MT: Rosendale Secures the East, Zinke Widens Lead in the West

The November 2022 midterm elections mark the first time since the early 1990's that Montana will once again have two members of the US House of Representatives.

Current Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale (R-MT) delivered a decisive victory in the heavily Republican Eastern Congressional district. Meanwhile, former Montana Congressman and former Trump Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (R-MT) has widened his early morning lead after late-flowing election numbers stalled reporting on Tuesday night.

In the East, Congressman Rosendale has 57% of the vote as of 5 a.m. Also interesting is that the Independent candidate in the race, Gary Buchanan, is pulling in more votes than the actual Democrat candidate Penny Ronning. Buchanan has 22% to Ronning's 20%. The two combined still didn't get close to Rosendale.

In the West, as of 5 a.m., Secretary Zinke has 50% of the vote in a district that is much more closely divided between Democrats and Republicans. Monica Tranel, the Democrat candidate, has only 46% of the vote with the Libertarian candidate pulling 4%.

Here's a screenshot from the Montana Secretary of State's website shortly after 5 a.m. Wednesday, with more numbers expected to come in throughout the morning.

The other big statewide race was for Montana Supreme Court between Justice Ingrid Gustafson and Public Service Commission Chairman James Brown. Gustafson, who benefited from a massive amount of outside dark money from Democrat special interest groups, has a clear lead with 54% to Brown's 46% as of 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Click here for the latest results from the Montana Secretary of State's website.