2017_Montana's_at-large_congressional_district_special_election

2017 Montana's at-large congressional district special election

2017 Montana's at-large congressional district special election

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In Montana, an at-large congressional district special election was held on May 25, 2017, to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for Montana's at-large congressional district. The election was necessitated by incumbent Republican Representative Ryan Zinke's appointment as United States Secretary of the Interior. Zinke resigned on March 1, 2017, upon his confirmation.[1]

Quick Facts Montana's at-large congressional district, Nominee ...

Montana's state law required the Governor of Montana to call for a special election to be held no less than 85 and no more than 100 days after the vacancy.[2] Governor Steve Bullock declared a special election to take place on May 25, the earliest possible day he was legally allowed to choose.[1]

The Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green Parties held nominating conventions to decide their nominee.[3] The day before the election, Gianforte assaulted a reporter and was charged with misdemeanor assault.[4][5] At around 10:30pm MST, the election was called for Gianforte after 77% of the votes were counted.[6][7]

Republican Party

The Republican Party nominated a candidate at a convention on March 6.[8]

Nominated

Eliminated at convention

Withdrawn

Declined

Results

More information Republican Convention, Candidate ...

Democratic Party

The Democratic Party selected a nominee at a convention on March 5.[28]

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle from February 4 to 8 conducted a straw poll of Democratic delegates.[29] Of 89 delegates that responded, Rob Quist was selected by 37, Amanda Curtis by 30, Kelly McCarthy by 13, 9 were undecided, and zero delegates selected John Meyer or other.[29]

Nominated

  • Rob Quist, musician, former spokesman and advocate for the Montana Food Bank, and former member of the Montana Arts Council[30]

Eliminated at convention

  • Amanda Curtis, state representative and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2014[31]
  • Kelly McCarthy, state representative[30]
  • John Meyer, attorney and executive director of the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center[32]
  • Lee "Link" Neimark, ski instructor and small business owner[33]
  • Gary Stein, teacher and candidate for the state house in 2008[34]
  • Thomas Weida, retired businessman[35]
  • Dan West, former aide to Senators Max Baucus and Mark Udall and former appointee to NASA[36]

Declined

Endorsements (primary)

Kelly McCarthy
Rob Quist
Dan West

Results

More information Democratic Convention, Candidate ...

Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party Convention on March 11, 2017, was held at Eagle's Lodge in Helena, Montana.[46]

The following county affiliate parties were represented at the convention:

Officers of the Montana Libertarian Party and delegates from the assembled counties had voting rights.

Nominated

  • Mark Wicks, author, rancher and fruit salesman[47][46]

Eliminated at convention

  • Joe Paschal, rancher and businessman[48]
  • Chris Colvin, retired masonry contractor and writer[48][49]
  • Evan Gardner, small business owner[48]
  • Dan Nelson, IT administrator[48]
  • Rufus Peace, accounting analyst[48][49]
  • Nathan McKenty[48]
  • James White, Uber driver[48][49]

Withdrawn

  • Rick Breckenridge, land surveyor

Results

More information Libertarian Convention ...

Green Party

The Green Party Convention on March 4, 2017, was held at the University of Montana's Payne Family Native American Center.[50]

Breck, along with two independent candidates, won a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Montana Secretary of State, ruling Montana's ballot access laws to be unconstitutional in the case of special elections. The District Court Judge ruled to change the original requirement to submit 14,268 ballot petition signatures, reducing that requirement to 400 signatures. The US Court decision failed to provide further remedy and Breck's name was not placed on the ballot despite injunctive appeals to the Ninth Circuit Court and U.S. Supreme Court. Breck subsequently endorsed Independent write-in candidate Doug Campbell who was a co-plaintiff in the suit.[51][52][53]

Nominated

General election

Campaign

During his 2017 Congressional special election campaign, Gianforte relaxed his past pledges to refuse all PAC money, and began to turn away only corporate PAC funding. His campaign began accepting contributions from political party and leadership PACs.[54]

The night before the election, Gianforte physically assaulted Ben Jacobs, a reporter from The Guardian, in front of multiple witnesses, knocking him down, punching him, and breaking his glasses.[55] Gianforte was subsequently charged with misdemeanor assault.[56][57] The editorial boards of the Billings Gazette, the Independent Record, and the Missoulian rescinded their endorsements of Gianforte.[58]

The Gianforte campaign released a statement following the incident alleging the incident was caused by, "this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist", a claim contradictory to the eyewitness account of the Fox News team present in the room at the time. Alicia Acuna, one of two Fox news reporters present, and the only eyewitnesses to the incident, stated that Jacobs had walked into the room, put a voice recorder up to Gianforte's face and began asking questions. She stated that Jacobs, however, showed no sign of physical aggression and did not physically engage Gianforte before being attacked by the Republican candidate.[59][60]

On June 12, following the election, Gianforte was sentenced to community service and fined $385 after admitting the charge.[61]

Predictions

More information Source, Ranking ...

