Ryan Zinke
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Each week GOPAC will spotlight a candidate running for election. This week’s candidate is Ryan Zinke of Montana.

Ryan Zinke is a third generation Montanan and was a multiple sport All-State stand-out and a Whitefish High School Football Hall of Fame inductee. His early influences were his Grandparents, Arthur Harlow, who was the owner of the first Chevrolet Dealership in Whitefish and his Grandmother, Ester Harlow, who was a frontier school teacher in Wolf Point, MT and an avid gardener. After serving as three time class president of Whitefish High school, Zinke attended the University of Oregon and graduated with a B.S. in Geology. A four-year letterman, he received numerous awards to include All-Pacific TEN honors, the Pacific TEN Medal for Collegiate Leadership, the Sahlstrom Award for Athletic and Academic Excellence, and the prestigious Emerald Cup for academic, athletic, and leadership excellence. In 1996 and again in 1997, Ryan Zinke was twice selected as one of the Most Outstanding Young Men in America.

Ryan’s distinguished military career began in 1985 when he graduated from US Navy SEAL training and was assigned to SEAL Team ONE in Coronado, CA where he led counter-insurgency and contingency operations in the Persian Gulf and the Pacific theater of operations. From 1990-93 and again from 1996-99, he was specially screened and selected to Naval Special Warfare Development Group in Virginia Beach, VA where he deployed to U.S. Special Operations Command and led operations as Ground Force Commander in support of Stabilization Force, Bosnia-Herzegovina (SFOR).

He then served as the Special Operations Officer in Europe and led the first exercise between former Soviet Special Forces and NSW forces, and served as the SEAL Commander of Joint Task Force TWO in support of Special Operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. In 2004, Ryan was assigned as Deputy and acting Commander, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM where he led a force of over 3500 Special Operations personnel in Iraq in the conduct of 360 combat patrols, 48 Direct Action missions, and hundreds of sensitive operations. He was responsible for killing or capturing 72 known enemy insurgents and terrorists. In 2006, he was awarded two Bronze Stars for combat action by the Governor of Montana at a ceremony in Whitefish. Ryan retired from the Navy in 2008 after serving 23 years on active duty.

Ryan Zinke is Disabled Veteran and currently a small business owner and consultant. He is the founder and President of the Great Northern Veterans Peace Park Foundation and member of several local community organizations. He is the Republican Party candidate for Montana State Senate District 2 after winning the primary with 72 percent of the vote. A common sense and champion of fiscal responsibility, quality education, small business opportunity, and responsible conservation, he is enthusiastically endorsed by both business and conservation organizations.

Ryan Zinke holds a MBA in Finance and a Masters of Science in Global Leadership from the University of San Diego. He is married to the former Lolita Hand and has two young boys, Wolfgang and Konrad, and his daughter Jennifer, who is serving as a US Navy Diver and is also married to a Navy SEAL.

Please visit his campaign website to learn more about Ryan’s accomplishments and to see how you can help his campaign.

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