Ryan Zinke, a former Trump administration official, narrowly won the Republican primary for Montana’s 1st Congressional District on Thursday, according to results posted to the Montana secretary of state’s website.
According to the preliminary result numbers, Zinke defeated former state Senator and his closest Republican rival, Al “Doc” Olszewski by just over 1,608 votes out of 84, 543 cast in the race, with Olszewski receiving 33,633 votes and Zinke garnering 35,241.
Separate Republican primary results from Edison Research showed that Zinke defeated Olszewski 41.7 percent to 39.8 percent with 99 percent of the estimated vote counted. The primary took place on Tuesday.
As for the Democrat side, Missoula attorney Monica Tranel is the projected winner with 65 percent of the vote, or 36,829 votes cast, against Cora Neumann, a public health and lands advocate, with 27 percent, according to preliminary results on Montana secretary of state’s website….