I am proud to endorse Dr. Al Olszewski for Congress.
I was proud to support Al in 2020 and again in 2022, and I am proud to support him again now because he is the grassroots conservative choice for Western Montana.
Al is a veteran, a physician, and a former state legislator with an extensive public voting record in the Montana House and Senate. He does not just talk like a conservative when it is convenient. He has a real record to prove it.
One of the clearest examples is his opposition to the CSKT Water Compact. When too many Republicans were willing to go along with a bad deal for Montana landowners, water users, and families, Al stood firm. And when Daines and Gianforte could not get that compact across the finish line on its own, they jammed it into the massive year-end spending package tied to coronavirus relief at the eleventh hour. That is exactly the kind of insider politics grassroots Republicans are sick of. Al opposed it because he believed it was wrong.
Al’s conservatism is not just rhetoric. He has gone to the southern border with members of the House Freedom Caucus to see the crisis firsthand. He has been clear and consistent on the issues that matter to Montana conservatives: securing the border, defending the Second Amendment, protecting the right to life, supporting energy independence, and putting Montana families ahead of the priorities of Washington insiders.
Al has also already proven he knows how to run a hard race.
In 2022, he took on Ryan Zinke, a former congressman and former cabinet secretary with enormous name recognition and every built-in advantage. Al still finished within striking distance of beating him in the Republican primary. That was not an easy race. That was a real fight against a nationally known opponent backed by the full weight of the insider machine, and Al nearly won it.
That matters now, because this race is already showing the same insider pattern Montana Republicans are tired of. After Ryan Zinke abruptly retired, Aaron Flint rolled out with endorsements from Zinke, Steve Daines, and Greg Gianforte, in the same handpicked, behind-the-scenes style Montanans just saw in the Senate race. Western Montana does not need another candidate elevated by the D.C. Cartel and Swamp-style succession planning.
Dr. Al Olszewski is not a manufactured candidate. He is not a creature of the D.C. Swamp. He is a tested conservative, a veteran, and the candidate grassroots Republicans can trust to stand his ground when it counts.
That is why I am proud to endorse Dr. Al Olszewski for Congress.
Brad Johnson lives in Helena.