to produce the festival.

Why the Idaho GOP pulled event hosting at his saloon

Per the Old State Saloon’s Impact on Idaho Politics accounting:

• The IFF awarded Fitzpatrick its “Citizen Hero Award,” presented by then-IFF-aligned legislator Ron Nate (who became IFF President in January 2024).
• The IFF deployed Rachel Hazelip for a promotional interview at the festival and operated an attendee-data-collection booth on-site.
• Legislators who attended or supported the festival: Keyser, Nichols, Lenney, Leavitt, Tanner, plus former Trump Interior official Theo Wold.

What ended the Idaho GOP event hosting at Old State Saloon was not the cultural-outrage stunts. Those remain politically useful to the IFF-adjacent network. The institutional retreat came after Jewish Republican members raised complaints about Fitzpatrick’s antisemitic and anti-Jewish content. Fitzpatrick refused to back away from the positions when the pressure was applied.

He still appears on the Idaho GOP and Ada County GOP candidate pages for the 2026 gubernatorial primary as a Republican in good standing. His physical venue is no longer a GOP-event destination. The candidate relationship is being managed; the venue relationship is not.

The sequence is the proof: institutional Idaho GOP support did not retreat because of the Hetero Awesomeness Month stunts. It retreated specifically because Jewish Republican members surfaced content the candidate would not disavow. Fitzpatrick’s refusal to retreat is the confirmatory data that the Reilly-Hargraves-Carroll cluster was not external contamination of his event. It was aligned content.

Rewarding the Mickelsen ICE attack

In November 2024, Old State Saloon launched an ICE-tip free-beer promotion. Fox News, The Daily Beast, and outlets across the political spectrum covered it.

The political content of the promotion is not the promotion. It is whom Fitzpatrick rewarded under it.

On January 21, 2025, Ada County GOP Vice Chair Ryan Spoon posted on X tagging Trump border czar Tom Homan: “Could you please send some illegal immigration raids to the businesses owned by Idaho state Rep. Stephanie Mickelson?” Spoon followed with a public announcement that he was filing ICE tip forms against each of Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen’s businesses. ICE arrived at Mickelsen Farms three days later. One employee was detained. Federal employment law expressly prohibits employers from re-verifying immigration status after hire; the employee had a prior criminal record. Coverage in HuffPost, Idaho Capital Sun / InvestigateWest, KTVB, National Memo, Alternet.

Spoon then publicly claimed his free beer under Fitzpatrick’s Old State Saloon ICE-tip promotion as reward for “helping ICE make an arrest.” The Fox News framing was generic. The actual content of that “arrest” was a sitting Republican Party Vice Chair using ICE as a partisan weapon against a fellow Republican legislator who had not broken immigration law.

Fitzpatrick did not reward random citizens for ICE cooperation. He rewarded the Republican Party Vice Chair who weaponized federal immigration enforcement against a Republican colleague who votes her conscience on agriculture and immigration. That is a candidate for Idaho Governor publicly celebrating Republican-on-Republican use of federal enforcement as a political weapon.

DOCUMENTED — SPOON-ICE-MICKELSEN REWARD

On January 21, 2025, Ada County Republican Central Committee Vice Chair Ryan Spoon posted on X tagging Tom Homan asking for ICE raids on Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen's businesses. ICE arrived three days later. One employee was detained. Spoon then publicly claimed free beer under Fitzpatrick's Old State Saloon ICE-tip promotion as reward for 'helping ICE make an arrest.' Mickelsen Farms complies with federal employment law; the detained employee had a prior criminal record.

His own X feed: the antisemitic and anti-LDS posting record

The Hetero Awesome Fest speakers were not external contamination of his event. The same content runs in his own X feed under his own name. The @oldstatemark account has 21,477 followers. Bio: “Old State Saloon || American Trad Fam || Get in the Fight || Job 42:6.”

Verbatim posts from his account, with date and URL:

• September 29, 2025. Direct anti-LDS post addressed to the President of the United States: “Dear @realDonaldTrump, Mormons aren’t Christian. Stop saying otherwise.” Source. 66 likes, 22 replies, 2,913 views. A candidate for Governor of a state with a substantial LDS population, including a substantial LDS Republican base, publicly tells the President to stop calling Mormons Christian.

• September 2025. Pledged to “expose the evil of the LDS church.” Per Rigged Red Card. A candidate for Governor of Idaho explicitly committing to use the gubernatorial platform against the largest religious denomination in his state.

• November 2025. Posted describing Jewish Americans as “the Khazars aka Synagogue of Satan.” Per Rigged Red Card. The Khazar conspiracy theory and the Synagogue-of-Satan trope — the two most-documented antisemitic frames in modern internet discourse — combined into a single phrase, applied to American Jews.

