Money in Montana Governor’s Race Nears Record, Almost All From Individuals

The gubernatorial race between Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Steve Bullock is an outlier when matched up against similar races across the country. According to Institute for Money in State Politics Research Director Pete Quist most of the money pouring into the race is from individuals.

“We currently have $1.8 million raised by the Bullock campaign and $1.7 million of that is from individuals, so, a very, very high percentage of it,” Quist said. “For those non-individual donors, or groups, we are seeing Political Action Committees from the Corrections Corporation of America, The Democratic Governors Association, and a couple of unions.”

Gianforte has raised an even larger percentage from individual donors.

“For the Gianforte campaign we have collected so far, $1.6 million and that is almost exclusively from individuals, we are only seeing $1,200 from non-individuals, these are contributions from a local party committee,” Quist said

Even though individuals are the main donors, the race will almost certainly become the most expensive race between two candidates for the general election in Montana.

The 2012 gubernatorial race between Bullock and Rick Hill was the most expensive Montana Governor’s race to date at around 3.9 million dollars. According to Quist, the total raised for this race is already around $3.7 to $3.8 million .