ICYMI: Aaron Flint on Keeping the “crazy out of Montana”

In case you missed it, combat veteran Aaron Flint laid out his vision to keep Montana red, deliver relief for working families, and stop socialist lobbyist Sam Forstag from turning Montana into another failed liberal state.

Read more here or read the excerpts below: 

INTERVIEW: Aaron Flint on his campaign to “keep the crazy out of Montana”
The Washington Reporter
by Matthew Foldi
August 28, 2026

For over 20 years, Aaron Flint served in the U.S. Army — like many 90s kids, the September 11th terrorist attacks changed his life forever. On that day, he was working in Washington, D.C. for one of Montana’s senators, but he knew in that moment that he wanted to join the Army.

In the decades since that attack, Flint has had a distinguished career in and out of the military — for years, he’s been Montana’s top conservative radio host, and now he’s running for Congress to succeed another military veteran, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R., Mont.). 

[…]

“It’s not just the importance of this seat,” Flint explained. “I truly believe that this House seat here in Western Montana could determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives the way the margins are right now.”

While the stakes are national in this race, which Democrats are heavily contesting, Flint emphasized that there are major local issues at stake as well. “But even put all that aside, we have to keep this seat here in Western Montana. We actually have the opportunity to get some things done right now. When Zinke got a hold of me back in late January and told me ‘after 35 years of government service, I am looking to retire.’ After 23 years as a Navy SEAL, as a legislator, in Congress, as Interior Secretary, and as Congress again, it was time for him to retire. Ryan Zinke held this seat when we thought it might fall to the Democrats, and Zinke came to me and he said ‘look, Aaron, there are some folks who can win the primary, but they’ll lose the general. There are some folks who can win a general, but they can’t get through the primary. You’re the guy who can do both.’”

[…]

Flint described the Montana Republican Party’s entire ticket as one of “common sense,” in contrast with the “crazy” of the Montana Democrats. “They killed our timber industry, which has destroyed our forests,” he said. “They blocked mining opportunities, and now we’ve got some rural communities here in Montana that are struggling. It’s not really one thing, as you can tell. It’s the importance of the race on a national level, the importance of the race here for Western Montana, and then also opportunities for our young kids moving forward.”

Flint’s Democratic opponent, Sam Forstag, is one of many Democrats running in red-leaning districts around the country who Republicans argue are wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

“Look at this race for Congress, the Working Families Tax Cuts, is a huge tax break with no tax on Social Security, and my opponent already said he would have voted against that,” Flint explained. “My opponent would have voted to keep taxing Social Security, my opponent would have kept taxing tips. My mom was a single mom who worked as a waitress. I worked as a waiter and a busboy through high school and college, and my opponent would have voted to keep taxing tips. Yet he pretends to be the working class candidate. It’s absurd.”

The contrast between Flint and Forstag, and between what Republicans and Democrats are pushing for across the nation, has helped Flint score several critical union endorsements during his campaign to keep Zinke’s seat red. 

“I’m sure my opponent is a nice enough guy, but he’s a far-left lobbyist from Portland who literally lobbied for sanctuary cities, for illegal aliens, for men in girls bathrooms, for men in girls sports, and he worked for an outfit that wants to defund the police,” Flint said. “This is the craziest of the crazy, and that’s why I think a lot of old school Democrats or Democrat-leaning groups like the trades unions are going to say ‘enough of this craziness. We can’t even vote for that,’ and they know that I’m a guy who’s been fighting for working families here in Montana for decades.”

[…]

“People need any kind of relief they can get right now,” Flint explained. “You’ve got single moms who have kids playing sports that have to buy new running shoes that have to travel long distances to take their kid to a volleyball tournament or things like that. Every single dollar we can allow them to keep in their pocket is a huge difference for these working families out here right now, especially after what we saw during the Joe Biden, Jon Tester years, where we saw a 31 percent increase in energy inflation alone. Restaurant inflation was over a 20 percent increase. A lot of people just stopped going out to eat, and so whatever we can do to allow people to keep more of what they earn makes a big difference in a place like Montana, where frankly most people are living paycheck to paycheck.”

For Flint, his years in the military and in the media are assets that he’s leaning heavily on to make his case to voters.

[…]

Flint, who has lived all over Montana, said that he hasn’t visited many new places in his state during his campaign, in part because he’s traversed so much of Montana. However, he has met many new people, including many who had only heard his voice on the radio in the past.

In one instance, he said, “I was at the Rocking R Bar in Bozeman during my campaign, and this was one of my favorite experiences. This lady loved listening to my show. She was the same age as my grandma, class of 1955. She comes to our event at the Rocking R Bar, and I shake her hand, and she holds onto my hand like this for five minutes while we’re talking, and we’re talking about everything. Well, after that, her daughter came up to me, and she said, ‘my mom never goes to bars, she’s never been to the Rocking R Bar, but she came here to see you’ for one of our meet and greets, and so that was a really cool event. This lady is one of my grandma’s friends, and now she’s coming up to talk to me at an event for my campaign.”