The script was already written

Chicago Democrat U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia filed his petition for reelection on Oct. 27, 2025, the first day of the state’s filing period. A week later, at the last hour of the last day to file, his own chief of staff, Patty Garcia, submitted her candidate petition as well. Then, just a few days later, Rep. Garcia announced he was dropping out of the race — meaning he essentially blocked other potential Democrats from running while hand-picking a successor on the sly.

While he broke no election rules in orchestrating the scheme, members of Congress were quick to rebuke the kingmaker optics.

“If you’re not going to run, you don’t get to choose your successor,” said Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in presenting a resolution last November that chastised the political maneuvering as “incompatible with the spirit of the United States Constitution.”

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, many Democrats joined Republicans to approve the resolution and send a symbolic message that undermining the election process won’t be tolerated.

Among those in favor was Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke.

It seems Zinke has changed his tune since making that vote.

Last Monday afternoon — just a day and a half before the state’s filing deadline for the June primary — the Republican announced he would not file for reelection and would retire at the end of his current term because of health-related concerns. A few ticks later, talk radio host Aaron Flint released a slickly produced campaign video alongside Zinke’s endorsement as his replacement.

The script, as they say, was already written.

But neither of those examples compare to Sen. Steve Daines’ skulduggery.

Montana’s two-term senator unexpectedly dropped his reelection bid just three minutes before the March 4 filing deadline, and just seconds after his ally, federal prosecutor Kurt Alme, turned in his paperwork as a Republican candidate for Senate.

The 11th-hour chess move essentially blocked other high-profile Democrats or Republicans who might have been compelled to run in Daines’ absence.

Republican Al Olszewski, who managed to get his paperwork filed in time to run for Zinke’s House seat, said bluntly that Montanans had been double-crossed.

“We have been betrayed by our federal senator and representative,” he posted to social media Wednesday night. “In this great state, we elect our own representatives. We don’t simply accept replacements selected by the deep state and DC for them to lord power over us.”

Like Garcia, neither Daines nor Zinke broke any election laws — they simply rigged a loophole to their favor. But in resorting to such cloaked manipulation, they fractured the trust of the electorate.

As stated in the resolution Zinke once supported, such deception is “beneath the dignity” of the office. Apparently that standard expires when you’re heading for the exit.