Editor’s note: This is the last of 12 profiles featuring a candidate in Montana’s Second Congressional House District primary race. The profiles have been published daily over 12 days and in alphabetical order. Each candidate was asked the same questions.
Stacy Zinn was in her 50s when mandatory retirement ended her career with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, but she wanted to continue to contribute.
With the immigration crisis on the U.S. Mexico border, and Rep. Matt Rosendale signaling he wouldn’t run again, the former director of DEA operations in Montana set her sights on the state’s eastern U.S. House District.
“It’s not interest in politics, it’s interest in fighting for our country,” Zinn said of what’s driven her into an eight-candidate Republican primary, despite having never run for office before. “When I was mandatory retired, due to my age at 57, and being a gun-toter, you’re done. And I still have that fire in my belly. I still want to make a positive difference. I think we can turn the ship around. I mean, we are busting at the seams all over the place and I still feel like I have a lot to give.”
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The Texas native has traveled the world as a drug enforcement agent. The worked three years in Afghanistan fighting the opium trade, eight years working both sides of the U.S./Mexico border focusing on Mexican drug cartels, and she collaborated with police in Peru. Those deployments gave Zinn not only exposure to rise of a deadly fentanyl epidemic, but also exposure to foreign governments and how those governments interact with the United States.
Zinn said the United States needs to stop allowing immigrants into the country. She’s a huge fan of “Remain in Mexico.” And she thinks U.S. federal aid to countries in South America and Central America should be denied if their citizenry keeps fleeing to the United States. The United Nations should also stop funding non-government organizations which Zinn believes are encouraging people to immigrate.
In the field of Montana voters, the ones Zinn said are willing to coalesce around are the people who want a drastic turnover in Congressional membership, not representatives and senators with tenure.
“The people who are fed up and want a fighter, those are my people,” Zinn said. “The people who are saying ‘You know what, we don’t want politicians. We don’t want the same old same old. We want someone who is going to fight for us, are going to listen to us, bust their butt to help the eastern district of Montana.”
The “we don’t want politicians” barb by Zinn spares very few of her opponents, which include former Rep. Denny Rehberg, current Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, State Auditor Troy Downing, plus current or former legislators Ken Bogner, Ric Holden, and Joel Krautter. Billings pharmacist Kyle Austin is the only other non-elected official in the race, though Austin was a candidate for U.S. House in 2022.
As for the U.S./Mexico border, Zinn says it’s nice that her opponents have visited sections of the security wall for photo ops, but who are they kidding?
“Let's be serious, unless you've worked the border, you don't know the border,” Zinn said. “The northern border, our northern border is open and I've been yelling, I've been trying to get people's attention since 2017, when I learned about our deficiencies that are on the northern border.”
One of the lessons learned by Zinn is that enforcement isn’t enough to end the United States drug epidemic, particularly when it comes to children. More needs to be done to prevent addiction, she said.
At the beginning of May, President Joe Biden’s administration signaled an interest in lowering the classification for marijuana, which would decriminalize use of the drug nationwide. Currently, 24 states, including Montana, have legalized recreational marijuana use.
“You know, I don't care what adults do behind closed doors, that's their business. What gets my goat is that when we impact the kids, and we do it for greed,” Zinn said. “What I'm seeing more is the kids are getting ahold of it and they don't know how the dab property or use the high-potency THC and their greening out.”
Greening out, Zinn said, is when someone consumes so much marijuana that they become physically sick, anxiety stricken and/or disoriented. This is an overdose of tetrahydrocannabinol that’s been showing up in school children in recent years.
“This is impacting their brain. The new brains are still growing and when they smoke this high product the gray matter is expanding. According to new studies, we are seeing mental health issues, and some kids spike a lot earlier than normal. Europe has seen this New Zealand has seen this. Here in America, this is a big money grab and it's unfortunate. I mean, Big Marijuana needs to come out and talk about the dangers of marijuana, then I would take their industry a little bit more seriously. But when people are doing it, it doesn't matter if you're Republican or Democrat. This is a big money grab and it's unfortunate that kids are going to be the ones that are going to suffer.”
