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.”

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.