KALISPELL — Days before the end of Montana’s candidate filing period, U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke announced he wouldn’t seek another term in Congress. It left an open seat, with four candidates coming forward to seek the Republican nomination to replace him: Ray Curtis, Aaron Flint, Christi Jacobsen and Al Olszewski.
Since 2023, Zinke has represented Montana’s 1st Congressional District, which covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman.
The winner of the Republican primary in the 1st District will move on to the general election. They’ll face the winner of the four-man race for the Democratic nomination, along with Libertarian candidate Nick Sheedy, of Columbia Falls. Kimberly Persico, of Hot Springs, is attempting to collect enough signatures to get on the general election ballot as an independent.
See full interviews with all four GOP candidates for the western district below:
Ray Curtis:
Of the four GOP candidates in the western district, Ray Curtis, of Bonner, was the last to file – and he’s an outlier in many other ways. He’s had no previous involvement in Republican politics, and he’s the only candidate running as a moderate.
“I think the people in Montana are, and I think the people in the United States are looking for something that is – someone who is – less divisive,” Curtis told MTN.
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Ray Curtis.)
A longtime educator, Curtis taught American government with Missoula County Public Schools, then worked as an instructor at the University of Montana, Missoula College and Flathead Valley Community College. He’s been critical of President Donald Trump on issues like federal budget cuts and the war in Iran, and he says Trump’s tariff policies have overstepped on the authority that should belong to Congress.
“I'm not a politician; I never thought I would do this – but one reason why I did is because I firmly believe that that is a responsibility that the framers intended Congress to have, and not the president,” he said. “I want to, in DC, do what Congress should do.”
Curtis is unhappy with the amount of money spent in elections and says he’s conducting a “non-traditional campaign” focused on free public events. He believes there are voters in this Republican primary who will be ready to hear his message and give his candidacy a closer look.
“I have learned that we are more alike than we are different, that we are not as far apart as some people would like us to believe, that I believe we can work together,” he said. “I've had amazing conversations with people on both sides of the aisle. It's been refreshing for me.”
Aaron Flint:
Aaron Flint, of Kalispell, entered the western congressional district race on the day incumbent Rep. Ryan Zinke announced he was not running again. He quickly secured endorsements from Zinke and other top Republicans, including Gov. Greg Gianforte, Sen. Tim Sheehy, Rep. Troy Downing and President Donald Trump.
“What we didn't want to do is just take that endorsement and sit back and ride the wave,” he told MTN. “We have hit the ground running in the first couple of weeks.”
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Aaron Flint.)
Flint, an Army veteran, is a first-time candidate, but not new to Montana politics. He has been hosting statewide radio talk shows since 2009 – though he is on a leave of absence from his show Montana Talks while he campaigns. After years of working from Billings, he and his family moved to Kalispell last year, where he set up a makeshift studio in his home.
Flint has emphasized “making the Montana dream affordable again,” saying that means reducing regulatory burdens on building homes, encouraging trades education and boosting the U.S. timber industry. He’s praised the Trump administration for initiatives like exempting Social Security from taxes and taking action against Russian palladium imports to boost American mining.
“We hear a lot of virtue signaling from the Democrat candidates in this race: The Democrat candidates love tariffs when other countries were tariffing us, but then they pretend to not like tariffs when we tariff in retaliation,” he said.
Flint says he’s running on his Montana roots, on “consistent conservative” principles and on his time spent talking and listening to Montanans.
“I'm willing to listen to anybody, I'm willing to work with anybody, and I want to be a uniter that can bring this bring this country forward here – especially on America's 250th birthday, we have got to unite as a country,” he said.
Christi Jacobsen:
Christi Jacobsen has been serving as Montana’s Secretary of State since 2021, after winning elections in 2020 and 2024. She’s argued that those elections – where she won by the biggest margins of any statewide Republicans – are a sign she’s the right person to carry the GOP into the general election in the western congressional district.
“I knew I was best positioned to win for Montana and for the country,” she told MTN.
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Christi Jacobsen.)
Jacobsen’s campaign has leaned heavily on her work as secretary. She has touted her office’s efforts to review voter rolls for possible ineligible voters – an initiative that she cites as showing she’s in line with Trump administration priorities. She argues she kept her promises in office, and that her record shows she’s ready to tackle issues like increasing affordability and supporting businesses.
“I think Congress needs to get government out of the way, and as your secretary of state, that's what I've done here in Montana: downsizing government, running government more efficiently,” she said. “We've reduced the number of government employees, and we've provided better service along the way.”
Jacobsen is a native of Helena and still lives in the area – outside the western district – though her family has a cabin in Granite County. U.S. House candidates are only required to live in the state they’re running in, not the specific district.
While Jacobsen is having to run without Trump’s endorsement, her campaign launch video made the case that she’s won races against “the establishment” before.
“Montanans are not a fan of the swamp, and they want to see just genuine Montanans that want to serve our state and our country,” Jacobsen said. “I'm the candidate that has done that and delivered for Montanans, and I'm the candidate that they want to see in Congress, representing our state and country.”
Al Olszewski:
Al Olszewski represented Kalispell in the Montana House for two years and in the Montana Senate for four. This year, he launched his fifth run for higher office, having previously campaigned for lieutenant governor, governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House. In 2022, he fell 2% short of Zinke in the Republican western district House primary.
“With Ryan's surprise announcement to retire, we jumped in with our full campaign team that brought us so close in 2022, and we're looking to finish and win this race,” Olszewski told MTN.
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Al Olszewski.)
Olszewski is an Air Force veteran and orthopedic surgeon. He sees health care reform as the biggest factor in addressing affordability, saying the current system benefits insurance companies and hospitals at the expense of patients.
“Obamacare didn't work,” he said. “Can we repeal it? Probably not. So we need to do a major surgical reform, and we need to make sure that health care once again is centered on the person, it is directed by their personal physician, and that the health care decisions are made by that person, not by the government.”
Olszewski says he’s the right candidate for the job because he’s the only one in the Republican primary who has served as a lawmaker.
“The U.S. Congress is not the place to learn how to legislate and how to govern,” he said. “I have learned what it takes to get bipartisan bills passed, how to reach across the aisle and be approachable and find common ground with everybody so that we can actually get legislation accomplished for everybody.”
While it isn’t a federal issue, Olszewski says one of his biggest concerns is his opposition to the “homestead” property tax bills that the Montana Legislature passed last year, which he says has been a negative change for western Montana.
Editor’s Note: Over the next two weeks, MTN will bring you full coverage on the candidates in each of Montana’s contested congressional primaries. We will introduce you to the Democratic candidates in the 1st Congressional District on Wednesday, Apr. 29.
