Lawmaker Matt Rosendale, who holds the state seat, ran for re-election in the newly formed 2nd District, where CNN predicted he would be the Republican nominee, while Zinke campaigned in the 1st District. Zinke prevailed over four other candidates in the by-elections, including former Senator Albert Olszewski and Pastor Mary Todd. He overcame criticism from opponents on his right as to whether he had sufficient support for Trump and the former president’s attempt to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. He also had questions about whether he lives in Montana, after Politico reported last month that his wife had claimed a house in Santa Barbara, California, as her main residence with tax records and other forms. Zinke’s campaign responded to the report by saying he lived in Whitefish, Montana and that his wife had inherited and kept her parents’s former home in California, of which she is the sole owner. Zinke left the Trump administration in 2018 to pursue multiple ethics investigations, including the handling of the Connecticut casino project by the Home Office, if the boundaries for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument had been redesigned in favor of a lawmaker. with government travel policies. A government oversight report released earlier this year found that Zinke had violated ethics by negotiating a Montana land development project during his tenure and failed to fully disclose his involvement after being questioned by a staff member. ethics. Shortly after the report went public, Zinke wrote on Twitter: “Only to Biden’s corrupt manager is it a sin to talk to my neighbor. Fifteen years ago our family created a free and open space for people to enjoy Whitefish. “ “We are proud of the sled children’s park used by dozens of children every weekend and countless locals use it for exercise every day,” he wrote. Zinke’s campaign website calls him “a constitutional conservative who believes in the vision set by our forefathers, which protects individual freedoms, divides powers between the three branches of government and guarantees the rights of our states.” CNN’s Eric Bradner, Dan Merica and Gregory Krieg contributed to this report.