Endorsements

Greg Gianforte
National politicians
Statewide officeholders
  • Elsie Arntzen, superintendent of public instruction of the State of Montana
Local officeholders
Individuals
Organizations
Newspapers
Rob Quist
U.S. senators
Governors
Local politicians
Individuals
Labor unions
Organizations
Websites
Mark Wicks
Organizations
Local officeholders
  • Jeff Krauss, former Mayor of Bozeman, Montana[105]

Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...

County results[107]

More information Greg Gianforte Republican, Rob Quist Democratic ...

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also


References

  1. Lutey, Tom (March 1, 2017). "Zinke confirmed as Interior secretary; Montana prepares for special election". Billings Gazette. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  2. Dale Matheson. "13-25-203. Vacancy in office of United States senator or representative". Montana Legislative Services. Archived from the original on October 14, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  3. Mike Dennison (December 19, 2016). "GOP state Senators Buttrey and Sales in the race for Zinke seat". KPAX-TV. MTN News. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  4. Bobby Caina Calvan (May 25, 2017). "GOP Candidate Charged With Misdemeanor Assault of Reporter". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  5. "Q2 News - Greg Gianforte wins the Montana U.S. House..." Retrieved May 26, 2017 via Facebook.
  6. Mike Dennison (January 25, 2017). "Gianforte officially enters the race to succeed Zinke". KTVH. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  7. "Gianforte wins Republican nomination for Montana's US House election". NBC Montana. Associated Press. March 3, 2017. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  8. Troy Carter (December 18, 2016). "Ed Buttrey becomes first candidate to announce for replacing Zinke". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Archived from the original on May 4, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  9. Ambarian, Jonathon (January 25, 2017). "Glimm enters race to succeed Zinke in U.S. House". KRTV. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  10. David Erickson (January 6, 2014). "Samuel Redfern: Looking out for veterans, victims of war". Missoulian. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  11. Hudson, Matt (February 27, 2017). "Former Yellowstone County lawmaker enters special Congressional race". Billings Gazette. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  12. Mike Dennison (January 23, 2017). "Zinke confirmation not yet scheduled; Turiano enters race to succeed him". KPAX-TV. MTN News. Archived from the original on January 25, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  13. "The Latest: GOP field for Montana US House race narrows to 6". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Associated Press. March 2, 2017. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  14. Lutey, Tom (January 10, 2017). "District Judge Fagg won't seek U.S. House seat". Billings Gazette.
  15. Drake, Phil (February 5, 2017). "Gianforte, Curtis front runners for Zinke seat, expert says". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  16. "Sales decides against run for Congress". Great Falls Tribune. February 21, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  17. Dana Liebelson (December 16, 2016). "White Nationalist Who Yelled 'Hail Trump!' Thinking About Congressional Run". The Huffington Post.
  18. "Montana Democrats Announce Special Nominating Convention March 5". Montana Democratic Party. March 1, 2017. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  19. Troy Carter (February 12, 2017). "Poll: Insiders show stronger support for Dems with name recognition". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  20. Bobby Caina Calvan (March 5, 2017). "Rob Quist wins Democratic nomination for congressional seat". Great Falls Tribune. Associated Press.
  21. Carter, Troy (January 6, 2017). "Enviro attorney in Bozeman becomes 5th to seek Dem's nomination for U.S. House". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  22. Ouellet, Nicky (February 7, 2017). "A Sixth Democrat Enters The Race For Zinke's House Seat". Montana Public Radio. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  23. Briggeman, Kim (February 13, 2017). "Sentinel teacher to seek Democratic nomination for U.S. House". Missoulian. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  24. Loranger, Erin (February 23, 2017). "Helena Democrat Weida to join race for Zinke's seat". Independent Record. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  25. Kosted, Nathan (February 6, 2017). "Dan West: Democratic Candidate for Congress". Intelligent Discontent. Retrieved February 7, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  26. Mike Dennison (January 13, 2017). "Baucus' son considering U.S. House race, while musician Quist is all in". KPAX-TV. MTN News. Archived from the original on January 14, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  27. Robinson, Joshua (January 23, 2017). "Juneau: I will not to pursue MT Congress seat". KULR-TV. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  28. Carter, Tory (January 27, 2017). "John Rogers backs Rep. McCarthy for Dems nomination". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  29. "Endorsements". Rob Quist for Montana. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  30. Carter, Troy (January 5, 2017). "Former Gov. Schweitzer on the bandwagon for musician Rob Quist's congressional bid". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  31. Watts, Reggie (February 28, 2017). "Thank You, Reggie Watts for your support!". Retrieved March 1, 2017 via Facebook.
