# MT-01 — 2026 U.S. House Race (Tier 2) > [!info] Tier 2 light file > Condensed tracking page. **Promotion trigger met Sept 25, 2026** (Cook moved it to Lean) — candidate for a full Tier 1 dossier. Western Montana seat now **open** after [[Ryan Zinke]] (R) announced his **March 2026 retirement** (citing health). This is a split-ticket district — Trump carried it by ~11.5 in 2024 while Jon Tester won it by ~0.7 — so the open seat is a genuine Democratic opportunity, and Cook moved it Likely → **Lean Republican** on Sept 25, 2026. **Ratings:** Cook **Lean Republican** — moved from Likely Republican on **Sept 25, 2026**, one of 15 House races Cook shifted toward Democrats that day (open; Tester-won split-ticket district). ## Nominees — settled June 2, 2026 The June 2 primaries produced the general-election field, which this page previously did not record: - **[[Sam Forstag]] (D)** — former wildland smokejumper and ACLU of Montana staffer; won the Democratic primary. - **Aaron Flint (R)** — won a four-way Republican primary over Ray Curtis, Christi Jacobsen and Albert Olszewski. - Also on the November ballot: Nick Sheedy (Libertarian) and Kimberly Persico (independent). ## Racicot endorsement, September 2026 **[[Marc Racicot]]** — two-term Republican governor of Montana (1993–2001), former **chair of the Republican National Committee**, and chair of the Bush–Cheney 2004 campaign — **endorsed Forstag** in September 2026, saying "It's not even a close call for me to stand in Sam's corner." This was a real signal in what was then a Likely R open seat that Jon Tester carried by ~0.7 while Trump carried it by ~11.5: the crossover permission structure is exactly what a Democrat needs in a split-ticket district. It is part of a September 2026 cluster of Republican-endorsing-Democrat breaks — see [[Bill Graves]] in [[KS-Sen-2026]] and [[Karl Rove]] in Texas. > [!warning] Rating not yet moved > **Resolved 2026-09-28:** Cook moved MT-01 Likely R → **Lean R** on Sept 25, 2026, six days after this flag. The move is not attributed to the endorsement specifically — it came in a 15-race batch driven by the national environment. ## Related - [[2026 House Races Hub]] - [[Ryan Zinke]] — retiring incumbent - [[MT-Sen-2026]] — Montana's open Senate race - [[Sam Forstag]] — Democratic nominee - [[Marc Racicot]] — former R governor and RNC chair; endorsed Forstag