“Tonight, as Greg was giving a separate interview in a private office, The Guardian's Ben Jacobs entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg's face, and began asking badgering questions. Jacobs was asked to leave. After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. 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 at our campaign volunteer BBQ.”

That was 24 hours before Election Day. Gianforte stuck with his story and laid low, even though he was pretty much the only one who seemed to believe himself — especially after audio of the altercation and eyewitnesses appeared to corroborate Jacobs's account.

AD

Gianforte did eventually apologize for allegedly assault a reporter — but only after he was safely declared the victor of Montana's special congressional election to replace Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

AD

“Last night I learned a lesson,” Gianforte said in his victory speech.

Some in the audience groaned. No need to go there, they seemed to be saying.

“No, please,” Gianforte pushed on. “I need to share something from my heart. When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it. That's the Montana way. Last night I did make a mistake. I took an action that I cannot take back. I am not proud of what happened. I should not have responded the way that I did.

AD

“And for that I am sorry.”

That is the apology House Republican leaders were looking for 24 hours earlier. “There is no time where a physical altercation should occur,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters at his weekly news conference on Thursday. “It should not have happened. Should the gentleman apologize? Yeah, I think he should apologize.”

Gianforte was never really Republicans' dream candidate — though they did not expect something like this to happen. They just expected the race to be closer than it should be in a state President Trump won months earlier by 20 points. Gianforte was on the ballot then, too, as the Republican candidate for governor. He lost.

AD

AD

Republicans tapped Gianforte again this year, and they went all in on his congressional campaign, which is really a governor's race in another form, given that Montana only has one congressional district that covers the whole state.

Vice President Pence and Donald Trump Jr. went out to Montana. Pence and President Trump recorded a robo-call for Gianforte. Just a day before the election (and the same day Gianforte was charged with assault), congressional Republicans learned their health-care bill could take away insurance for millions of people. Trump's approval ratings are still at historic lows. Better to be safe than sorry.

Republicans' task was made a little easier in that only half of Democrats showed up to the battle. Washington Democrats spent a little bit of money to boost Democratic candidate, folk singer Rob Quist, then decided not to invest any more precious resources when they didn't see a good return on investment.

AD

AD

But progressives across the country, fired up with anti-Trump sentiment and unsure of what to do with it, saw Montana as yet another way to stick it to the president. Quist raised $6 million, and progressive groups like Democracy for America enlisted thousands of people to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls on Quist's behalf.

In the end, it wasn't enough, even when their opponent was charged with assault in the final hours.

And that brings us to our final question about Montana: What does Democrats' almost-victory here say about their momentum heading into the 2018 midterm elections?

Honestly, we can read the tea leaves both ways.

Trump won by a significantly larger margin than Gianforte did. Which means a sizable fraction of Trump supporters either didn't come out for this or crossed the aisle. That could be good news for Democrats, who are hoping the same happens in the 23 GOP-held congressional districts that Hillary Clinton won. Democrats need to net 24 seats to take back the House majority.

AD

AD

And Democrats performed better than Clinton in Montana, even with an unpolished political newcomer. That echoes the almost-wins they had in Kansas's special election earlier this year and Georgia. (Georgia isn't done: A runoff between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel is in June.)

But do almost-wins count as momentum? Is this the beginning swell of a wave election? Or is this the third of three examples this year of Democrats falling short?

And why did Gianforte refuse to apologize until he won election? Why did he allegedly assault a journalist in the first place?