“I Won’t Vote For Him”: Former Republican Gubernatorial Nominee Disavows Greg Gianforte

The Montana gubernatorial primary might be over, but the GOP civil war rages on. Bob Brown, a former Montana Republican gubernatorial nominee, penned a searing op-ed in the Missoulian in which he declared his independence from GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Greg Gianforte and announced he would not vote for him in November.

Brown cites Gianforte’s dismissiveness towards the clear and necessary public health measures in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic as the tipping point for his rejection of Gianforte’s candidacy. 

From the beginning, Gianforte downplayed the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic. And even though he told Montanans to “stay the course” in public, Gianforte made hundreds of trades investing up to $4.5 million in companies set to profit from the pandemic. Gianforte also supports dismantling the Affordable Care Act and eliminating Medicaid expansion, a program which covers 112,000 Montanans and is one of the key reasons Montana hasn’t run out of hospital capacity during the pandemic.

In addition to Brown’s scathing op-ed, the GOP civil war has another wound that hasn’t healed yet – Gianforte’s primary opponent, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, still hasn’t endorsed him for governor.

“The Montana GOP Civil War rages on,” said DGA National Press Secretary Jerusalem Demsas. “New Jersey millionaire Greg Gianforte is an extremely divisive nominee who plays partisan games that put people’s lives at risk. Gianforte is out for himself and not for Montanans.”