Monica Tranel, MT House Candidate, Explains Why She Is Confident She Will Beat Ryan Zinke In 2024

3 months ago

Two-time Olympian and gold medalist Monica Tranel joined Cat Oriel on “Forbes Newsroom” to discuss her race against Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT).

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Transcript

00:00Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about the race and your opponent, who you mentioned

00:03a little bit before.

00:04So I'm assuming that pivotal moment, that story that you were talking about, was before

00:08the 2022 election.

00:10You know, you ran unsuccessfully for the same seat that you're running for now against

00:14the same opponent, Ryan Zinke.

00:16So what made you decide to get back in the race this cycle?

00:19And what makes you confident you can get to the finish line this time?

00:23In 22, it was an open seat, Montana's the first state in the country to lose a seat

00:27and then get it back.

00:28And so we had an open seat after the 2020 census.

00:31And that was the race that I got into, as you noted.

00:35I was the closest race in the country in a Trump plus four or more district without any

00:39national money invested in my race.

00:42I took on someone who was effectively an incumbent, having won election in Montana, but then having

00:51gotten fired by President Trump for ethics violations for his service in the interior.

00:59So when he was fired, kicked out of the Department of the Interior, we all thought that was kind

01:04of the end.

01:05But then he decided to come back, Ryan Zinke came back and ran in 22.

01:10And I was taking on somebody who had a lot of name recognition.

01:13I had a competitive primary, I was outraced and outspent.

01:16I won the primary by 40 points, but in June, I was standing up a general election campaign

01:21against someone with a lot of name recognition, and I had to get my name out there.

01:26I had less than half of the money that Ryan Zinke had in 22, but made it a three point

01:31race.

01:32So I had 115,000 votes in Western Montana.

01:35That's a lot of people who said they wanted me to be their representative.

01:39And my name recognition really still wasn't quite where I needed it to be.

01:42So we looked at it as we were coming on strong, the political reports were changing the characterization

01:52of the race even up to the few weeks before the election.

01:57So we were really coming on strong and getting our message out there.

02:00And the more people who knew me, the closer the race got.

02:04So we just ran out of time.

02:06And so I looked at it as we set out to climb a high mountain, and we almost did it.

02:11And it felt like I needed to come back and finish the job.

02:15There was just too much enthusiasm, too much support for me, too much of the Montanans

02:20that I know and that I live with saying, hey, we really want our voice in Congress.

02:25Will you run again?

02:26And people were asking me that.

02:28And then when I announced they were so excited, there was so much enthusiasm.

02:32We raised three quarters of a million dollars in the first quarter that we announced, which

02:37was a big number.

02:39And we've had tremendous support ever since then.

02:42I know that we can win because the numbers are there.

02:45This is a tester plus 10 district, these 16 counties.

02:50Senator Tester carried them by 10 points in the 2018 election if it had been a district.

02:55So the votes are there.

02:56I have to develop my brand, get my name out, and invest, and I'm doing that.

03:02So putting the miles on the road, I've been traveling this district in my minivan and

03:08put 30,000 miles on my minivan over the course of the last eight months.

03:15I actually literally drove it into the ground, the transmission went out, and I had to get

03:19a new one.

03:20So all of that was a part of the race.

03:25And I know that we can win it, and Montanans are with me, and I'm hearing that now.

03:29So our polls are good, our numbers are good, and we're doing strong.

03:33So we've set fundraising records, which that's the metric, unfortunately, that people measure

03:41candidates' strength by.

03:42We set fundraising records in this race over the last six quarters that we've been raising

03:48money and raised well over $1 million last quarter.

03:54And our cash on hand is good.

03:56We're going into the online advertising season from a very, very strong position, and we'll

04:05spend the resources that we need.

04:07This is also on the red-to-blue list, so we're one of the top pickup seats in the country.

04:12We were identified in the first tranche of red-to-blue candidates.

04:17So we've got a lot of support nationally for this race.

04:20The other statistic that I think is important is that I'll be the only Democrat between

04:24Seattle and Minneapolis and down to Denver.

04:27So that's a huge swath of the country that doesn't have a Democratic representative in

04:32the House.

04:33And look, we're watching right now what the House has absolutely failed to do.

04:38They've completely fallen down on the job.

04:40They didn't pass a budget bill last year until six months after the budget.

04:44I mean, they're just doing these Band-Aids.

04:46They can't effectively govern.

04:48This is a Republican majority.

04:50My opponent has been in government for 15 years at the highest level, always in the

04:56majority, always in the majority, and he hasn't delivered for Montana.

05:00He's done nothing to make Montana better, and they can't get a budget passed.

05:05And now they've recessed without getting a budget passed for next year.

05:09That's not okay.

05:10That's not effective representation.

05:12That needs to change, and people on the ground here in Montana agree with me on that.

05:16So we're going to get it done, and I'll be our representative in Congress, and we'll

05:20get some work done.

Monica Tranel, MT House Candidate, Explains Why She Is Confident She Will Beat Ryan Zinke In 2024

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