Rep.-elect Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.-AL)

Date of birth: July 7, 1960
Residence: Glendive, Mont.
Occupation: Montana state auditor
Education: attended Chesapeake College
Family: wife, Jean; three sons, Matthew Jr., Brien, Adam

Matt Rosendale will represent Montana as its at-large House representative after defeating Democratic candidate Kathleen Williams.

He will take Rep. Greg Gianforte’s (R) seat after Gianforte decided to run for governor.

The 60-year-old, who calls himself a “conservative proven leader,” jumped into politics after his neighbors in Glendive, Mont., called on him to run for the Montana legislature in 2010. Since then, he has run seven times for federal, state and district positions in government, including a 2018 Senate campaign and a 2014 House campaign.

The Montana Senate GOP chose Rosendale to serve as the state Senate majority leader in 2014. In 2016, he was elected to his current position of Montana state auditor, where he said he cut operating costs by 23 percent.

Rosendale, who serves on the Montana State Land Board, is against federally transferring public lands and helped expand public access to more than 45,000 acres of land.

“I care about advancing the core Montana values of faith, freedom and family, and I am willing to work with anyone, Democrat or Republican, who is committed to doing the same,” Rosendale said in a Montana Public Radio interview.

President Trump endorsed Rosendale in the GOP primary in February over Twitter.

– Justine Coleman