Glenneda Zuiderveld boycott cuts 80 percent of Tom Zuiderveld income
glenneda zuiderveld's immigration hardline has carried into her family finances. After four dairies cut ties with Tom Zuiderveld, the Idaho state senator's husband said his income fell by 80 percent and the couple lost about $125,000 in annual commission.
Tom Zuiderveld said the dairies stopped buying synthetic oil from him because of his wife's political positions. "They did exactly what they wanted to do: send a message," he said.
Idaho dairies and immigration
The boycott lands inside Idaho's dairy sector, the nation's third-largest dairy sector, which employs approximately 4,500 people and depends heavily on immigrant labor. About 90 percent of Idaho's dairy workers are immigrants, and some of those workers do not have legal work permits.
That labor reality sits behind the political split around Glenneda Zuiderveld. Since 2022, she has served in the Idaho Senate, where she represents the ultraconservative Gang of Eight within the State Freedom Caucus Network and has co-sponsored E-Verify checks, backed the nation's strictest bathroom bill, championed Ten Commandments displays in schools, and co-sponsored a failed resolution calling for President Joe Biden's impeachment over immigration failures.
Tom Zuiderveld's lost commission
The family now relies on savings, and Glenneda Zuiderveld has acknowledged losing another dairy client. The boycott has turned a political stance into a direct hit on a sales relationship that depended on dairy customers continuing to buy synthetic oil from Tom Zuiderveld.
Rick Naerebout, chief executive of the Idaho Dairymen's Association, said the May 19 Republican primary could set the party's direction. "This will be a potential tipping point for Idaho: Do we continue to shift further to the right, or do we moderate some?" he said.
May 19 Republican primary
Brent Reinke is Glenneda Zuiderveld's primary opponent and the dairy industry's preferred candidate. Reinke supports Trump's border policies but has said state-level immigration mandates are counterproductive, putting him at the center of the party split that the boycott has exposed.
Reinke framed the wider stakes this way: "What's the impact next week, next month and next year?" On May 19, Idaho Republicans will weigh that argument against the hardline approach that has already cost the Zuidervelds income and business.
