Montana’s Republican governor will meet his Democratic challenger on Wednesday in what is likely their only debate this election season in a state that leans toward the Republican Party.
Gov. Greg Gianforte initially dismissed Ryan Busse, a former firearms industry executive, as not a “serious candidate” and declined to debate the Democrat for failing to release his tax returns.
Busse responded by releasing ten years of income tax data, paving the way for the debate hosted by ABC Fox Montana.
Gianforte’s election in 2020 — with the support of former President Donald Trump — ended a 16-year run of Democratic governors in Montana by a wide margin.
The wealthy former tech executive spent more than $7.5 million of his own money in the 2020 race and has since overseen a cut in individual income taxes and an increase in property taxes in Montana.
The state balanced its budget and experienced record low unemployment under Gianforte.
He signed laws blocking gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and restricting access to abortion, but they have been blocked by courts.
A Republican supermajority in the Legislature gave him the power to directly appoint judges and justices when interim vacancies arise, and also funded charter schools, a long-standing goal of Gianforte.
Busse, who is from Kalispell, has tried to portray Gianforte as wealthy and out of touch with ordinary citizens. He has accused Gianforte of using his personal wealth to reach office and then watching as housing costs made parts of Montana unaffordable for many.
Busse, a former vice president at firearms company Kimber Manufacturing, has said his disagreement with the aggressive marketing of military-style assault rifles caused him to leave the gun industry.
Tax returns show Busse and his wife earned about $260,000 annually over the past decade.
Gianforte’s engineering career began in New Jersey. He moved to Bozeman in 1995 and founded RightNow technologies, which was eventually sold to software company Oracle for nearly $2 billion.
A criminal case left an early mark on Gianforte’s political career. He was charged with a crime in 2017 when he body-slammed a reporter, but he went on to win a seat in the U.S. House in a special election and won re-election to the seat in 2018.
