Republican Greg Gianforte wins Montana special election

BUTTE, Mont. — For months, Democrats were careful not to promise too much about Montana’s May 25 special election. Hillary Clinton had lost the state by 20.2 points. Rob Quist, the folk-singing Democratic candidate for Congress, had never run for office before. Losing a close race would grant a moral victory; raising the stakes and losing might give Republicans a boost.

On Saturday, in front of 3,000 cheering voters at this Democratic city’s Civic Center, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised the stakes.

“The eyes of the country, actually eyes all over the world, are on the great state of Montana,” said Sanders. “People are asking: Is it possible for working people, for seniors, for ordinary people, to come together and successfully defeat a candidate of the millionaires? They’ll know it if you do it in Montana.”

Sanders’s much-anticipated visit kicked off the final stretch of voting in a race that has become closer than either party might have expected. Quist, 69, has raised more than $5 million, nearly doubling the last Democratic candidate for Montana’s sole House seat. Millions of dollars have poured in for Greg Gianforte, 56, a software entrepreneur who won the GOP nomination after narrowly losing the 2016 race for governor — running nearly 10 points behind Donald Trump.