Republican wins the Montana special elections despite punching reporter in the face

May 26, 2017

Itunuoluwa

Republican Greg Gianforte won Montana’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Thursday, just after he was charged with “body slamming” a reporter who questioned him about the Republican healthcare bill.The race for the Montana seat was meant to be a test of President Trump’s influence against the congressional elections next year, Reuters reported.

After the win. Gianforte apologised to cheering supporters for the incident and took responsibility for his actions, “I should not have responded the way I did, and for that I’m sorry I should not have treated that reporter that way”.

His opponent Democrat Rob Quist, had centred his campaign on criticising Republican’s effort to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s Affordable healthcare act. Gianforte won with 96 percent of the vote counted, he led Quist by 51 percent to 43 percent.

On Wednesday night, Gianforte assaulted U.S. Guardian political correspondent, Ben Jacobs. Jacobs accused the candidate of “body-slamming ” him during a campaign event in Bozeman, breaking his glasses in the process. “When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it, that’s the Montana way, and members of the supportive crowd shouted in response, “You’re forgiven.”

CNN reports, out of 87% of precincts reporting, Gianforte had 181,255 votes which amounts to 50.6% of the vote, compared to his opponent Quist who has 156,130 votes which equals 43.6% of the vote.

Itunuoluwa

Tags: Gianforte\, House of Representatives, Montana, Republicans, trump