Democrat Monica Tranel faces off against Republican Ryan Zinke in Montana's 1st Congressional District election

Matthew Brown/AP Photo; William Campbell/Getty Images; Insider

• Explore more race results below.
• Democrat Monica Tranel is running against Republican Ryan Zinke in Montana's 1st Congressional District.
• The 1st District is one of seven new US House districts created after the 2020 Census. 
• Zinke is the former US Secretary of the Interior and a former member of Congress.

Republican Ryan Zinke faces off against Democrat Monica Tranel in Montana's 1st Congressional District.

Polls close in the state at 8 p.m. local time, or 10 p.m. EST.

Montana's 1st Congressional District candidates

Zinke, the Republican nominee, is the former US secretary of the Interior during the Trump administration.

The former Trump administration secretary served in the Montana Senate from 2009 to 2013, then as a US representative for Montana from 2015 to 2017. 

In a debate in early October, Zinke said he opposed abortion rights but opposed a full abortion ban. 

Zinke was late filing a mandatory personal financial disclosure earlier this year, according to KTVH-TV. As a Trump administration official, he faced several ethics inquiries. 

Tranel, who grew up on a ranch in eastern Montana, is a Democratic attorney who's worked with renewable energy producers. She touts her entire career of working on behalf of Montanans and middle-class consumers. Tranel fully opposes federal abortion restrictions. 

John Lamb, an independent candidate, is also running in the general election. 

Voting history for Montana's 1st Congressional District

Montana's newly minted 1st Congressional District covers 15 counties in western Montana and a section of Pondera County, including the college towns of Missoula and Bozeman. 

Montana now has two congressional districts after 30 years with only one at-large district. District 1 is an open seat and Rep. Matt Rosendale will be running for re-election in District 2, which covers central and eastern Montana.

The 1st District, created after the 2020 Census, would have had former President Donald Trump winning with a near 7-percentage-point margin. 

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Zinke has raised $6 million, spent $5.63 million, and has about $532,000 still left to spend, as of October 19.

Tranel has raised $2.7 million, spent $2.56 million, and has about $135,000 of cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of November 4, several super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $1.84 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. 

What experts say

The race between Tranel and Zinke is rated as "lean Republican" by Inside Elections, "lean Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.