Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte won his state’s gubernatorial race, flipping the head executive seat that has belonged to Democrats since 2005.
Polls showed Gianforte with a consistent lead in the state, which President Trump won in the 2016 presidential election by over 20 points, since July. But the seat has been highly competitive for Democrats. Gov. Steve Bullock, who ran a failed bid in 2020 for the Democratic presidential nomination, won reelection the same year Trump took the seat.
The seat was repeatedly labeled a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
Gianforte ran against Bullock in 2016 for the governorship, but he lost to the Democratic incumbent by less than 4 points, amounting to just over 20,000 votes. He went on to win a special election for Montana’s only House seat in 2017, replacing Ryan Zinke, who went on to become Trump’s first secretary of the interior.
Before winning that race, Gianforte was embroiled in controversy after he assaulted a reporter, which he later apologized for.
The Republican positioned himself as a Trump-supporting conservative with an experienced background in business. “Creating jobs and greater opportunity for Montanans is his top priority,” Gianforte’s campaign site reads. Conversely, the GOP portrayed Cooney as an establishment politician willing to raise taxes on the public.
Trump endorsed Gianforte in September, echoing the message that the Republican would be an economic asset for the state and would “defend your #2A, and protect Montana’s Beautiful Public Lands.”
Bullock chose Cooney as his lieutenant governor in 2017, noting his “accomplished” career in public service. Cooney previously had a lengthy career in Montana’s government, first as a state representative, then as secretary of state, and finally rising to leadership in the state’s senate.
Cooney’s platform focused on healthcare, protecting public access to public lands, and economic recovery amid the coronavirus. He released a “Keep Montana Working” plan that he said would give businesses “the tools and resources they need to bounce back stronger and more resilient than ever and create more good-paying jobs.”
In the final countdown before the election, the campaign was not without controversy.
Cooney pranked former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to encourage Gianforte to “come back” to the East Coast on a cameo video, an application that allows minor celebrities to send personalized video messages to their fans.
a special message for @gregformontana pic.twitter.com/YEWM0dEi2S
— Mike Cooney (@CooneyforMT) October 29, 2020
“Shame on @CooneyforMT. Same to @DemGovs,” Christie tweeted after the event. “I am doing Cameo to benefit a NJ charity that shelters & treats drug & alcohol addicted pregnant women & they send this misleading request and then push it out as a shot of @GregForMontana. I SUPPORT Greg Gianforte for Governor-absolutely!”
Gianforte maintained a funding advantage over Cooney, self-funding $7.6 million of the $11.2 million raised by his campaign through late October. By contrast, Cooney’s campaign was not financed through self-funding but drew $3.5 million from supporters through October. Cooney ran a plethora of negative advertisements on Gianforte in the campaign, one of which accused him of attempting to “buy the election.”
“Greg Gianforte is a multimillionaire from New Jersey, and acts like one. He’s trying to buy this election,” Cooney said, then attacking his position on healthcare, sales tax, and legal fights involving public lands.
