Montana State Rep. Daniel Zolnikov is considering a run for the state’s lone House seat, if their current Congressman Ryan Zinke is confirmed by the Senate to head up the Department of the Interior. The 29-year old Republican promises to be a breath of fresh air from politics as usual.
He has a reputation for being one of the most pro-liberty elected officials in the country being a stalwart defender of privacy rights, the Second Amendment, and fiscal responsibility.
“I firmly believe that we have fiscally given away the farm,” Zolnikov said to Red Alert Politics. “We are in a world of 20 trillion dollars of debt, and that doesn’t include the plethora of unfunded liabilities. I ask people what comes after a trillion and most people don’t know, yet we could be facing over 1/10 of a quadrillion dollars of unfunded liabilities coming down the road. That’s a problem we can not print our way out of, but we can start to dig our way out of by recognizing the actual role of the federal government.”
Zolnikov’s approach to politics is different than other politicians. He works very hard at keeping in touch with his constituents, especially millennials, who have told him they appreciate that he doesn’t try to pander to them.
“Millennials, compared to any generation in the past, have the largest amount of advertising and data flying into their face daily,” he said. “Politicians usually are full of rhetoric that is both boring and empty. Taking solid stances and putting myself out there continuously has appealed to younger voters who are used to the ‘he said, she said,’ finger pointing game. I’ve also used very positive messaging. Believe it or not, I know for certain that younger voters do care about what elected officials are trying to do, it just helps when we talk more about our goals and less about our opposition.”
It’s those bold stances like putting a check on government power that puts him in a different class than other politicians. For example, Zolnikov said that he plans on working with the Trump administration but would absolutely work to keep the executive branch in check if they tried to abuse their power.
Another big difference between the 29-year old and some more traditional politicians is that he doesn’t want to be divided by partisanship. Governing could work a lot better if the people just treated each other with more respect.
“I have worked very hard the last few sessions to not be an a–hole, especially to my colleagues across the aisle,” Zolnikov said.
“We are living in a time when our elected leaders literally despise each other. Decisions are made at both the national and state level based on spite and dislike as much as they are made based on actual philosophical stances,” he continued. “As a very conservative guy, I believe politics has won, and policy has lost. There are too many common areas where the right, far right and occasionally the far left have common ground, yet refuse to even speak to each other. “
