HELENA, Mont. (CN) – A hotly contested election to fill Montana’s congressional seat could be decided by a few points Thursday, and Republicans are making sure they don't miss their free throws in the race that pits a wealthy New Jersey software entrepreneur against a singer-songwriter with no political experience.
President Donald Trump’s appointment of Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., as Interior Secretary in March left a vacancy for Montana's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Zinke’s seat will be filled in a special election Thursday by either Republican Greg Gianforte, Democrat Rob Quist or Libertarian Mark Wicks.
The Republicans have gone all-in on this race, bringing Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr. to Montana to help campaign for Gianforte, a wealthy software businessman who lives in Bozeman. The race is Quist’s first foray into politics, but the native Montanan has decades of name recognition from years of performing his folksy tunes around the state.
Gianforte has been in the political spotlight for a couple of years since entering the 2016 governor's race, which he lost in November to Democrat incumbent Steve Bullock. Montana is decidedly Republican, but key races can go two ways, as the governor's race showed. That same day, Montanans voted overwhelmingly for Trump, giving him a 20-point edge over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Gianforte was the only Republican in Montana to lose that day.
According to a Gravis Marketing poll conducted in April, Gianforte's lead was 12 points heading into the election, which itself was packed with drama.
Pence visited Montana earlier this month to drum up support for Gianforte, and Trump Jr. made a brief swing through the state.
"With your help, with your support, President Trump and I are confident that Montana will make the right choice on May 25 when we send Greg Gianforte to Washington,” Pence said at a rally in Billings.
The biggest name that campaigned for Quist was Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who rallied crowds in Montana's larger cities last weekend.
“The eyes of the country are on Montana,” Sanders said at the Missoula rally. “People are asking, can a rural state – a small population – can people come together to take on the big-money interests that divide this country? If you can do it, Montana, we can do it all across this entire country.”
Gianforte seemed to keep his distance from the Trump campaign until after the November election, then went all aboard the Trump train.
“I’m running because you need a strong voice back in Washington,” he told a rally in East Helena with Trump Jr. “I want to help Donald Trump drain the swamp back there.”
Last weekend, thousands of Sanders and Quist supporters attended rallies throughout Montana. According to the Quist campaign, more than 12,500 Montanans attended rallies in Missoula, Butte, Billings and Bozeman.
Quist is looking to pull an upset over Gianforte, a business founder who made millions selling RightNow Technologies to Oracle before launching his failed bid for governor.
Recent polls suggest Quist has cut Gianforte’s lead to single digits, giving Montana Democrats hope of capturing a seat they haven’t held in decades. Zinke defeated Democratic challenger Denise Juneau in November by a 50-31 margin to retain his House seat, before resigning in March to join the Trump administration.
Tides may be turning for Democrats.