Montana Special Election: Gianforte Wins, May Still Face Jail

Barely 24 hours after he was charged with assault for allegedly throwing a reporter to the ground, breaking his glasses, and punching him, Republican Greg Gianforte was elected to Congress. He defeated folk singer Rob Quist, a Democrat, in a race that finished closer than anyone thought it would. And while Gianforte won, he may still end up in jail for assault, if he's convicted.

With 78 percent of the vote counted, Gianforte had a comfortable lead over Quist, ahead 50.7 percent to 43.4 percent. Seventy percent of the vote was already in before Gianforte's alleged assault garnered national headlines Wednesday night.

Gianforte, who stayed silent after the incident with the Guardian's Ben Jacobs, told his supporters Thursday night that he had made a mistake.

"When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it," Gianforte said. "That's the Montana way.

"I should not have responded the way I did, for that I'm sorry. I should not have treated that reporter that way, and for that I'm sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs."

Several of his supporters could be heard telling him that he was forgiven.

In a state that went for Donald Trump by 20 points in the 2016 election, nobody expected a close race. Everybody was wrong.

Gianforte, a staunch conservative, is a failed gubernatorial candidate, backer of Trump and closet supporter of the GOP health care plan. In 2012, he sold the software company he started in his basement, RightNow Technologies, to Oracle for $1.8 billion, walking away with hundreds of millions of dollars. The president's son, Donald Jr., and Vice President Mike Pence, flew in to campaign with Gianforte after polls showed his large lead had dwindled to 6 points.

Gianforte was hurt by House Republicans fumbling of health care reform. He had claimed to be undecided on the House bill that was passed May 4 but was then heard, on a tape recording obtained by the New York Times, telling a group of Republican-leaning lobbyists that he was "thankful" the House passed the bill.

Quist is a bluegrass musician and a novice politician who ran as a liberal in support of Obamacare and the legalization of marijuana. He had resisted stressing Gianforte's support of Trump, choosing instead to pound his Republican opponent for wavering on whether he supported the Republican health care plan. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren had visited Montana to campaign for him.

For all the differences between the candidates, though, none has shook the race like this: Gianforte was charged Wednesday with assault for allegedly body-slamming a reporter who was questioning him about health care.

The Gallatin County sheriff’s office announced the charge in a press release posted to the county website.

In an audio recording published by the Guardian, one of its reporters, Ben Jacobs, can be heard asking Gianforte to respond to the fresh Congressional Budget Office score of the American Health Care Act.

“We’ll talk to you about that later,” Gianforte says in the audio.

“Yeah, but there’s not going to be time,” says Jacobs. “I’m just curious about it right now.”

After Gianforte tells Jacobs to direct the question to his spokesman, Shane Scanlon, there is the disturbing sound of an altercation, and Gianforte begins to yell.

Listen to audio from the altercation:

“I’m sick and tired of you guys!” Gianforte says. “The last guy that came in here did the same thing. Get the hell out of here! Get the hell out of here! The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the Guardian?”

“Yes, and you just broke my glasses,” Jacobs says.

“The last guy did the same damn thing,” Gianforte says.

“You just body-slammed me and broke my glasses,” Jacobs says.

“Get the hell out of here,” Gianforte says.

His spokesman later issued a statement blaming the reporter, saying that he “aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face and began asking badgering questions,” prompting the candidate to act.

“Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face,” Scanlon's statement said. “Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene.”

Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, who witnessed the incident, wrote that Gianforte punched Jacobs after pulling him down unprovoked except for those touchy health care questions.

“Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him,” Acuna wrote. “At no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday that Gianforte should apologize

"Should the gentleman apologize?" Ryan said. "Yeah, I think he should apologize. There's no call for this no matter what, under any circumstance."

Watch: House Leaders Condemn Alleged Montana Assault

Ryan stopped short of saying he thought Gianforte should resign.

"If he wins, he has been chosen by the people of Montana, who their congressman’s going to be," he said.

Gianforte and Quist were competing to fill the seat vacated by Ryan Zinke who became Trump's Secretary of the Interior.

Gianforte was assisted by the fact the Montana has vote by mail and an estimated 70 percent of ballots had already been cast before the assault charge was filed.

Gianforte would face a maximum $500 fine or six months in jail if he is convicted.

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