Gianforte, Busse to face off in November; other statewide results roll in (2024)

Incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte is set to square off against Democratic challenger Ryan Busse after Tuesday night’s primary election.

The Associated Press called the GOP race just before 9 p.m. for Gianforte and Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, whohad 76% of the early vote. They fendedoff a challenge from the right in the form of Tanner Smith, a freshman state legislator from the Flathead.

“This fall, Montanans face a clear choice. We can continue with our positive momentum and common-sense conservative agenda, or we can turn the reins over to unhinged, unpredictable far-left activism that’s out of touch with Montana and will undermine our way of life,” Gianforte said in a press release. “The choice is clear, and I look forward to continuing to meet with Montanans where they live and work to make our case.”

With 71% of the early vote, AP said Busse and his running mate Raph Graybill beat fellow Democrat Jim Hunt, who did not report raising or spending any money to support his campaign but garnered 29% of the vote.

“Tonight Republican voters sent a clear message to New Jersey billionaire Greg Gianforte: the last three-and-a-half years have been a trainwreck under his failed leadership. And that's unfair to trainwrecks. Montanans got stuck with Gianforte's higher property taxes, his housing crisis, his health care crisis, less access to public land and wildlife, and his attacks on women's freedoms. It's time to get your Montana back,” Busse said in a press release.

Gianforte is campaigning on his record in office, where he says he’s lowered taxes and been a solid financial steward for the state. Busse repeatedly has called the governor a “fascist” and is telling voters he’ll wrestle the state back from wealthy extremists.

Gianforte was a wealthy businessman who sold his Bozeman-based technology company for $1.5 billion before making his first entrance into politics with his 2016 bid for governor. After losing that race to incumbent Democrat Steve Bullock, Gianforte was the party’s pick to run in a special election for Montana’s then-lone U.S. House seat vacated when Ryan Zinke was appointed Secretary of the Interior. Winning the election after his assault of a reporter on the eve of the vote, Gianforte took the seat in again 2018.

Busse is a former gun company executive who left after a quarter of a century because of what he said was the radicalization of the firearms industry. Born and raised in Kansas, he often cites his rural agriculture background as giving him the framework to understand Montana and the issues facing the state.

Since announcing his candidacy last summer, Busse has crisscrossed the state raising concerns about how Gianforte has operated in office, from his handling of the massive process to determine the status of everyone covered by Medicaid in Montana to dramatically higher property taxes plaguing much of the state.

Libertarian Kaiser Leib did not have a primary challenger.

Office of Public Instruction

Republican Susie Hedalen is looking poised toface Democrat Shannon O’Brien in the race to lead Montana’s education agency.

With nearly 87% of precincts reporting on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.,Hedalen, vice chair of the Board of Public Education and superintendent of Townsend Public Schools, had 62% of the 152,895 votes counted in the Republican OPI primary. Her opponent, Sharyl Allen, the former superintendent of Harrison Public School District, had secured about 38%.

With the endorsem*nts of party leaders such as Gianforte, Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Steve Daines, Hedalen was considered the favorite in the Republican race.

"Montanans sent a strong message today that they want a state superintendent who will get education back to basics," Hedalen's campaign sent in an email Tuesday. "As your next superintendent, my priorities will be honoring families and teachers, ensuring school safety and expanding educational opportunities for Montana students. I want to thank my supporters for their vote of confidence in the primary, and I look forward to a strong general election campaign."

Allen’s checkered professional past came under even closer scrutiny in recent weeks after she was put on paid administrative leave as superintendent of Harrison Public Schools. Over the last reporting period, Allen failed to report raising or spending any money by the deadline.

The next state superintendent will take office under challenging conditions. Many of Montana’s 400 public school districts have struggled to hire teachers and are facing severe budget crunches. Enrollment statewide is on the decline, creating further financial strain, and students report higher-than-ever levels of depression, anxiety and suicidality.

Elsie Arntzen, the outgoing superintendent, will have held the office for eight years. She ran for Montana’s Second Congressional District and lost to Troy Downing.

Hedalen is running on her decades of experience as a teacher and a school administrator. She says she has the practical skills necessary to tackle the pressing problems facing public education today.

