After plenty of back-and-forth, Gianforte, Busse will debate

By MARA SILVERS

Montana Free Press

Two candidates for Montana’s governor’s seat have agreed to debate in mid-October after incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte declined to participate in two earlier forums proposed by separate news outlets.

Gianforte is scheduled to face off against Democratic challenger Ryan Busse, a conservation advocate and former firearms executive, in an Oct. 16 debate hosted by NonStop Local, an ABC-Fox affiliate, the campaigns said Monday.

Busse campaign manager Aaron Murphy said the two campaigns are still negotiating a precise time and format for the October debate, but that both are in agreement about the Oct. 16 date.

Paul Bergen, news director for NonStop Local, told Montana Free Pree that the debate will be moderated by former statehouse reporter Mike Dennison and NonStop Local host Bradley Warren. He said the station is still negotiating details about the event with both campaigns.

The announcement came after weeks of feuding between the Gianforte and Busse camps over whether any debates between the two would take place this election season. 

Gianforte and his staff had previously questioned Busse’s credibility as a candidate, pointing to the Democrat’s campaign rhetoric and wide margins favoring Gianforte in recent polling. 

The Republican also challenged Busse to release his private income tax returns, as Gianforte has done to the Associated Press for several years. Busse later agreed to do so, casting the decision as a way to overcome hurdles standing in the way of a public debate.

“From the beginning, the governor made it clear he was eager to debate and that we’d talk about one once Busse released 10 years of taxes, just like other serious governor candidates have in the past,” Gianforte campaign manager Jake Eaton said in a Monday press release. 

Earlier in the day Monday, Busse’s campaign had criticized Gianforte for declining to participate in other debates scheduled for Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, the first moderated by MTN News and the second co-moderated by Lee newspapers, Montana Public Radio, Yellowstone Public Radio and Montana PBS. 

Eaton did not answer questions from MTFP about the campaign’s reason for not participating in the earlier two October debates.

In a statement, MTN news director Keagan Harsha said the outlet is “very disappointed” in Gianforte’s decision.

“MTN has held candidate debates every election cycle for at least the last 30 years and up until this year all major party candidates have eagerly participated,” Harsha said. “We believe debates serve a very important purpose as a job interview for candidates. Further, debates are an opportunity for candidates to distinguish themselves from their opponents and to outline important policy differences that will affect people across Montana.” 

Notified by MTFP about Gianforte’s team publicizing the NonStop Local debate, Busse campaign manager Aaron Murphy said he had not heard directly from the Republican campaign that the agreement for that forum had been finalized.

“We are in agreement on a date and we are still working out details,” Murphy said. 

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Kaiser Leib said Monday that he had not been invited to participate in the Oct. 16 event.

Absentee ballots will begin being mailed to registered voters on Oct. 11.