Zinke, a former Navy SEAL and Montana state senator who was first elected to the Home in 2014 and reelected in 2016 earlier than resigning to affix Trump’s Cupboard, seized on a gap created when the 2020 census outcomes handed the Treasure State a second congressional district.
Rep. Matt Rosendale, who holds the state’s one at-large district seat, ran for reelection within the newly created 2nd District, the place CNN projected he can be the Republican nominee, whereas Zinke campaigned within the 1st District.
Zinke prevailed over 4 different candidates within the major, together with former state Sen. Albert Olszewski and pastor Mary Todd. He overcame criticism from rivals to his proper over whether or not he was sufficiently supportive of Trump and the previous President’s effort to construct a wall on the US-Mexico border.
He has additionally confronted questions on whether or not he lives in Montana after Politico reported final month that his spouse had claimed a house in Santa Barbara, California, as her major residence on tax data and different types. Zinke’s marketing campaign responded to the report by saying he lives in Whitefish, Montana, and that his spouse had inherited and saved her mother and father’ former dwelling in California, of which she is the only real proprietor.
Zinke left the Trump administration in 2018 within the face of a number of ethics inquiries, together with the Inside Division’s dealing with of a Connecticut on line casino mission, whether or not the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante Nationwide Monument had been redrawn to profit a state lawmaker and his compliance with authorities journey insurance policies.
“We’re pleased with the kids’s sledding park that dozens of youngsters use each weekend & numerous locals use for train daily,” he wrote.
Zinke’s marketing campaign web site calls him “a Constitutional conservative who believes within the imaginative and prescient our forefathers laid out which protects particular person liberties, separates powers between the three branches of presidency and ensures the rights of our states.”