After pledging not to take corporate PAC money during his 2017 campaign for Congress, Rep. Greg Gianforte accepted nearly $20,000 in corporate PAC donations during the fourth quarter of 2017.

“I have been taking PAC money,” the Montana Republican said Tuesday.

Asked if he would make a similar pledge not to accept that money later in his 2018 campaign, Gianforte — who had just boarded an elevator off the House floor — looked down and shook his head, letting the elevator doors close.

It’s not unusual for candidates to make some variation of “no PAC” pledges — a growing number of Democratic challengers are making similar commitments this year. But nonincumbent candidates often aren’t forgoing all that much money when they make these pledges. It’s the incumbents, who serve on committees relevant to industry, who benefit more from PAC money and stand to lose more from such promises.

Gianforte serves on the Natural Resources Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Corporate PAC contributions during the fourth quarter totaled $18,500 and came from coal companies, a private prison company, BNSF Railway, Lowe’s, Home Depot, UPS, a timberland company and Koch Industries.