Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has put another $1 million of his own money into his campaign, upping his personal stake in the race to almost $3.6 million.
Through last Tuesday, the Bozeman businessman and former software-development entrepreneur had also raised about $3.17 million in campaign contributions from individuals and political-action committees, for a total campaign take of $6.74 million.
Gianforte is running against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, in what’s considered the only closely competitive governor race in the nation, for 2020.
They’re competing to succeed Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, who is running for the U.S. Senate. Libertarian Lyman Bishop also is in the race.
The Gianforte campaign has outspent Cooney’s campaign by a 3-to-1 margin so far and outraised him. But when it comes to donations, Cooney has been closing the gap in the past three months.
Through last week, Cooney reported raising a total of $2.5 million for his campaign, entirely from donors – compared to Gianforte’s donor total of $3.17 million.
Since the June primary election, Cooney has raised $1.4 million from donors, while Gianforte raised $914,000. During that same three-month period, Gianforte added $2 million from his own pocket.
Going into the final seven weeks of the election – and three weeks before ballots are mailed to voters – Cooney had $456,000 left to spend on campaigning, while Gianforte had $261,000.
So far, Gianforte’s campaign has spent $6.34 million on the contest, compared to Cooney’s $2.04 million.
