Zinke, former Trump administration official, wins Montana House race

Republican Ryan Zinke, who served as the Interior Secretary during the Trump administration, is projected to win a seat in Congress. 

The Associated Press called the race at 10:31 a.m. ET.

Zinke defeated Democrat Monica Tranel, an attorney, in the contest for Montana’s 1st Congressional District. 

The representative-elect oversaw a number of efforts to increase energy development and roll back Obama-era environmental restrictions when he worked in the Trump administration. 

He left his post in 2018 amid multiple ethics investigations. The Interior Department’s internal watchdog released two reports this year saying that Zinke failed to abide by ethics rules and misled investigators, respectively. Those findings were referred to the Justice Department, which declined to prosecute him, and Zinke has denied wrongdoing. 

This will not be Zinke’s first stint in Congress; before joining the Trump administration, he was also a member of the House of Representatives.  At the time, however, he represented the entire state, though Montana has since picked up an additional seat and was split into two congressional districts.