This year in Montana, Republicans swept every statewide and federal race, while also increasing their majority in the statehouse by 10 seats. Montana, once dubbed a purple state for its split-ticket voting, is now deep crimson.
After four terms of a Democratic governor, a Republican will sit in Montana’s governor’s mansion for the first time in 16 years. Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat who lost his bid for the U.S. Senate this year, was term limited.
Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte defeated Democrat Mike Cooney, the state’s current lieutenant governor, by a wide margin — 12 percentage points.