The Republican nominee for an open House seat told the Daily Caller News Foundation that his experience as a local talk radio host uniquely equipped him for his race.
GOP congressional candidate Aaron Flint, an Army combat veteran who has hosted popular conservative talk radio show-turned-podcast “Montana Talks” since 2018, is running to succeed retiring Republican Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke on November’s ballot. When asked why voters and President Donald Trump backed him over two primary opponents with electoral experience, Flint told the DCNF that his years on the airwaves fielding calls from Montanans has put him squarely “in the fight every single day.”
“I think people want fighters right now. And of course, President Trump wants and needs fighters, to join him in the fight here in Washington, D.C.,” the candidate told the DCNF in an interview. “I’m just kind of an everyday Montana kid.”
“I’ve been in the fight every single day hosting a statewide radio show, taking phone calls from people all across Montana. I not only got the opportunity to hear what folks all across the state had to say about the issues of the day, but I got to be in the fight every single day as well,” he continued. “All through the COVID craziness where they pushed these stupid lockdowns and these stupid mask mandates, and they shut down our schools and they were shutting down churches, but then keeping strip clubs open in parts of the country.”
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In addition to Trump, Flint was backed by Zinke, Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy and Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, among other prominent officeholders. He defeated sitting Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, former State Sen. Al Olszewski and teacher Ray Curtis in the June 2 primary for Montana’s First Congressional District, winning just over 50% of the vote.
“I’ve been seeing firsthand the effects of what Bidenflation did to drive up the cost of living, drive up the cost of housing and everything across the board,” Flint added during his interview. “And then we saw them, not just [former President] Joe Biden, but Democrats from Montana that supported this invasion of illegal aliens that flooded into Montana.”
He said that the influx of migrants into the state “deliberately targeted” Indian reservations.
“So, I think I’ve just been blessed. I’ve been lucky in the fact that because I was behind that microphone every day, I got to go to bat for the people of Montana every single day to stand up to this craziness, frankly, this craziness that we’re trying to keep out of Montana right,” Flint told the DCNF.
The candidate’s campaign website states that he is in part running “to make a high school degree worth something again” and “to promote trades and common sense.”
When asked by the DCNF how he seeks to do this if elected, Flint said, “the main thing we’ve got to do is invest in trades and trades education.”
He noted that he had been talking to unionized workers — a bloc that has historically voted in large numbers for Democrats but has trended sharply to the right in recent election cycles — including plumbers, pipefitters and carpenters.
“These guys are getting frustrated with the Democrat Party that’s been killing so many of these union jobs. But one of their big frustrations too, is they want to see more investments in trades and trades education,” Flint said. “And even they will tell you that so much of the education dollars, especially that go to higher education, are totally biased towards your typical liberal arts degree.”
“[L]et’s stop just sending our money … to some of these woke programs in higher ed and let’s start prioritizing trades and trades education so we can get more plumbers, more electricians back in Montana,” he told the DCNF.
While Trump carried the district Flint is running in by 12 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, Democrats are still targeting the seat as a potential flip opportunity. Montana’s First District is listed as one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) 2026 Districts In Play. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as “Likely R.”
Sam Forstag, a former smokejumper and the nephew of Democratic Nevada Rep. Susie Lee, won the Democratic primary for the seat on June 2 and is set to face Flint in November. The candidate notably ran to the left of his main primary rival touting the endorsement of socialists in Congress — Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Flint called his general election opponent the “Mamdani of Montana,” comparing him to socialist Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“He’s a lobbyist from Portland who fought to put men in girls bathrooms, who fought for sanctuary cities — and that’s who the Democrats have nominated as their candidate,” the Republican said of Forstag. “These guys are going to bring planeloads of cash into Montana to try to win this race.”
“But that’s why, if we can get everyday Americans, and especially folks all across Montana, to understand how important this First Congressional District race is, we get the resources, we expose exactly who the opposition is here,” Flint told the DCNF. “We got to keep the crazy out of Montana, frankly.”
(DCNF)