Decision Desk Calls the Race for Zinke in Western Montana

Update: At 8:31 a.m. on Thursday the Associated Press finally called the race for Zinke. 

Decision Desk has now projected Ryan Zinke as the winner in the 1st Congressional District in Western Montana.

With slow vote counting still taking place in the Western Congressional district in Montana, the media is still refusing to call the race for former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (R-MT)- despite Zinke's continued dominance in the election results.

As of 5 a.m. on Thursday morning, Zinke continues to lead by thousands of votes.Zinke has 120,285 votes compared to Tranel's (D) 112,271 votes. Here's the screenshot from the Secretary of State's election results website:

As Jonathan Ambarian reports for the Montana Television Network (MTN), the Associated Press is still refusing to call the race for Zinke.

According to the Billings Gazette, Zinke's campaign sent out a press release touting the latest results:

Zinke: I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me on Election Day and all those who volunteered with our campaign to get the word out. For those of you who did not vote for me, my door is always open and you’ll find me to have an open ear, open mind and shoot straight when we disagree.

The Gazette added:

Results coming in Wednesday afternoon and evening from counties including Flathead, Missoula and Gallatin continued to shape the count but did not significantly cut into Zinke's margin, which had been over 11,000 votes earlier in the day.

As a side bar- look at what else is VERY interesting. Republican Matt Rosendale won the 2nd Congressional District in the East. Right now, Zinke has pulled in 120,285 votes in the West, while Rosendale has pulled in 120,246 votes in the East. Check my math- but that tells me that right now 39 votes makes up the difference between the Republican in the West compared to the Republican in the East.