‘End this Iran war’: House candidate 'Dr. Al' applies Montana-first philosophy to global conflict

Kalispell resident Al Olszewski, an orthopedic surgeon, veteran and lifelong Montanan, is again running for U.S. Congress in Montana’s 1st District on a freedom, family and affordability platform.

Standing against his Republican primary competitors, Olszewski, routinely branded as “Dr. Al”, is outspoken against the war in Iran and has no qualms legislatively in limiting Trump’s war powers.

“Get out of that war,” Olszewski told the Chronicle during a Thursday visit. “What we’re watching is regime change, no different than what Biden, Obama and Bush did before that.”

Olszewski came in fewer than 2,000 votes behind Rep. Ryan Zinke for the newly created congressional district in the 2022 Republican primary. With Zinke not seeking re-election, Olszewski faces new Republican challengers in Ray Curtis, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, and veteran conservative firebrand radio host Aaron Flint.

The Republican winner then goes against either Ryan Busse, Russell Cleveland, Sam Forstag or Matt Rains after the Democratic primary.

With less than 60 days remaining until the June 2 primary, Flint, bearing endorsements from Zinke and President Donald Trump, is anointed. The end result remains to be seen, per Olszewski.

“It’s a wash,” Olszewski said. “Montanans listen to endorsements, but we make our own choices.”

Trump green-lighting the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a joint Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli strike on Tehran didn’t start a war. Instead, he is ending pre-existing issues, according to Flint, who won’t rule out congressionally halting Trump involving the military in Iran as well.

Although Trump has Flint’s support for now, the Iraq-Afghanistan Army combat veteran railed against any ‘forever war’. The Republican-controlled Congress narrowly voted against constraining Trump’s war March 5.

“I’m not a warrior. I’ve never been a warrior. I fixed warriors,” said Olszewski, who treated soldiers as an Air Force surgeon during the Gulf War. “I’m against it. Maybe our country wins, but the people fighting in it don’t.”

Jacobsen, the mother of a National Guard service member, says: “When I talk to Montanans, they are supportive and very proud the U.S. is a superpower. Everyone’s looking forward to being done with (Iran) hopefully sooner than later.”

Jacobsen balked at limiting Trump’s war authority. Olszewski, meanwhile, is open to sponsoring legislation modifying the War Powers Resolution of 1973, giving Congress the bigger say in war-making.

“The legislative branch needs to claw back the power eroded to the executive branch,” Olszewski said. “At this point we don’t even know where we’re at. We have a cease-fire and then we don’t, then we do, then we don’t.”

Olszewski views U.S. military action in Iran as the antithesis of Republicans and Trump’s affordability agenda.

“It’s like a poker game. Winner takes all,” Olszewski said. “Start showing us the cards.”

As of early April 2026, Montana gas prices increased to averages of $3.70–$3.80 per gallon for regular unleaded, with some areas seeing prices closer to $4, according to AAA and local reports. Diesel prices are significantly higher, surpassing $5 per gallon from price spikes.

“The price of food is also going up again,” Olszewski said. “I was proud to be able to say after Trump became elected ‘look at the price of eggs, butter cream’. The cost of the basic staples was dropping.”

News of U.S. inflation surging to 3.3% from the Iran war also hit Friday.

Olszewski pointed to other Trump administration inconsistencies concerning the Epstein files, a massive, partially released collection of more than 3.5 million documents, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos, some detailing sex-trafficking activities.

“Trump promised that was going to be released, then said it was a hoax,” Olszewski said. “Now that things are being released, we are seeing no, it wasn’t a hoax, there is stuff there.”

Olszewski stopped short of saying whether Trump is implicated in nefarious ways in the files.

Musical chairs

Zinke’s March 2 retirement announcement came as a surprise to some, but not Olszewski, who launched his campaign at the last minute, raising $300,000 in his first 30 days.

“Ryan got aggressive asking for campaign money more than a year ago, but in his mailers, he didn’t say he was running for re-election,” Olszewski said. “Normally he jumps in the first day or two of the ballot process. When he didn’t do it the first week it was odd.”

Days after Zinke’s retirement declaration, Sen. Steve Daines also sent shockwaves across Washington, D.C., and Montana by announcing he also isn’t seeking re-election.

Daines withdrew mere minutes before the filing deadline. Critics say the move effectively installed Daines’ handpicked successor, Kurt Alme, who effectively bypassed a competitive Republican primary, preventing other candidates from entering the race.

“I felt it was betrayal,” Olszewski said.

Olszewski, chairman of the Flathead County Republicans, is no stranger to the political world. Previously a practicing partner at Flathead Valley Orthopedics, the largest surgical clinic in northwest Montana, he first entered politics before the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare”, was signed into law in 2010.

“Being the one running the business, I read the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act,” Olszewski said. “After about 1,000 pages I realized medicine was going to fundamentally change, going from a physician-patient relationship to a hospital-patient contract.”

The Affordable Care Act shifted healthcare from episodic, individual medicine toward population health management by emphasizing prevention, value-based care, and expanded coverage in the name of better medicine, healthier populations, and lower costs, he said. None of these goals materialized for Olszewski, whose practice was acquired by an area hospital in 2018.

“The winners were big pharmacy, big insurance and big hospital systems,” he said. “The patient was the loser. Making it where ‘government knows best’ only makes healthcare more expensive.”

Olszewski still aims to surgically remove parts of “Obamacare” to get back to a more market-based healthcare economy, increase competition, and eliminate growing monopolies if elected.

“When the government gets in and stifles competition, that messes everything up,” he said. “There’s too many regulations.”

Olszewski first met Daines in 2008 when the senator unsuccessfully bid for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Roy Brown in 2008. He was himself an unsuccessful lieutenant governor candidate in the 2012 Montana Republican primary with Jim Lynch.

He won a Montana State Senate District 6 general election against Democrat Rolf Harmsen in 2016. Olszewski lost the U.S. Senate Republican primary to Matt Rosendale serving in the state Senate, where he remained until 2019.

At 18.7% of the vote, Olszewski came in last against Rosendale, Russell C. Fagg, and current U.S. Congressman Troy Downing. Olszewski unsuccessfully challenged Gianforte in the primary for governor in 2020 before going against Zinke in 2022.

“We want honesty, a government that is open and transparent,” Olszewski said.