Republican Troy Downing has won Montana’s eastern U.S. House race by a wide margin over Democrat John Driscoll.Returns Wednesday morning showed Downing with a 66% vote share, or 174,247 votes. Driscoll, with 89,545 votes, or a 34% vote share, got the most bang for his buck. The Democrat was determined to spend less than $5,000 on the election.On Wednesday, Downing told Montana Free Press he is already lobbying Republican House leadership for committee assignments and a possible freshman leadership role. Downing is currently Montana state auditor.“I’ve been lobbying really hard on trying to get my committee picks, and I’m pushing on financial services and natural resources, both of which are what I do in my current office, it’s what I understand,” Downing said. The auditor is a member of the state Land Board, which manages energy and land use leases on Montana public land. “I think with my tech background, with what we’re going to see in financial services, in terms of distributed ledgers, and blockchain, and crypto, and AI, I think that my background will be particularly germane to what we’re going to be seeing on financial services in the foreseeable future.”Downing celebrated the win Tuesday night at the Billings DoubleTree hotel with a victory speech shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m.Driscoll shared screenshots of a text conversation with Downing in which he congratulated the Republican.“Commissioner Downing, congratulations on a clean win,” Driscoll said. “I did my effort in the best way I knew how and have no regrets. Tough job ahead of you. Good luck.” Driscoll is a former state legislator and public utility commissioner.Both candidates emerged from crowded primaries. Downing won an eight-candidate Republican race that featured former U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg and Elsie Arntzen, Montana’s outgoing two-term superintendent of public instruction and a former candidate for federal office.Incumbent Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale didn’t seek a third House term. Driscoll won a four-candidate primary against Helena’s Kevin Hamm, Ming Cabrera of Billings and Steve Held of Broadus. The 38-county eastern U.S. House district strongly favors Republican candidates, who have carried the region by 19 percentage points or better since the 2000s. Billings, Great Falls and Helena anchor the district, which had slightly more than 500,000 residents in the 2020 census.The U.S.-Mexico border and the economy dominated Downing’s discussions with voters, he said. Driscoll told MTFP in October that his conversations with voters in the eastern part of the state were unique.“I’ll pull into town, park the car, and walk around town. If I feel the person I’m about to meet won’t be bothered by me introducing myself, then I do. I meet a lot of people that way,” Driscoll said. “I’ve also been kicked out of a guy’s shop because he hates Democrats. I wear a hat that says ‘I’m a Democrat’ and that lights people up, or I have been called a baby killer. I’ve been called a communist, because of the hat.” Former Democratic state legislator Reilly Neill, of Livingston, ran a write-in campaign this year as well. Results for the write-in candidate are not yet available. The post Troy Downing wins Montana’s eastern U.S. House race appeared first on Montana Free Press.