Republican Ryan Zinke, who served as secretary of the interior under former President Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Saturday that he is running to represent Montana in Congress because he believes the country is "worth fighting for."
"The fight for freedom never ends and our country is worth fighting for," the Republican candidate said during "America Right Now" on Saturday. "We really need to look at our country as a whole [and] where we're going. If we don't turn this country around shortly, I think we could lose her."
The former U.S. Navy Seal, state legislator, and congressman was tapped by Trump in 2016 to serve as secretary of the interior. He held the post until 2018, according to his biography on Ballotpedia.
He is running for the nomination for the open House seat with four other Republicans in the GOP primary Tuesday.
Democrats will decide Tuesday on that party's nominee from a field of three candidates, according to Ballotpedia.
Zinke, who Trump has endorsed for the seat, said he is optimistic that the country can work itself out of the current inflation and energy woes with the right kinds of policy.
"I always like to look at things half full, and we need to look at the issues in this country," he said. "We can drive energy costs back down to $2 a gallon. We can control spending and that's hurting on inflation, and inflation, largely, is energy, coupled with excessive spending, and we can fix both of those."
In addition to Trump, Zinke said he has the endorsement of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Montana's Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, as well as the National Rifle Association and pro-life groups.
"We're feeling pretty good [about the race]," he said. "You know a lot of what we feel out in Montana. I can tell you there's a lot of pressure from Washington, D.C., trying to intrude in our lives."
Zinke said that if he is elected and goes to Washington with a new Republican majority, he wants the party to do the right things when there and not weaponize things against Democrats just to score political points and payback for the past four years.
"I think we have to be in the right side of the issue and not abuse our power and make sure that the American people know that we're going to do things right," he said. "We're going to do things by the law. We're going to enforce the Constitution of the United States, and we're going to save this country."
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