The alma mater of Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte has convened a committee to decide whether his name should be on a building for which his family’s foundation has pledged $20 million. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Stevens Institute of Technology is initiating a review process to determine whether Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte’s name will be on a new academic building for which his family’s philanthropic foundation pledged $20 million.
Gianforte, a 1983 graduate of the university in Hoboken, New Jersey, was sworn into Congress last week after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault for body-slamming a reporter on the eve of the special election for Montana’s at-large House seat.
Greg Gianforte won the special election for Montana’s at-large House seat Thursday despite attacking a reporter the night before. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Six months ago, Republican Greg Gianforte lost Montana’s gubernatorial election by nearly 4 points. Thursday night, he won statewide by about 6 points.
Congressional special elections are, well, special. The electorate is different, and so is the spending. Last fall, Gianforte was running against an incumbent.
Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte speaks to supporters during a campaign meet and greet Tuesday in Great Falls, Montana. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Updated 9:48 p.m. | Ahead of Thursday night’s “body-slamming” incident, most bets were on Republican nominee Greg Gianforte, who’s led by single digits in recent public and private polling, winning Montana’s at-large House seat on Thursday.
But that’d still be a dramatic shift from President Donald Trump’s 20-point victory in the state last fall.
Republican Greg Gianforte, left, is running against Democrat Rob Quist in a special election to fill the at-large Montana congressional seat vacated by former Rep. Ryan Zinke, who’s now serving as secretary of the Interior.
Comments made by Montana Republican Greg Gianforte on a national fundraising call last week raise questions about what he meant when he said that industry PACs could contribute to “our Victory Fund.”
Both Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist say they have refused to accept corporate PAC money in the race for Montana’s at-large House seat. But when asked on last week’s call, audio of which was obtained by CQ Roll Call, whether he still did not accept PAC money, Gianforte gave a confusing answer.
Gianforte, left, led Quist by single digits in a recent Democratic poll.
In the race for Montana’s at-large House seat, Republican Greg Gianforte led Democratic Rob Quist by six points in a poll conducted by a Democratic super PAC late last month.
Gianforte led Quist 49 to 43 percent. That includes undecided voters pushed for a lean toward one candidate or the other.
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As national attention turns to the special election in Montana, the super PAC backed by House GOP leadership is deploying House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in a new TV attack on Democratic nominee Rob Quist.
The ad, which will debut Friday on broadcast and cable, marks the start of an $800,000 media buy from Congressional Leadership Fund. The super PAC ran its first TV ad against Quist last month, using many of the same attacks.
Karen Handel is hoping to succeed Tom Price in Georgia’s 6th District, but first, she faces an April 18 jungle primary with 17 other candidates. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Money is pouring into the suburbs north of Atlanta, the site of the first competitive congressional election of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Georgia’s 6th District, left vacant by the confirmation of Tom Price as Health and Human Services Secretary, is one of five special elections taking place across the country this spring, but the only one which offers much of a chance of a partisan flip.
Congressional Leadership Fund is running TV ads against Rob Quist, the Democratic nominee to fill Ryan Zinke’s seat in Montana. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
A Republican super PAC will begin running TV and digital ads on Monday against Montana’s freshly minted Democratic nominee for the at-large House seat — before the GOP even has a nominee of its own.
Congressional Leadership Fund, which is endorsed by House GOP leadership, is spending $700,000 on cable and broadcast ads to attack Rob Quist, whom Democrats nominated at a party convention on Sunday for the special election that will take place on May 25.
Democrat Denise Juneau, who lost to Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke last month, says she’d like to stay in Montana but hasn’t closed the door on another run for public office. (Thomas McKinless/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke won re-election last month by 16 points, but now that President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly offered him the job of Interior secretary, there’ll likely be another race for the at-large seat.
Trump won the state with 56 percent of the vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 36 percent, according to the Montana secretary of state’s office. Mitt Romney carried the 87 percent white state by a smaller 13-point margin.
The good news for Republicans is that the bottom hasn’t fallen out from underneath their down-ballot candidates. The bad news is that there are still nearly three weeks left before Election Day, and 24 hours in each day for Donald Trump to torpedo the party’s chances of holding the House.
District-level polling after the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” video and the second debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton showed some vulnerability for Republicans, particularly in suburban districts. But we didn’t see a widespread cratering of GOP candidates in the competitive districts or evidence that the number of competitive seats is increasing dramatically.
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