(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Downing wins crowded eastern Montana congressional district primary • Daily Montanan [1] ['Blair Miller', 'Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- June', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img'] Date: 2024-06-04 Troy Downing emerged as the winner of the big money, eight-person Republican primary for Montana’s eastern congressional district, though the Democratic primary to see who he will face in November was still too close to call Tuesday night. Fresh off Monday’s endorsement by former President Donald Trump, Downing carried 38% of the vote as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when the Associated Press called the 2nd Congressional District race in favor of the current state auditor. Coming in behind him were former Congressman Denny Rehberg (17%), former DEA agent Stacy Zinn (15%), Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen (9%), and state Sen. Ken Bogner (8%). The other three candidates still in the race – Ric Holden (5%), Joel Krautter (4%) and Kyle Austin (3%) were receiving less than 5% of the vote share as of 10:20 p.m. On the Democratic side, former state legislator and Public Service Commissioner John Driscoll, of Helena, was leading the four-person contest as of 10:20 p.m. with 34% of the vote. Coming in behind him were Steve Held (26%), Ming Cabrera (22%) and Kev Hamm (19%). The AP had not called that race as of publication time. Whichever Democrat does win the primary is likely to face steep odds of defeating Downing in November, as the Cook Partisan Voting Index puts the district at +16 for Republicans. Retiring Rep. Matt Rosendale, the Republican who currently represents the district and is a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, won the seat by more than 70,000 votes in 2022. “During his time as Montana State Auditor, Troy has shown he isn’t afraid to take on criminals and will protect senior citizens, families, and veterans,” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Delanie Bomar in a statement. “We are confident the voters will send Troy to Congress this November.” Downing has consistently led the most crowded primary field in Montana this year in terms of fundraising, as several candidates had couched their runs on whether Rosendale would run for Senate. He briefly did but dropped out after Trump endorsed Tim Sheehy, who would have been his opponent. Much of the Republican primary has involved the candidates working to show their loyalty to Trump and his policies, as Krautter was the lone candidate to say he wouldn’t support Trump. The southern border has been the top campaign issue when it comes to advertising in the race. When Trump endorsed Downing on Monday, about 188,000 voters had already submitted their ballots, so it’s unclear how the endorsement may have changed the outcome, if it did at all, for the group of Republicans. “Troy will fight to Lower Inflation, Secure our Border, Champion American Energy Independence, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment. Troy Downing has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump said in his endorsement message. Downing posted a message prior to polls closing on Tuesday saying he’d work with Trump to secure the border “and deport illegal aliens.” “Trump knows I’m the right man for the Job, that’s why he’s supported our message and endorsed my campaign!” Downing said. Downing said in a speech afterward that he hoped the eight Republicans in the race would unite and work to win in November and that his campaign would continue to be about “service before self.” He also thanked his supporters, his staff for their work, Rosendale, Gov. Greg Gianforte, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke for their support, and Trump for his endorsement. “Your commitment to this campaign, to our beautiful state and to the nation, you’re all the reasons we got into this race. And tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we double down because the future of this country is too important,” he said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/06/04/downing-wins-crowded-eastern-montana-congressional-district-primary/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/