Matt Rosendale, a Republican candidate for Montana’s lone House seat, is looking to broaden his exposure in the Flathead Valley and stand apart from his two opponents.

The first-term state senator from Glendive said he has been campaigning in the Flathead several times since announcing his candidacy last October, but this year his campaign will have a stronger presence in the Flathead, which has had a Republican-leaning electorate for years. 

Rosendale opened a campaign office on South Main Street in Kalispell in January that is staffed by his regional campaign director, Alison Vergeront.

“We’re taking the Flathead very seriously,” Rosendale said during an interview Friday. “There is a block of voters who are going to be very inclined to support me.”

Asked if he will attempt to position himself as being more conservative than his Republican primary opponents— Ryan Zinke, Corey Stapleton and Elsie Arntzen — Rosendale said, “I’m taking the approach that I will be the most effective candidate.”

Rosendale acknowledged that there is a rift in the state Republican Party between conservatives and “common sense” Republicans, and he said those divisions extend to the national level.

“I’ve demonstrated that I’ve been able to maintain relations with everyone in our [state senate] caucus,” he said. “If you’re going to be effective, those relations are vital.”

Rosendale asserts that his record shines on gun rights, property rights and the pursuit of all resource development.

Rosendale said he has been effective as a citizen legislator and as a real estate developer and farmer and rancher.

While it may appear that Zinke, a Whitefish resident, would have a local advantage, Rosendale said he’s “not willing to surrender any location in this state to any candidate.”

Rosendale said he’s running a full-time campaign that has taken him to nearly every county, and he’s well tuned to the concerns of voters.

Asked what the top concern is for Montanans he has met, Rosendale didn’t hesitate to say it is the federal Affordable Care Act.

“I can tell you there are so many people who are being adversely effected” by the law, he said, adding that he very rarely hears an account of how the law has helped someone.

He said there is also growing interest in state or local governments gaining control and management of federal pubic lands rather than allowing those lands to continue being managed by federal bureaucrats. 

A proliferation of regulatory control through bureaucratic rule-making without congressional oversight is also a concern, along with the common worries about the nation’s debt and deficit spending.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.