HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s lone congressman handily won the GOP primary in his bid for a second term Tuesday as ballot-counting continued in the race for the state’s newly created second seat in the U.S. House.
U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale easily fended off three Republican primary challengers, while former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was locked in a tighter race for the other seat.
Zinke, who served as a Cabinet member under then-President Donald Trump, is running for the seat to represent the western part of the state after Montana was granted a second representative due to population growth documented in the 2020 census.
It’s technically an open seat, but the former Navy SEAL is widely considered the de facto incumbent since he twice won elections for the state’s then-only U.S. House seat before stepping down in 2017 to join the Trump administration as Interior secretary.
Zinke’s opponents have drawn attention to his troubled tenure at the Department of Interior, which was marked by multiple ethics investigations. On the GOP side, the field includes former state Sen. Al “Doc” Olszewski, who has tried to paint Zinke as a “liberal insider.”
Zinke and Olszewski were running close in early returns.
Meanwhile, three Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination: Olympic rower and attorney Monica Tranel, public health advocate Cora Neumann, and former state Rep. Tom Winter.
In the state’s other district, Rosendale, who has Trump’s endorsement, will face the winner of that Democratic primary. The contenders include Billings councilmember Penny Ronning and Skylar Williams of Billings.
Rosendale, who was in Washington, D.C., said it was an honor to be nominated to run for a second term and said the economy is the main issue he’s hearing about from constituents.
“It’s the kitchen table. It’s the inflation, the cost of everything going up, the supply chain problems that are affecting everything from the grocery store to the manufacturer located in the industrial park and then the cost of fuel,” he said.
The problems, Rosendale said, can be traced back to overspending by President Joe Biden’s administration, COVID-19 related mandates that kept people from working freely and shutting down oil and gas leasing.
By the time the polls closed, nearly 53% of the 473,000 people who had requested absentee ballots had returned them, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
In one Supreme Court race, Montana voters chose from among three candidates — incumbent Ingrid Gustafson, James Brown, an attorney and member of the Public Service Commission; and District Court Judge Mike McMahon of Helena. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election.
In the other Supreme Court race on the ballot this year, incumbent Jim Rice and his challenger, Billings attorney Bill D’Alton, will both advance to the general election.