Montana
Recapping Montana's Western Congressional Candidate Forum
The general election is a little more than three weeks away, including the race for Montana’s Western Congressional seat. Incumbent Republican Ryan Zinke and Democrat Monica Tranel are once again on the ballot and faced off in a forum in Helena on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.
The 30-minute forum, moderated by MTN Senior Political Reporter Jonathon Ambarian, gave each candidate one minute to respond to a series of questions and 30 seconds to respond to the answers. Right off the top, housing costs took center stage, which has been a campaign issue for Monica Tranel.
Tranel: “He is profiting off of our pain. He is operating two Airbnb’s in Whitefish, charging us $26,000 a month. Anyone can go online and rent those Airbnb’s now, today. This is exploiting an issue that we need to have fixed for personal enrichment and we need a change; we need different.”
Zinke: “She entered our property and filmed and jumped on our bed—by the way, who does that? Now she films in our backyard, on our street and you know what? My family no longer feels safe—my wife, my daughter, we don’t feel safe in our home because Monica Tranel finds it necessary to violate our property.”
WATCH THE FULL TRANEL/ZINKE CANDIDATE FORUM:
Montana’s Western Congressional Candidate Forum
The most heated exchange came on rebuttal to a question to Rep. Zinke about abortion in Montana.
Tranel: “You voted to make mifepristone illegal to people in the National Guard, so Montanans who are in the National Guard can’t get that drug that is legal here in Montana. Let’s be totally clear—you have voted for the most extreme restrictions every chance you get.”
Zinke: “It’s my response, Monica, but I think we both would agree we should focus on birth control. We should focus on education, we should focus on—I do believe in birth control, why? To get ahead of the problem. But look, Montana is not, is too harsh to restrict it up front, meaning that we should have exceptions, absolutely. But the ‘support abortion moments before birth’ on health or privacy is simply not Montana.”
MTN News
Other questions ranged from tax cuts to the timber business. In closing, both hit hard on their campaign themes.
Zinke: “There’s also the border; we see fentanyl, sex trafficking, child trafficking in every city across Montana. That’s because Harris, Biden, and believe me she’s support the same thing, is we don’t have a border, we need a border.”
Tranel: “It’s the most acute issue. Driving out of Bozeman you see people living in campers lining the streets, our sheriff deputies in Flathead County are living in campers. I have developed a plan that I formed with your input, talking wth you private and public partnerships.”
Libertarian candidate Dennis Hayes was not part of this forum, but visit here to see his full profile by Jonathon Ambarian.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing
12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing
17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 8 drawing
03-13-16-17, Bonus: 10
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 8 drawing
06-27-33-44-69, Powerball: 23
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from July 8 drawing
08-16-17-22-27
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing
16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
HELENA, Mont — Gov. Greg Gianforte is backing a new effort to keep data centers from driving up Montanans’ power bills.
This week, Gianforte announced Montana is signing on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — an initiative endorsed by President Trump.
Several major technology companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and XAI first signed the pledge back in March.
The pledge comes as data center development continues to grow — raising questions about how much new energy will be needed and who will pay for it.
NBC Montana spoke with Julia Haggerty, professor of geography and department head of earth sciences at Montana State University, about whether Montana’s power grid is ready for that growth.
“Not without resolution of significant transmission bottlenecks and massive amounts of new generation. So, while our grid is adequately, relatively adequately equipped to serve the needs of our current load base, it’s definitely not equipped to accommodate the new demands without a lot of expansion,” she said.
According to the pledge, data center developers will pay for new power generation, and infrastructure needed to support their operations.
“It does align with ongoing regulatory efforts to ensure that the cost of new generation associated with data centers is borne by the developers of those data centers and not customers,” Haggerty said.
The governor’s office says Gianforte’s support of the pledge is designed to encourage responsible data center investments while protecting Montana ratepayers from long-term costs.
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