BOZEMAN — U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke’s decision not to seek another term in the House left an open race for the Republican nomination in Montana’s western congressional district.
Across the country, Republicans and Democrats are looking for every seat they can find as they try to win the House majority. Aaron Flint says the western district race could be key – and he’s the best choice to keep it in GOP hands.
“A lot of people, they run for office, and that's when they start listening to Montanans, and that's when they start getting out and talking to folks,” he told MTN. “That's what I've been doing my whole career.”
(Watch the video for more on the field of Republicans running in the district.)
Flint, a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, began hosting radio talk shows in 2009 – initially Voices of Montana, then, since 2018, Montana Talks. He says he’s now taking a leave of absence from the program while he campaigns for Congress. It’s his first time running for office.
“We're going to keep hitting the ground running all the way through November,” he said.
Flint, who had been living and working in Billings, says he and his family moved to Kalispell last year to be closer to relatives. He said he’s going to focus his campaign on issues like taxes – where he defends the tax changes passed by Republicans in Congress last year, including limiting taxes on Social Security income and overtime pay – and on public lands – where he praises Zinke’s stands and says it’s important to protect lands but also ensure access.
Zinke announced Mar. 2 – two days before Montana’s filing deadline – that he would retire from Congress at the end of 2026. Flint told MTN he knew Zinke was considering retiring and was ready to run himself, but he wasn’t sure it would happen until Zinke talked with President Donald Trump the morning before he announced his decision.
“I was fully ready to keep staying in the fight as a radio talk show host here in Montana or launch this congressional run,” he said.
Zinke told MTN he wouldn’t have stepped away unless he knew there was someone ready to succeed him “that has a great background and someone that can win, and will win.” Flint’s campaign website launched hours after Zinke’s announcement with an endorsement from Zinke prominently included. In the next day, he received endorsements from other top Montana Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy and Gov. Greg Gianforte, and from Trump himself.
However, others also got into the Republican field. They included Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, who’s promised in campaign materials to stand up to “the political establishment,” and 2022 congressional candidate and former state Sen. Al Olszewski, who has called Zinke’s exit and Flint’s entrance a “deceptive maneuver” on social media.
The switch in the House race came just days before U.S. Sen. Steve Daines made an even later switch in his own reelection race, withdrawing at the last minute and endorsing former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme for the Republican nomination.
MTN asked Flint whether the manner of Zinke’s decision and the rollout of his own campaign had boxed out other candidates. He said he is glad the House primary is contested, and that he hopes to have multiple debates against the other candidates to demonstrate “consistent conservative” credentials.
“Let's have a debate and let's prove who the real ‘Montana A.F.’ America First freedom fighter is – and that's what we're going to do,” he said.
The Montana Republican Party – which has said it won’t make endorsements in this year’s congressional primaries – is planning to host a primary debate for western district candidates April 21 at the Calvary Chapel in Bozeman. Flint, Olszewski and Jacobsen have all been invited.
There is a fourth candidate in the Republican primary, who’s taking a much different tone from the other three. Ray Curtis, a longtime educator and first-time candidate from Bonner, filed on the final day. He describes himself as an “old-school Republican,” and unlike the other candidates, he’s critical of Trump’s character and his administration’s policies.
Curtis was previously an American government teacher with Missoula County Public Schools. After retiring from that job, he was an instructor at the University of Montana, Missoula College and Flathead Valley Community College.
“It seems like every day I saw some infringement on, as I said, those basic principles of American government, rights being tread upon, that whole list,” he told MTN. “I'm one of those guys who carries around a pocket constitution, and it was, to me, contrary to what I had been teaching my students about representative democracy.”
Curtis said one of the things that drove him to run was last year’s federal budget cuts. He was set to make presentations around the state on the United States’ 250th anniversary, in a program sponsored by Humanities Montana. However, that organization got the majority of its funding from the federal government, and it reduced its programming after that funding was cut.
“One of the things that that bothered me is that this was a congressionally approved program, but it was cut by DOGE – you know, this unelected billionaire,” he said.
MTN asked Curtis if he believes there’s a path forward in this primary for a candidate like him. He said he thinks there are Republicans starting to become disillusioned with the Trump administration, on issues like the war in Iran. Curtis says he wants to stand up against money in politics and won’t spend time raising money.
“I think what people need to know is that they have more power than they probably think they do,” he said. “It starts with ‘We the people of the United States.’ It's not ‘We the billionaires,’ it's not ‘We the special interest groups.’”
Four Democrats – Ryan Busse, Russ Cleveland, Sam Forstag and Matt Rains – are also running in the western district, as is Libertarian Nick Sheedy. Kimberly Persico, an independent, is seeking signatures to qualify for the ballot.