• The Hitler vs. Netanyahu poll. Fitzpatrick ran a poll on his account asking “Who is a better human? Adolf Hitler or Benjamin Netanyahu?” His followers chose Hitler. Per Rigged Red Card. A candidate for Governor of Idaho ran a poll that put Adolf Hitler on a moral comparison list, and his audience response confirmed who his audience is.

• September 12, 2025. Invokes the “Synagogue of Satan” antisemitic trope and questions which Jews are real Jews: “Todd, is it ok there to simply ask questions about Israel, it’s government, Mossad, and people claiming to be ‘Jews’ who are not, and instead are carrying out evil in the name of Synagogue of Satan? (Rev 2:9 / 3:9). Or do you get called an antisemite and get run out of church?” Source. The “Synagogue of Satan” frame is a documented antisemitic trope. Questioning whether people identifying as Jews are “really” Jews is a documented antisemitic frame.

• August 17, 2025. Khazar-theory adjacent post questioning Jewish ethnic continuity: “Suggested research: are ‘Jews’ today, the same Jews from 2000-4000 years ago?” Source.

• December 18, 2025. “lol. Jesus is God. Jews reject Jesus.” Source.

• June 13, 2025. AIPAC framed as bribery: “Exactly. This part kills me. We give money to AIPAC directly or indirectly. AIPAC uses it to bribe our representatives or get dirt on them. It’s insanity.” Source.

• April 13, 2026 — the partial denial that confirms the underlying position. “The ‘Anti-Semitic’ accusations and lies being spread about me are outrageous. I do not hate anyone because they are Jewish. I don’t hate anyone at all. I love Jews. Like any other non-Christian religion, though, I do hope they stop rejecting Jesus Christ. … Yes, I have stated that Jews believe in a different God. I stand by that statement.” Source. 516 likes, 110 reposts, 9,441 views. The denial concedes the underlying theology — Jews “believe in a different God” — and reaffirms it.

• April 18, 2026 — the “Dispelling Lies” comprehensive denial. “Dispelling Lies: I don’t hate Jews. I actually love them. I don’t hate LDS. I love them. … Love does not equate to ‘support’ or ‘agree with’. You can love and disagree simultaneously. … The @OldStateSaloon brand I built is from me, but it is purposefully brash with truth. Unapologetic. It causes conversation. … Mark Fitzpatrick for Governor.” Source. 872 likes, 211 reposts, 12,998 views. The candidate explicitly addresses both antisemitism and anti-LDS accusations and frames the disagreements as theological, not hateful.

The denial sequence is itself the proof that the posts are in active circulation. A candidate for Governor does not write two long defensive posts in a five-day window unless the underlying accusations are real and gaining traction. The denials concede the substantive theology Greg posts and ask voters to interpret it as love rather than hatred. The posts speak for themselves.

DOCUMENTED — FITZPATRICK X-FEED RECEIPTS

Mark Fitzpatrick (@oldstatemark) posted on September 29, 2025: 'Dear @realDonaldTrump, Mormons aren't Christian. Stop saying otherwise.' On September 12, 2025: invoked the 'Synagogue of Satan' antisemitic trope and questioned whether 'people claiming to be Jews' are real Jews. On August 17, 2025: 'Suggested research: are Jews today, the same Jews from 2000-4000 years ago?' On December 18, 2025: 'Jesus is God. Jews reject Jesus.' On June 13, 2025: framed AIPAC as bribery. April 13 and April 18, 2026 denial posts conceded the underlying theology while denying hatred.

What else he posts under his own name

A targeted pull of his April 2026 X activity beyond the antisemitism / anti-LDS sequence:

• April 5, 2026. Calls for state-level expulsion of Bill Gates: “I know I can ban him from @OldStateSaloon, so… He is hereby banned. But, the best move would be to get him and his poisonous corporations banned from Idaho entirely. Will have to explore that after getting sworn in.” Source.

• April 16, 2026. Calls Gov. Brad Little a traitor: “He is a traitor to the Constitution, to Idaho, and to America.” Source.

• April 19, 2026. Mass-purge pledge for Idaho state employees, on election: “Terminate all state employees who are untruthful, untrustworthy, and operate in secrecy,” “Permanently eliminate needless jobs,” “Eliminate entire agencies when possible when determined to be best for Idahoans,” “Replace terminated employees with hardworking and intelligent Idaho patriots who stand for righteousness and truth.” Source. 1,073 likes, 299 reposts, 6.3K views.

