Sam Forstag projected to win Democratic primary in Montana's 1st District

Politics Sam Forstag wins Democratic primary in Montana's 1st Congressional District, CBS News projects By Caitlin Yilek Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation. Read Full Bio Caitlin Yilek June 3, 2026 / 3:42 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Democrat Sam Forstag won his party's primary in Montana's 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, CBS News projects. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the House race as likely Republican, but Democrats believe they have a chance to flip the open seat in November as they try to retake the majority for the final two years of President Trump's second term.  The seat is currently held by GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke, who announced his retirement in early March, citing health issues from his time as a Navy SEAL as the driving factor for his decision. Zinke said he risked missing votes in the future as he recovers from medical treatment. Zinke first represented Montana in Congress beginning 2015, taking a hiatus from 2017 to 2019 to lead the Department of Interior during President Trump's first term. He resigned from the Cabinet role amid ethics investigations. He ran again for Congress in 2022, beating his Democratic opponent by three percentage points. In a rematch in 2024, he increased his lead to nearly eight percentage points. If Forstag wins the House race in November, it would be the first time in 30 years that a Democrat has represented Montana in the lower chamber. "The way you win an election in this state, and I actually think the way you actually have some path to victory for the national party, is A: you win back working people, right?" Forstag told CBS News in an interview earlier this year.  "We've got to win back union members like me, who ha...