Sam Forstag, a former smokejumper and union leader, launched his campaign for Montana’s U.S. House of Representatives seat on January 5, challenging incumbent Republican Ryan Zinke. Forstag’s decision to enter the race followed what he described as a wave of abrupt and unjustifiable terminations of U.S. Forest Service workers in Montana last year.
Forstag, 31, spent years fighting wildfires as a smokejumper, parachuting into remote areas to combat blazes across the West Coast. He currently serves as vice president of the NFFE-FSC Local 60 Union, representing roughly 800 Forest Service workers in Montana. According to his LinkedIn profile, he also has experience in policy and lobbying, having worked for Central House Strategies and the Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness.
The catalyst for Forstag’s political ambitions was the dismissal of approximately 300 Forest Service employees in Montana last year, a move he characterized as a demonstration of how little value is placed on workers by those in power. He recounted instances of employees being fired while undergoing cancer treatment and even while traveling to attend a parent’s funeral. While the jobs were later reinstated following a court ruling, Forstag stated the experience underscored a systemic disregard for the well-being of working people.
“It’s the same story that it always is. It’s working people getting screwed while rich people get a whole lot richer,” Forstag said, according to reporting by The Guardian.
Forstag’s entry into the race has been viewed by national Democrats as a potential opportunity to flip Montana’s First Congressional District, though the state remains heavily Republican. In 2024, Democratic Senator Jon Tester lost his re-election bid after holding the seat since 2007, despite winning the First Congressional District.
Zinke, a former Interior Secretary under President Trump, faced ethics investigations during his time in the administration and saw his net worth increase significantly between 2017 and 2021, growing from $2 million to over $30 million through real estate and investments. He was re-elected to Congress in 2022 and has campaigned on a platform of opposing the Biden administration’s policies.
Zinke’s campaign manager responded to Forstag’s candidacy by claiming he “represents Mamdani” and not Montana, referencing Forstag’s participation in a rally alongside Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in April 2025 where he spoke about protecting workers and public lands. At the rally, Forstag stated, “What we’re facing today isn’t a wildfire, but it’s damn sure an emergency.”
Forstag has criticized Zinke for being absent from town halls and for advocating policies that would open public lands to mining and drilling. He accused Zinke of hypocrisy, stating, “He is as two-faced as anyone you could possibly imagine,” and alleging that Zinke “votes down the line to gut all our public lands agencies, so that he and his rich, corporate friends can turn a bigger profit at all of our expense.” Zinke’s office has not responded to requests for comment.
Forstag is competing for the Democratic nomination against other candidates, including Ryan Busse, a former firearms executive who previously ran for governor of Montana. He is focusing his campaign on issues affecting workers, arguing that the Democratic party needs to reconnect with the working class. He emphasized the need for policies such as affordable housing, universal childcare, and healthcare reform.
“You should be able to work a good job in this state [and] in this country and afford housing and health coverage,” Forstag said. “The primary function of government is to step in when the market is not meeting a need and to make people’s lives materially better. And it seems like some people at the national level forgot about that.”
