Smokejumper and union leader Sam Forstag announced he is running for Congress in Montana’s 1st Congressional District. “I’m running for Congress because it feels like we don’t have real representation in Washington,” Forstag said in his first exclusive Montana interview with NonStop Local’s Joee Taylor. Forstag moved to Montana in 2012. He worked his way through college at the University of Montana before going on to fight wildfires across the Treasure State.
“After a year of wildfire, I learned about smoke jumping and learned that you can jump out of planes to fight fires for the federal government,” Forstag said. After spending the past decade working in wildland fire across Montana, Forstag is now entering politics. He said rising costs and a lack of working-class representation in Congress pushed him to run.
