By MATTHEW BROWN | Associated Press | Published: April 30, 2021 BILLINGS, Mont. Former congressman and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Friday that he s running for Montana s newly awarded U.S. House seat. Zinke told The Associated Press that he was running, a day after filing paperwork to organize a campaign committee. Zinke, who said he maintains a friendship with former President Donald Trump, told AP that political division is the biggest problem facing the nation and he feels it s his duty to run after spending the past two years in the private sector. Montana s second House district was awarded this week to account for its population growth. Its boundaries have not been set, but the election is slated for November 2022.
Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Former congressman and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he s running for Montana s newly awarded U.S. House seat.
Zinke told The Associated Press on Friday that he is running after filing paperwork a day earlier to organize a campaign committee.
Zinke told AP that political divisions represent the biggest problem facing the nation and he feels it s his duty to run after spending the past two years in the private sector. The new House district s boundaries have not been set, but the election is slated for November 2022.
Zinke is a former Navy Seal and was Montana s lone U.S. House member from 2015 to 2017. He resigned from the Trump administration amid investigations into allegations that he misused his office. Zinke said they were politically motivated.
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(WASHINGTON) Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who served under Donald Trump and resigned in 2018 amid multiple ethics investigations, filed paperwork on Thursday afternoon to run for Montana s soon-to-be-established 2nd Congressional District.
Montana was allotted an additional district as a result of population growth tracked in the 2020 Census. Zinke, a Republican, previously represented Montana s at-large district from 2015 to 2017.
Zinke resigned amid investigations into his use of chartered planes, though the Interior Department s watchdog later said those flights did not break any rules, but some of the costs could have been avoided.
Zinke s use of charter or military planes was first confirmed amid questions about spending on travel for multiple cabinet officials in 2017 when Trump fired former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price after it was report
Trump Interior secretary runs for new Montana US House seat
Matthew Brown
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FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2016, file photo, then-Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke speaks with a supporter in Billings, Mont., as he campaigns for re-election to a second term as the state s sole representative in the U.S. House. The former congressman and interior secretary has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission indicating he s interested in running for the second U.S. House seat awarded to the state on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File) (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
BILLINGS, Mont. – Former congressman and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Friday that he’s running for Montana’s newly awarded U.S. House seat.