Q&A
Political party: Republican
Age and place of birth: 57; Texas
Home: Billings
Occupation: Retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration
Family: Yes
Education: Undergraduate degree (UTA) and a master’s degree (Texas Tech)
Past employment: DEA, self-employed as an executive protection agent
Military: No
Political experience: Proud to say, none.
Ways voters can contact you:
a.) Email: lilsdz@aol.com
b.) Address: PO Box 80944 Billings MT 59108
c.) Phone number: 406-317-3725
d.) Web page: https://www.zinnformt.com/
Q. Identify two national priorities that are part of your platform, explain your position on each and tell voters how you intend to address both. If there’s an existing bill you support to advance your position, please identify it.
A. Border/crime/national security:
1. As the former head of DEA Montana and having served overseas for many years, including in Afghanistan, my expertise is unique in this race. I would insist on closing the southern border to illegal immigration, appointing qualified federal prosecutors to deal with crime, and working with a Trump White House on effective foreign policy.
The DHS will have one mission, to close the border to illegal immigration and to arrest anyone attempting to break U.S. immigration law. I will stand by President Trump to hold these agency heads accountable and make sure that they are following their mission statement.
The President will have the ability to assign new U.S. Attorneys to each district. While the Senate approves these choices, I have the experience to be able to recommend potential candidates. Having an effective U.S. Attorney that has the same goals as the administration allows the President to get his priorities implemented such as the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) under President Trump.
The world is on fire due to the disastrous and incompetent foreign policy of the Biden Administration. These disasters will likely result in terrorist attacks here in the United States. My experience working in embassies around the world is unique and will be used to advise the Trump administration and leadership in Congress.
2. Limited government, debt, lower taxes:
Most Republican candidates claim they will address these issues, but relent as soon as they arrive in D.C. I will insist on them, and will not vote for any budget or initiative that goes against these basic principles. Limited government means not growing government and limiting federal overreach. Serious financial cutbacks are a must while revamping the federal tax code.
Q. Name two issues unique to the Eastern District that you will have to advance because no one else in the House will be familiar enough to do so. Explain how you’ll get the job done.
1. Border security: Working as a federal agent for nearly 23 years, four of them on the Southern border, my experience is unique in Congress. I can craft detailed legislation that would close loopholes in drug enforcement and immigration law that would stop our current disaster in its tracks and this includes the northern border. I am not a photo-op politician.
2. Foreign aid/foreign policy: Billions of our tax money is wasted every year on aid to countries that do not act as allies. Having served overseas myself for many years, I could address these issues unlike anyone else in Congress. Experience matters.
Q. A rare earth minerals miner in Montana recently suggested that to sustain a domestic supply of metals essential to all things tech—semiconductors, batteries, advanced military equipment—Congress would have to act.
The Biden Administration's "America last" policies have put us in this predicament, including ridiculous global warming mandates. My position on all dealings with foreign countries will be America first, meaning any policy that is in our best interest. No other considerations matter.
Q. Explain how an import tariff consequential to sales of U.S. Corn and Soybeans to China affects the price of Montana’s top export ag commodity.
As previously seen, an import tariff led to China’s retaliatory tariffs which were applied to soybean, wheat and corn. For example, China applied a 25% retaliatory tariff to soybean. Consequently, the value of U.S. agricultural exports to China declined. According to recorded data, soybean, wheat and corn were most severely affected by China’s retaliatory tariffs with the value of U.S. exports to China declining by over 60%. Bottom line, tariffs equal retaliatory actions.
Q. President Joe Biden has suggested “codifying Roe,” in other words creating a national right to abortion. Explain your position on this issue.
Joe Biden's suggestions and priorities are not mine, nor are they the priorities of the American people. This is evident in his disastrous first term and basement approval numbers.
Q. What role would you assign yourself as a member of a slim House majority? Would you get behind policies or leaders that 90% of your party supports to advance the preferences of your caucus?
I will not go to Washington and sell out my constituents. I will be there to represent them and their priorities. Anything counter to that will be opposed. I go there with the main principles of limited government and lower taxes. Those principles will never be compromised.
Q. Would you have certified the electors from all 50 states as a member of Congress in 2021? Explain your decision while identifying any state whose electors you would have rejected.
I will not engage in narratives that are three years in the rear-view mirror and are of no concern to everyday Americans. As a retired federal agent, I will always follow the law.