Republican Ryan Zinke has defeated his Democratic opponent Monica Tranel, winning the race for Montana's newly drawn 1st Congressional District.
The Associated Press called the race for Zinke, a former Trump administration official, at 10:32 a.m. ET on Thursday. He led Tranel by a little more than 8,000 votes, capturing 49.7% of the vote compared to Tranel's 46.4%, with 92% reporting as of that morning.
Zinke previously served in the House from 2015 to 2017 before leaving to serve as Secretary of the Interior under former President Donald Trump. He resigned from the administration in 2018 amid ethics complaints related to his travel as well as a real estate deal in his home state involving a foundation he created and the chairman of the energy giant Halliburton that does business with Interior.
Tranel, an environmental and consumer rights attorney from Missoula, sought to portray Zinke as a "snake" who left the Trump administration in scandal. He has denied any wrongdoing and called the allegations "lies."
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"I'm incredibly grateful to the people of Western Montana for once again placing their trust in me to fight for them in Washington, D.C. The voters saw through the vicious lies and deceit of my opponent and radical political groups," Zinke said in a statement Thursday.
"I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me on Election Day and all those who volunteered with our campaign to get the word out. For those of you who did not vote for me, my door is always open and you'll find me to have an open ear, open mind, and shoot straight when we disagree," he said.
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The race in Western Montana was close, as the ballot included a referendum that would threaten health care providers with fines and jail time if they do not provide life-saving medical care to infants born alive, including after an attempted abortion. Voters in Montana rejected the ballot measure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
