BOZEMAN — Almost two weeks after announcing he would retire from Congress at the end of this year, Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke is back in Montana this week, highlighting the impacts of federal grants.
On Friday morning, Zinke was at the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, where he announced more than $1 million in federal funding for three local law enforcement agencies.
“If the county commissioners and if the sheriffs say it’s your priority, then it’s my priority,” he told Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer, Belgrade Police Chief Dustin Lensing and Beaverhead County Sheriff David Wendt.
(Watch the video to hear from Zinke about federal grants and his decision not to run for reelection.)
The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office is receiving about $650,000. Springer said they’ll use that money to purchase a new “rapid DNA” testing system that they can use in the field. It’s intended to produce initial results in less than two hours, allowing officers to quickly determine if someone in the FBI’s nationwide DNA database could be a suspect.
Springer said, in recent cases like the 2024 murder of Dustin Kjersem in a remote area near Big Sky, he’s seen how valuable a tool like this could be.
“Anytime you're doing significant investigations, the first 24 to 48 hours makes a big difference in being able to locate the suspects,” he said. “If we can get the DNA from one, two, three days down to 90 minutes, that would be significant.”
The Belgrade Police Department will receive $250,000, which will go toward two new patrol vehicles. The Beaverhead County Sheriff’s Office will get $200,000, which they will use to buy two new vehicles for their K-9 units.
Zinke has been traveling around Montana’s western congressional district throughout the week, making check presentations like this one. He highlighted federal funding for water projects in Philipsburg, for firefighting equipment in Deer Lodge and Ronan and for bridge repairs in Ravalli and Sanders Counties.
The trip came shortly after Zinke announced he wasn’t running for reelection in 2026. He said he’s been dealing with health issues related to his military service, and that he expects to be facing some longer recovery time soon.
“I think Montana needs representation every day,” he told MTN. “There's a lot of issues out there that Montana needs a voice.”
Zinke’s decision came two days before the close of Montana’s candidate filing period. He immediately threw his support behind talk radio host and fellow veteran Aaron Flint, who also secured endorsements from other top Montana Republicans and President Donald Trump. However, three other candidates also entered the Republican primary field over the remaining two days: 2022 candidate and former state Sen. Al Olszewski, Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Bonner educator Ray Curtis.
Zinke’s decision also came shortly before U.S. Sen. Steve Daines also ended his reelection campaign, withdrawing from the race just minutes before the filing deadline and endorsing former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, who filed his candidacy at almost the same time.
Unlike Daines, Zinke never filed for reelection with the Secretary of State. MTN asked him about how he would respond to suggestions that he had anointed his successor.
“Primaries are good, because what it does is it holds people accountable,” he said. “But it is a primary race, and everyone had the opportunity to file – and everybody had the opportunity to file it earlier as well. So let the people decide – which is important – and Montanans have good judgment.”
Zinke, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, says, in his remaining time in Congress, he’s going to continue advocating for Montana projects in the federal budget.
“I'm not going anywhere; I'm going to stay at my post for the next nine months to get through the appropriation process, and do the same thing that I've been doing: defending Montana, our public lands, and making sure the resources go to the right people on the front line.”
