Republican Ryan Zinke to step down as US congressman | Republicans
Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican who served as interior secretary during Donald Trump’s first administration, said he will not seek re-election to a fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, citing health concerns.
The decision gives Democrats a chance to win a House seat in a state that has veered to the right politically over the past decade.
Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said in a letter to voters that he has had multiple surgeries in recent years and faces more medical procedures because of injuries sustained during his time in the military.
He said that his condition, which he did not specify, was not life-threatening, but that it would take a long time for him to recover.
“My judgment and experience tell me that it is better for Montana and America to have full-time representation in Congress than to risk uncertain absenteeism and missed votes,” he wrote.
Zinke was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 after four years in the Montana legislature. He was appointed Trump’s interior secretary in 2017 but resigned in 2018 following multiple ethics investigations. His political career picked up again in 2022, when Zinke narrowly won in a newly created congressional district in western Montana. He won again in 2024 by a comfortable margin.
Several Democrats, including former gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse and union organizer Sam Forstag, had been lined up to challenge Zinke in the November election.
Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a statement that Zinke was “Montana’s champion,” first as Seal and then in politics. Gianforte won a special House election to fill Zinke’s seat after the Republican joined Trump’s cabinet.
During his time at the Interior Department, Zinke worked to advance Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda and increase oil and gas extraction from government lands.
He has also advocated for conservation and led efforts last year to remove the potential sale of public lands from the Republican budget proposal, opposing some members of his own party.
