In 1976, a freshman jock and self-proclaimed health nut named Ryan Zinke ran for student body president on a pledge to bring a fruit stand to his rural high school in Whitefish, Montana. It proved to be a winning platform.

But in an interview shortly after his triumph, Zinke acknowledged that his motivation was not so much giving his classmates a healthy alternative to the schools popular candy machine.

Mainly it was a campaign move to get elected, the 15-year-old, 6-foot-3 football, wrestling and swimming star told The Missoulian newspaper.

Zinke has been doing and saying what it takes to get ahead ever since.

The former Navy SEAL, state senator, congressman and Trump administration Cabinet member is once again on the campaign trail, this time running for Montanas newly created House seat. The prohibitive front-runner, Zinke is among a group of former high-ranking Trump administration officials with a shot at entering elected office despite their roles in an unpopular, disastrous administration and their loyalty to a former president who went to great lengths to try to overturn a fair, legal election.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary for President Donald Trump, is the favorite for Arkansas next governor. Scott Pruitt, Trumps scandal-plagued Environmental Protection Agency chief, is running for Senate in Oklahoma.

Zinke is pitching himself as a patriot who can save America from what he calls President Joe Bidens disastrous energy and economic policies; from government overreach and the COVID industrial complex ; from the swamp of lobbyists and influence in Washington, D.C., that his former boss vowed repeatedly to drain only to flood with industry alligators.

Zinke often jokes that the swamp was one of the few issues he and Trump disagreed on.

I said, Mr. President, Im secretary of the interior. There are some beautiful swamps in America, Zinke chuckled during a January interview with the conservative podcast District of Conservation. DC is not a swamp, its a sewer.

Swamp or sewer or cesspool , Zinke is asking Montana voters to send him back to a place he has benefited immensely from, professionally and financially. Running as if he is unopposed, Zinke has largely walled himself off from both the press and his would-be constituents. He grants interviews almost exclusively to right-wing outlets and radio hosts, where he can count on softball questions, and did not show up to a single candidate forum ahead of Tuesdays primary, including one last month in his hometown of Whitefish.

Zinkes campaign did not respond to HuffPosts request for an interview.

Despite his Trump credentials, Zinke is one of five candidates on the Republican ticket Tuesday each of them trying to out-Trump the others . Zinkes loyalty to Trump has paid off: The ex-president endorsed Zinke in the race, as did Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) and Sen. Steve Daines (R).

While there hasnt been any polling on the race, FiveThirtyEight.com currently gives Republicans a 10-point advantage to win the newly created congressional seat in November. In 2020, Trump won Montana by 16 points and Democrats lost every single statewide race .