In Gianforte Endorsement, Billings Gazette Harshly Slams Quist Too

Montana heads to the polls in ten days to elect a new Congressman. With so little time remaining before the vote, many Montana voters will look to the Billings Gazette, the state’s largest newspaper, for guidance on who to vote for. If they base their decision on the Billings Gazette endorsement, issued Sunday, Democrat Rob Quist is in big trouble. That’s because in addition to endorsing Republican Greg Gianforte, the editorial also went out of its way to disparage Quist, his finances, and his qualifications at every opportunity.

First the Gazette slammed Quist’s lack of policy answers, saying they “don’t have a clue” where Quist stands on “most issues”:

“We’d like to comment more on Quist’s political stances but from our editorial board interview, it seems like all Quist wants to talk about is how bad Gianforte is. We don’t have a clue where Quist stands on most issues, and his criticism of Gianforte seems to be either confused or completely without merit — for example, claiming that Gianforte had ‘Russian ties’ when really the Republican merely has stock in a mutual fund.”

Even more worrying for the Billings Gazette was Quist’s repeated inability to explain his chronic financial problems:

“What’s even worse is that Quist seems unable to tell the truth about his own finances and may even be ducking property taxes that most of us would have to pay.”

In the end, the Billings Gazette lays out the race in very simple terms. Montana can choose from one candidate in Gianforte, who would “hit the ground running in D.C.” versus Quist who’s nothing more than a “Democratic placeholder”:

“We need someone who can hit the ground running in D.C., because we’ve been without representation in the House. We believe Gianforte has studied the issues and knows enough about them to catch up. Meanwhile, Quist’s answers showed a lack of depth and we simply don’t believe he would be able to do much more than be a Democratic placeholder.”

Rob Quist’s “lack of depth” has been apparent throughout this special election. After being exposed in such a brutal fashion by this Billings Gazette editorial, Quist is in serious trouble.