Montana: Ex-Interior Secretary Files for New Seat

​Less than a week since the Census Bureau made official that Montana would gain a second congressional seat, former Interior Secretary and ex-US Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Whitefish) filed a 2022 Federal Election Commission committee for the state’s new CD.  Since the new congressional map will likely divide the state into a western and eastern district, the way Montana used to look before the second district was lost in the 1990 census, it is clear that freshman at-large Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Glendive) will run in the eastern seat since his hometown lies so close to the North Dakota border.  This means we will see a new open western district that will likely be the more Democratic of the two.
 
Ryan Zinke was elected to the House in 2014 and re-elected in 2016.  Shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election, he selected Rep. Zinke as his Interior Secretary.  Mr. Zinke returned to Montana after serving two years in the Trump cabinet.