Montana’s incumbent governor has raised more than double the amount his top Democratic challenger in recent months.
Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras raised about $1.2 million dollars the first quarter of this year after launching their re-election campaign. In the same time period, Democrat Ryan Busse and his running mate, Raph Graybill, raised about $417,000.
Busse’s campaign has raised nearly $900,000 total since launching his campaign last September. The campaign noted that Busse is outpacing other non-incumbent governor candidates’ fundraising in previous elections during the same quarter.
That includes more than Gianforte in 2020. The former tech entrepreneur poured millions of his own wealth into his first race for the seat. But so far this cycle, the majority of Gianforte’s contributions have come from individual Montana donors. He’s contributed about $40,000 of his own money in 2024.
Gianforte has a GOP primary challenger, Tanner Smith, who’s running with Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci. They reported raising about $60,000 in the first months of the year.
Democrat Jim Hunt and Libertarian Kaiser Lieber are also in the race and both reported contributed about $1,200 out of their own pockets.