  32. Calvan, Bobby Caina (March 11, 2017). "Libertarians Pick Inverness Rancher for Congressional Race". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  33. Carter, Troy (January 4, 2017). "Libertarian Mark Wicks says he'll run for House to replace Zinke". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  34. Jonathon Ambarian. "Montana Libertarians select Wicks as nominee for U.S. House seat". KTVQ. MTN News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  35. Carter, Troy (January 27, 2017). "Montana Libertarian Party to convene ahead of special election". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  36. Bubnash, Kasey (March 4, 2017). "Montana Green Party holds first statewide convention in 10 years". Missoulian. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  37. Wadley, Will (April 10, 2017). "Sec. of State: no change to candidate names on special election ballot". KECI. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  38. "Court Order" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 10, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  39. "Montana Green Party Candidate Endorses Independent Write-in Candidate Doug Campbell in Special Election Race". Thomas Breck for Congress. April 25, 2017. Archived from the original on August 12, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  40. Pathe, Simone (February 7, 2018). "Montana's Greg Gianforte Ditches 'No PAC' Pledge for 2018". Roll Call Newspaper. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  41. "Gianforte cited for misdemeanor assault". KRTV Great Falls. KRTV. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  42. McBride, Jessica (May 5, 2017). "READ: Greg Gianforte Statement on 'Body Slam' Claim". Heavy.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  43. Wong, Julia Carrie; Levin, Sam (June 12, 2017). "Greg Gianforte sentenced to community service for assaulting Guardian reporter". The Guardian. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  44. Dave Wasserman (May 12, 2017). "House Specials Update: MT-AL Moves to Lean Republican". Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  45. "Key Counties to Watch in Montana's Special Congressional Election". The Rothenberg Political Report. May 25, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  46. "Sheriff David Clarke for Greg Gianforte - Great America PAC". YouTube. April 20, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  47. "NRA Endorses Greg Gianforte for Montana's Special Election to U.S. House of Representatives". National Rifle Association - Political Victory Fund. March 28, 2017. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017.
  48. The Billings Gazette Editorial Board (May 24, 2017). "Gazette opinion: We're pulling our endorsement of Gianforte". The Billings Gazette. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  49. "Independent Record withdraws endorsement of Gianforte". Independent Record. Helena Independent Record. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  50. Kaufman, Alexander (April 17, 2017). "Bernie Sanders Throws His Hat In With Montana Populist Rob Quist". Huffington Post.
  51. Bernie Sanders [@aseitzwald] (April 17, 2017). "Bernie Sanders backs Rob Quist:" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  52. Governor Bullock for Quist. Team Quist Information. May 24, 2017 via YouTube.
  53. "Montana Dem boosted by some celebrity donations". TheHill. May 18, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  54. "Cecile Richards for Rob Quist". YouTube. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  55. "MEA-MFT COPE endorses Rob Quist for Congress". Eric Feaver. March 24, 2017. Archived from the original on April 2, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  56. Jim Dean (March 29, 2017). "DFA backs Rob Quist in Montana At-Large Special Congressional Election". Democracy for America.
  57. "MCV Endorses Rob Quist for U.S. House". Montana Conservation Voters. March 27, 2017. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  58. "NARAL Endorses Pro-Choice Leader for Congress in Montana". NARAL Pro-Choice America. April 20, 2017.
  59. "We Must Protect Social Security and Medicare". Rob Quist for Congress. April 21, 2017.
  60. Northern Cheyenne Tribe Endorses Rob Quist in Billings, MT. Uphill Media. May 21, 2017 via YouTube.
  61. "News & Events". Wicksforfreedom.com. June 20, 2014. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  62. "Montana Secretary of State". mtelectionresults.gov. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  63. Statewide Special Election Canvass Retrieved February 14, 2023

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