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DGA Statement on Montana GOP Gubernatorial Primary Results
Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Noam Lee released the following statement on the results from Montana’s GOP gubernatorial primary:
“Greg Gianforte is an incredibly unpopular and divisive candidate who only managed to win his primary by pumping over $1.5 million of his own fortune into his campaign. From blocking public access to public lands to barely showing up to work, it’s clear Gianforte hasn’t bothered to learn a thing about the state.
Montanans won’t vote for a Governor who can’t be bothered to do his job, especially as so many are without work during the global pandemic. Gianforte has missed more votes than 93% of his colleagues, including a critical vote to fund the CDC which he missed to hold a campaign kick-off event. Gianforte isn’t from Montana and he certainly does not represent Montana values.”
Gianforte’s Voting Record:
- Gianforte has missed more votes than 93% of Congress. As Montana’s sole member of the House of Representatives, no one was there to ensure Montana’s voices were heard.
- Gianforte skipped a vote to fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), opting instead to fly from Washington D.C. on Air Force Two ahead of his gubernatorial announcement the following day.
- On February 26, the day after the CDC warned of an almost certain outbreak in the U.S., Gianforte walked out of a Subcommittee hearing entitled, “The Fiscal Year 2021 HHS Budget and Oversight of the Coronavirus Outbreak,” after just 26 minutes, right as Sec. Azar, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Redfield and other top health experts were set to begin testifying.
- The experts later testified against massive proposed cuts to critical front line public health agencies — approximately $3 billion cut from NIH, $430 million cut from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and over $625 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- By leaving, Gianforte passed up an opportunity to hear from leading experts on why their agencies needed funding to fight the emerging pandemic, and he skipped out on expert testimony that warned of the “long term economic impacts” of COVID-19, and impending likely “shortages of critical medical products.”