When I first interviewed former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for Townhall earlier this year, he was simply a candidate for his old Congress gig. Though he was the presumed frontrunner for Montana’s newly-drawn 1st Congressional District, he faced some challenges from fellow Republicans.
Although he narrowly won the June primary, today he is favored to beat his Democrat challenger, Monica Tranel—a former Republican who’ll be a rubber-stamp vote for the Biden administration.
Despite having a slew of ethics charges leveled at him, Zinke was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.
As of this writing, the former Navy SEAL has a 94 in 100 chance of winning MT-1 per FiveThirtyEight in a seat that consistently rates “Likely Republican.” For context, former President Trump won the district 53.5% to Biden’s 46.5% in 2020.
During a recent reporting trip to Montana, I caught up with Mr. Zinke in his hometown Whitefish, Montana—a town due north of Kalispell.