O’Brien, who did not face a challenger in the Democratic primary, is running to be public education’s biggest advocate. She believes she can translate the needs of teachers, students and families to the Legislature. By about 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the Democrat had received 89,474 votes in the uncontested race.

"This race is about competent leadership. For the past eight years, Elsie Arntzen has failed that leadership test. Susie is a nice person, but she was deputy superintendent under Elsie. We must do better for our students, families and teachers," O'Brien told the Montana State News Bureau in an email on Tuesday night. "It is time to elect a state superintendent that will put our students first, engage with families and be an advocate for teachers. The statewide leader of our schools must listen to understand communities and work with the Legislature to meet the challenges our public schools face. I have fire in my belly and the experience to get the job done."

With $59,173 on hand going into the general election, O'Brien has outraised Hedalen throughout the election cycle so far. Hedalen goes into the race with $28,672 in the bank, which does not include a $19,000 reported by the state Republican party at the end of May.

Both candidates started their careers as elementary school teachers, Hedalen in Helena and O’Brien in Washington.

Hedalen went on to work in Livingston, Grass Range and Arrowhead school districts before taking the job as superintendent in Townsend. She also spent a little over a year at OPI under Arntzen, where she oversaw the creation of the Every Student Succeeds Act plan.

O’Brien’s career has focused more on education policy and administration. She served as Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s education policy advisor and dean of Missoula College before she was elected to the Legislature in 2020. She is opting not to run for re-election to the State Senate this year, running for the OPI office instead.

Attorney General

Attorney General Austin Knudsen had 82% of votes counted by 11 p.m., leading over Daniels County Attorney Logan Olson, who never really mounted a campaign.

In May, the Daily Montanan reported on and published audio of Knudsen claiming to a crowded campaign event in Dillon that he recruited Olson in order to skirt campaign finance laws and raise more money this cycle. Democrats have filed a campaign practices complaint and Knudsen's campaign contends it is in compliance, but has yet to addressthe matter of allegedly recruiting Olson into the race.

Knudsen was elected to the Attorney General's Office in 2020 with 58% of the vote, piling up more than 100,000 over his then Democratic opponent in Graybill.

This year, Bozeman attorney Ben Alke will face Knudsen's re-election campaign in November. Last month, Alke, who did not have a primary challenger, said voters should be concerned about whether the attorney general is corrupt for intentionally dodging campaign contribution limits in this year's election cycle.

Knudsen has far outraised Alke so far this race. He raised $37,410 in the last two weeks before the primary, including a $33,750 shot from the Montana Republican State Central Committee. With the recent haul, he heads into the general election season with $128,000 in the bank.

Alke reported a $790 contribution in the final lead-up to Tuesday's primary, and heads into the general with $87,000 in hand.

Alke, a civil attorney, has staked his campaign on reining in an Attorney General's Office that's been hyper focused on litigating against the Biden administration.

In May, Knudsen's office noted it had filed 49 lawsuits against President Joe Biden. At that moment, Knudsen had been in office 40 months.

Auditor

In the Republican primary for state auditor, Public Service Commission President James Brown was leading early against Helena insurance agent John Jay Willoughby, 68% to 32%.

Democrat John Repke was unchallenged in his party's primary.

The state auditor is the commissioner of securities and insurance and licenses and regulates insurance companies in Montana, as well as oversees the securities and insurance industries.

Brown has previously run for a justice spot on the state Supreme Court and was the general counsel for the state GOP. He also represented American Tradition Partnership in a high-profile illegal electioneering case back in 2012. Repke was an executive, most recently before retirement he was chief financial officer for a wood products company in Columbia Falls.

Secretary of State

The Secretary of State race featured uncontested primaries, so incumbent Republican Christi Jacobsen, Democratic challenger Jesse James Mullen and Libertarian John Lamb will advance to the general election.

Before running for the office, Jacobsen was deputy to former Secretary of State Corey Stapleton. Mullen lives in Deer Lodge and owns a chain of newspapers in Montana and other states. Lamb is a farmer who lives near Norris and previously ran in the western congressional district race in 2022.