Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Montana Democratic Congressional Candidate Monica Tranel appeared on the KGVO Talk Back show to answer questions from listeners.

Tranel began by decrying the confrontational atmosphere that now exists between parents, teachers, and public schools referencing a visit she had with a discouraged and now retired teacher who identified as a conservative.

“I had a really interesting conversation here in Missoula with a woman who was a teacher for 37 years,” began Tranel. “(She was) conservative, a woman who said that she had retired from teaching because she was tired of the parents. She just really wanted to be able to do her job. To me, that was really interesting, because I think the Republican Party platform, it's really more focused on parents’ rights, but this was a teacher saying I got out of teaching because the parents were constantly making it hard for me to do my job and that's a Republican woman.”

Tranel used the opportunity to slam her Republican opponent Ryan Zinke, accusing him of making the campaign about national issues, rather than those important to Montanans.

“So let's talk about what Ryan Zinke is doing with his ads,” she said. “This is a clear strategy on Ryan Zinke’s part to make this a national race. He wants to have this generic ‘D’ (Democrat) platform thinking that every Republican in Montana doesn't have a brain and that they're just going to vote for him automatically because he has an ‘R’ (Republican) behind his name. I think more of Montanans than that.”

One caller asked Tranel if she could describe something good that has come from what has been termed ‘The Inflation Reduction Act’.

“I think that one of the good things that have come out of the Inflation Reduction Act is the cap on some of the medical fees, such as a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket costs, and also that Medicare will be able to negotiate drug prices starting in 2026. So that's a start. It's a good start. We need to go further in terms of negotiating drug prices because prescription drug prices are crazy and what people are paying just to not have pain.”

Tranel brought several large booklets into the studio that she said delineate the charges against Ryan Zinke that he lied to federal investigators.

“I gave you each, Nick and Peter, a paper copy,” she said. “I have a third copy here. I'm happy to leave it and I'm happy to get these out to anybody who wants to read them themselves. Because Ryan Zinke is saying these (charges) are about my socks, or they were about a horse. I want you to read these reports themselves. They were not about socks. These are serious ethical violations. He was asked about things and he lied. When he was asked about what he had done. He lied about what he did.”

Listen to the entire conversation on Talk Back with Monica Tranel by clicking here.

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