Last Night’s Mistake Didn’t Hurt Gianforte’s Big Break

On Thursday, May 25, Montana held an election to determine who will finally take the role as the member of the United States House of Representatives for the state’s at-large congressional district.  The votes were counted, and in the end, Republican Greg Gianforte won the special election. However, on election eve, Gianforte received a misdemeanor assault charge for allegedly body-slamming The Guardian‘s Ben Jacobs. Gianforte never commented on the topic; however, his campaign said that it was Jacobs, in fact, who was the aggressor.  The congressman-elect apologized to Jacobs and Montana citizens for his behavior in his victory speech.

“Wednesday night I made a mistake, and I took an action that I can’t take back, and I’m not proud of what happened. I should not have responded in the way that I did, and for that, I’m sorry,” Gianforte stated during his victory speech. He then continued to say, “That’s not the person I am, and that’s not the way I’ll lead in this state.”

“I feel that politicians get more leeway than others because of the obvious political power that they have. I guess since they have the perceived image of being the voice of the people they’re representing, they feel that they have the power to get away with things that we, as citizens, normally cannot do or that is not deemed as right in society. The political system in so many countries, especially the US, is so maliciously contorted to fit what the politicians want and it honestly shouldn’t be that way since in these many countries, the government is a democracy where officials are elected to represent the people not themselves,” sophomore Nidia Volmar said.

Republican Gianforte won 50 percent of the vote, while the Democratic candidate Rob Quist won 44 percent and Libertarian candidate Mark Wicks took six percent. Despite the assault charge, Mr. Gianforte seems to have the support of the public as he continues on his journey towards his seat in the House of Representatives for Montana’s at-large congressional district. The people present at his victory party in Bozeman were quick to say “you are forgiven” to Gianforte as he expressed his remorse for the mistake he committed the night before.

“I find it extremely odd how we are electing people who obviously have a fishy background history. Gianforte’s behavior the day before was extremely unacceptable as a human and as a politician. In my opinion, I don’t think that we should be so easy to forget and forgive other’s mistakes when they have so much power in their hands,” sophomore Harvey Martinez said.

Although Gianforte’s supporters were quick to forgive him, Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin was not. Gootkin, who donated $250 to Gianforte’s campaign, said that Gianforte was to appear in court the next month by June 7. Moreover, if convicted, Gianforte could possibly face a maximum fine of $500 or up to six months in jail.