Greg Gianforte: Montana’s Newly Elected Congressman
The GOP candidate won the special election just 24 hours after assaulting a reporter
By Katelyn Weese
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
LAST THURSDAY, REPUBLICAN GREG GIANFORTE WON MONTANA’S SPECIAL ELECTION for the state’s lone seat in the House of Representatives. His win occurred just one day after a reporter for The Guardian charged him with assault.
Greg Gianforte is a 56-year-old multimillionaire businessman who founded a software company, RightNow Technologies, that he later sold to Oracle Corporation for $1.8 billion. He has never held public office, but did unsuccessfully run for governor of Montana in 2016, losing to Democrat Steve Bullock by four percentage points.
On Wednesday night — the night before the election — Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, entered an office in the Gianforte campaign headquarters and asked the Republican candidate about the GOP healthcare bill. In a audio recording published by the British newspaper, Jacobs can be heard asking about the healthcare bill and Gianforte replying, “We’ll talk to you about that later.” Jacobs then said that there will not be time later and at this point in the recording, there is a crashing sound. Ben Jacobs claims that Gianforte “body slammed” him and broke his glasses.
According to Fox News Reporter Alicia Acuna, “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him” and then began punching Jacobs. The spokesman for the Gianforte campaign claimed that the reporter acted aggressively, but eyewitness accounts and the audio recording do not support the claims made by the campaign. Acuna counterclaimed that “at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte.”
Gianforte was cited for misdemeanor assault and must appear in court by June 7. He could face a maximum fine of $500 or up to 6 months of jail time.
Following the incident, three local newspapers — the Missoulian, the Billings Gazette, and the Independent Record — withdrew their endorsements for Gianforte.
Despite the altercation, the Republican candidate won the election with 51% of the vote, while the Democratic candidate, Rob Quist, had 44% and the Libertarian candidate, Mark Wicks, had 6%. The controversy around Gianforte probably affected the election very little because by the time the incident occurred, over one half of the voters had already cast their ballots in early voting.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence supported the Montana businessman throughout the election. After his victory, Trump congratulated Gianforte on his “great win.” Mike Pence refused to comment on the controversy surrounding Gianforte and Paul Ryan called for the newly elected congressman to apologize.
Gianforte has since publicly apologized to Ben Jacobs in his victory speech.
This is just another incident in a series of disgusting attacks on the press. In May alone, reporter John Donnelly was pinned against a wall; reporter Dan Heyman was arrested; and Alaskan reporter Nathanial Herz was slapped — all for simply doing their jobs by asking questions. With Donald Trump’s continuous anti-press rhetoric, distrust of the media has grown and the number of these altercations with reporters has increased. This shows a frightening pattern that threatens freedom of press, which is a sacred institution deeply ingrained into American society that needs to be protected. These actions against the media must not be excused.
