HELENA — As the 2020 general-election race for Montana governor gets under way, Republican candidate Greg Gianforte's campaign has accumulated almost four times the money of his Democratic competitor, Mike Cooney – but that total includes $1.5 million of Gianforte’s own money.
Gianforte reported Monday that his campaign has raised about $3.83 million through June 15, compared to about $1.1 million for Cooney. When it comes to money raised from donors, Gianforte has about a 2-to-1 edge.
Gianforte, Montana’s current Republican congressman, also has been spending his campaign money – almost $3.3 million through last week.
But he still had about 3.5 times the money in the bank as does Lt. Gov. Cooney, with $594,000 compared to Cooney’s $169,000.
Gianforte won a three-way primary for the Republican nomination for governor on June 2, and Cooney defeated Missoula businesswoman Whitney Williams to win the Democratic primary.
The two men now square off in the general election, along with Libertarian Lyman Bishop and Green Party candidate Robert Barb.
In the past month, Gianforte and Cooney had similar totals for campaign fundraising.
Gianforte took in $248,000, while Cooney raised about $207,000. Cooney has not put any of his own funds into the race, and his campaign said he had 11,500 separate donors. While Gianforte has been using his personal wealth for the campaign, he’s also posted impressive fundraising numbers from donors, raising more than $2.3 million from individual donors.
