Though Stapleton's time in the Secretary of State's office has been marked by several high-profile controversies, he has defended his actions and points to what he says are efficiencies he's found to better serve business customers, including moving all business filings online.

“In 2017 we made the decision to go digital. There was some resistance and nobody in the country had done it fully but we did and a lot of other states look at us,” Stapleton said. “We’re now reaping the benefit of incredibly satisfied customers. We just don’t get the complaints; we used to get dozens of them.”

Last year, the Secretary of State's office sent out a voter guide to 470,000 voters statewide with an error. Stapleton awarded a $265,000 contract to fix the problem to a friend's print shop in Billings, saying it was the only business that could get the project done on time and the office was threatened with lawsuits over the mistake.

“I’m not going to say I wouldn’t make a mistake” if elected governor, Stapleton said Wednesday. “If I’m the governor of Montana I’d probably make one mistake a month. I’ve never been in an organization that doesn’t make mistakes. … If you’re trying to please everyone, you should not run for governor. If you’re trying to make the world better, you should not run for office.