HELENA — Democrat Kathleen Williams, who’s now raised $2.4 million for her U.S. House campaign, has a slight financial advantage over Republican Matt Rosendale as they enter the final months of a tight race for the open seat.
Williams, a former state representative from Bozeman, reported raising $754,000 during the past three months and had $1.63 million remaining in her campaign account entering July.
Rosendale, the state auditor, raised almost $600,000 during the same period, pushing his overall campaign total to $1.9 million, and enters the final months with $1.23 million in his campaign account.
Recent polls have shown the race to be a dead heat and both national political parties have rated the Montana contest among their top priorities in U.S. House battles. Republicans have controlled Montana’s only U.S. House seat since 1997.
Williams, 59, ran for the seat in 2018 and lost by five percentage points to Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, who is leaving the seat to run for governor.
Rosendale, 60, a rancher and real-estate developer from Glendive, has been state auditor since 2016, and lost the 2018 U.S. Senate race to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.
Williams has held a steady fundraising lead over Rosendale for most of the contest, which they both entered last year. Rosendale won a six-way Republican primary in June and Williams won a two-person Democratic primary.
The race also has Green Party candidate John Gibney of Hamilton, who has not reported raising any money.
Williams has raised at least $2.23 million from individuals and another $114,000 from political action committees, or PACs. Rosendale has taken in $1.66 million from individuals and $186,000 from PACs.
