"Thank God Libby Loggers." That's what former Interior Secretary and retired Navy SEAL Commander Ryan Zinke (R-MT) had to say on Friday. This, after the ballot count in Lincoln, County Montana was finally reported to the Secretary of State's office on Thursday night- handing Zinke a victory in the Republican primary for the Western Congressional district in Montana.

Sec. Ryan Zinke: Thank God Libby Loggers. But yeah, there's a lot of work to do, and now we pivot to the general, and we focus on getting Nancy Pelosi out of the speaker role and and a Republican majority in. Like any election this was a tough one, tougher than we thought- a lot of work ahead. But you know I'm grateful for all the people that have confidence in our team and ignored the BS, the political BS, and and want to fix this country.

What are Zinke's top takeaways from Montana's primary elections?

Sec. Zinke: Well the East side (of Montana) had more more Republican votes than the West. Voter turnout in the West was about 37% or so- a little low. So we're gonna have to work on getting the vote out. And even look at, Aaron, when the school board elections. You would think that because of what's going on in our schools and the attention that has been given nationally and in Montana, that the numbers in the school board elections would have been, you know, through the roof. They weren't. A lot of it is- Democracy is a very fragile instrument, it takes everyone's participation, and we got to get out to get the vote out to get our message out to protect Montana values. It is a fight that, if we're going to have a fight, then let's have a fight about our values because our values are worth defending.

Full audio of Zinke recapping Montana's GOP primary election for the Western Congressional District:

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