NEWS

Walker files to run for congressional seat

Phil Drake
pdrake@greatfallstribune.com

HELENA — Ed Walker, a former state lawmaker, has joined the growing list of Republicans who plan to run for Rep. Ryan Zinke’s seat once Zinke is confirmed to be secretary of the interior under President Donald Trump.

Walker, 46, said he officially entered the race Thursday, paying a $1,740 filing fee with the Montana Republican Party and has spent the past five weeks traveling the state and meeting with delegates and learn what kind of candidate they are looking for.

“They just want to win and keep it in hands of the Republicans,” Walker said, but said they also want a candidate who is bold and has some strategies to win.

He also said they want “someone who is genuine.”

And he said they “want to see a principled candidate, not someone who will tell you want you want to hear and go to Congress and do something different,” he said.

He said his father is from Butte and his mother is from Anaconda. Walker also points to his stint working for Sen. Conrad Burns’ campaign. He said those efforts can still be seen today in the Republican Party.

Walker outlined his goals once he is elected.

“I have one objective,” he said. “I’m not going there to create comprehensive policy on immigration or health care. My objective is to push power back to the state and to the people where good policy is done. It’s not done in Washington, D.C.

In terms of the hot-button issue of public land. Walker said he is “100 percent for access” and remembers that a child growing up three was a lot more access to public land.

He said officials in Washington, D.C., are not listening to the people from Montana when it comes to public land.

“It’s the people’s land and it’s not for sale,” he said. “If it’s not OK to transfer land from federal government to state, why is it OK for federal government to steal land from state?

He said he was looking forward to the special election.

“It’s going to be a huge fight up to Election Day,” he said. “It will be a 100-day sprint.”

Walker served in the Montana state Senate from 2011 to 2015.

He said the Legislature taught him valuable lessons on good policy and how to do things in the legislative realm which is different than the executive realm.

Walker said there is a mistake within the Republican Party that if a person is successful in business than they would be good in politics.

“That is not necessarily the case,” he said.

Walker said Trump was the exception to the rule.

“Trump has animal instincts and understands the nature of politics, not all business people have that” he said.

Since leaving office he has worked in the energy industry for several years.

He and his wife, Kathleen, have five children. They live in Billings.

Republican candidates who paid a $1,740 filing fee so far include real estate investor Drew Turiano of East Helena; former state Sen. Ken Miller of Laurel; Dean Rehbein, a Missoula contractor; state Sen. Ed Buttrey, R- Great Falls; former gubernatorial candidate and high-tech entrepreneur Greg Gianforte; and Rep. Carl Glimm of Kila.

Candidates on the Democratic side include, state Reps. Amanda Curtis of Butte and Kelly McCarthy of Billings, entertainer Rob Quist of Creston, Bozeman attorney John Meyer, Dan West of Missoula, who formerly worked under the Obama administration, high school teacher Gary Stein of Missoula, outdoors business entrepreneur Link Neimark of Whitefish and Tom Weida of Helena, a former traveling salesman.

Walker said he is confident he will be the candidate, despite some people believing Gianforte, who was the GOP gubernatorial candidate in November, has the advantage. Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock won that race.

Walker said it may be common wisdom to pick a candidate, but he said people are starting to look at a different candidate to win.

“It’s not a done deal,” he said.