• April 20, 2026. Announces an April 29 event at Old State Saloon titled “Enemies of the State” and challenges the sitting governor to attend: “I challenge @GovernorLittle to do the same!” Source.

A candidate for Idaho Governor whose own X feed publicly accuses the sitting Republican governor of treason, names a private citizen for state-level expulsion, pledges mass termination of state employees, and brands a campaign event “Enemies of the State” is on the public record about the register of governance he intends to operate. None of this is opposition framing. Every line is verbatim from his own account.

Flat-earth programming as venue content

Old State Saloon’s public events calendar has included flat-earth theology presented as fact:

• “NASA Lies — Flat Earth 101.”
• “Flat Earth Biblical Cosmology” featuring Austin Whitsitt, who has appeared on Alex Jones’s InfoWars to teach flat-earth theory, with the position that “NASA is a satanic deception.”

Hosting flat-earth programming once is novelty booking. Hosting it as part of a repeated speaker series alongside Christian Nationalism advocacy and the Reilly-Hargraves-Carroll extremism cluster is a positioning choice. Fitzpatrick has not characterized either flat-earth event as ironic or entertainment booking.

The hypocrisy on Brad Little’s record

The case for unseating Gov. Brad Little is not that Little has failed to deliver conservative policy. Brad Little has signed constitutional carry, permitless concealed carry, vouchers (HB 93), HB 292 property-tax relief ($317M), Second Amendment sanctuary expansion, and near-total abortion bans. Idaho is rated A or A+ on virtually every conservative policy scorecard.

Fitzpatrick is not running on a record disagreement with Little’s governance. He is running on the proposition that Little has insufficiently performed the register of culture-war absolutism that Old State Saloon’s promotional model demands. The “eliminate property taxes without raising other taxes” plank in his platform appears verbatim in Sen. Scott Herndon’s 2026 reelection platform — the same arithmetic problem applies to both. Shared message architecture, not independent development.

This is the infinite-bar pattern the Pruett network runs against every Republican incumbent. Whatever the incumbent delivers is insufficient. The IFF Index publishes the loyalty score that justifies the next attack. The Pruett-network propaganda apparatus runs the framing. Fitzpatrick is the gubernatorial-primary application of that template.

Who funds him

Per the Idaho SOS Sunshine campaign-finance database, Mark Fitzpatrick has zero donors at the $500-or-more level on file for his 2026 gubernatorial campaign. A statewide gubernatorial primary candidate with no major-donor support visible in Sunshine is a substantively meaningful absence. Either the campaign is being run on small-dollar contributions only, on the candidate’s personal money, or on outside-PAC independent expenditure spending that does not appear on the candidate committee’s disclosure. The IFF “Citizen Hero Award” is institutional honor, not money. The festival operations the candidate produces come out of his own business — not the campaign account.

The institutional alignment runs through the IFF endorsement infrastructure, the Pruett-network amplification, and the Citizens Alliance-aligned messaging — not through a documented donor pool.

Where he sits in the network

• IFF Citizen Hero Award, presented by Ron Nate, who became IFF President January 2024.
• IFF operational presence at Hetero Awesome Fest with Rachel Hazelip interview and attendee-data-collection booth.
• Spoon-ICE-tip reward publicly celebrated Republican-on-Republican ICE weaponization.
• Pruett network amplification. Idaho Dispatch ran a long-form “Deep Dive” episode with Fitzpatrick in May 2025. Pocatello-Chubbuck Observer covered his March 2026 SUFI town-hall appearance. The amplifier-site coverage has been favorable and continuous.
• Citizens Alliance funding pipeline backs the IFF-aligned candidates Fitzpatrick would caucus with as Governor. CAI is 99.72% funded by the national Citizens Alliance PAC out of Fairfax, Virginia. The national PAC is over 72% funded by POM of Pennsylvania, LLC, a company that manufactures gaming machines marketed under a “skill” classification and is currently being sued by the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Idaho banned similar machines in 2015.

A candidate for Idaho Governor who fails the media-restraint test on every metric the IFF rhetoric demands, and yet receives uncritical amplification from the IFF-aligned outlets every time the mainstream Idaho press flags one of his provocations, is being measured against the wrong metric. The metric the network uses is not whether the conduct is responsible. It is whether the conduct is loyal to the faction.

Connected pages

• Greg Pruett dossier, the propaganda-network operator running unpaid earned-media for Fitzpatrick
• Ron Nate dossier, IFF President who presented the IFF Citizen Hero Award
• Doyle Beck dossier, East Idaho IFF anchor
• Idaho Freedom Foundation organization page
• The Propaganda Network organization page
• Citizens Alliance organization page
• Anatomy of a Lie investigation

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