Trump Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke narrowly wins Montana GOP House primary

Former Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke narrowly won the Republican primary to represent Montana's District 1 in the U.S. House.

Zinke, whom former President Donald Trump endorsed, beat his opponent, Al Olszewski, by just over 1,600 votes, or 41.7% to 39.8%, according to the Associated Press. 

Zinke previously represented Montana's at-large district from 2015-2017 until he joined the Trump administration. Tuesday's election was the first for Montana to have two districts, which the state gained after the 2020 Census.

The narrow victory stands in stark contrast to that of incumbent GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale, who won Montana's District 2 primary with more than 70% of the vote.

Ballot printing errors delayed the results of Zinke's primary by two days, the Associated Press reported. A Lincoln County was forced to hand count the results after a vendor printed the ballots on the wrong sized paper. Under Montana law, all ballots must be either manually counted or counted by a machine, the secretary of state's office said.