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<\/a>Republican Greg Gianforte won\u00a0Thursday\u2019s special election for the U.S. House in Montana, defeating Democratic challenger Rob Quist despite being charged with misdemeanor assault the day before.<\/h2>\n
Gianforte will now take over\u00a0former Navy SEAL Ryan Zinke\u2019s House seat. Zinke\u00a0vacated the seat when he accepted the post of Secretary of the Interior\u00a0in President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet.<\/p>\n
The election results \u2014 with\u00a0Gianforte\u00a0winning over 50% of the vote and leading by a seven-point margin \u2014 were a major blow to Democrats\u2019\u00a0anti-Trump efforts, and to the media\u2019s expectations, after Gianforte had\u00a0allegedly \u201cbody-slammed\u201d a reporter before his final campaign event on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Montanans are \u201csending a wake-up call to the Washington D.C. establishment,\u201d Gianforte told a jubilant crowd outside his campaign headquarters, after multiple outlets called the race.<\/p>\n
Democrats had hoped to turn the race into an early referendum on President Trump\u2019s performance in the White House and the GOP\u2019s health care bill, which passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate.<\/p>\n
But despite national attention and considerable outside funding, as well as Trump\u2019s recent controversies in Washington D.C., Democrats were unable to turn the anti-Trump \u201cresistance\u201d\u00a0into a concrete victory at the ballot box \u2014 a bad sign for Democratic chances in the 2018 midterms.<\/p>\n
Democrats had also been handed the gift of a last-minute controversy when\u00a0the UK\u00a0Guardian<\/i> reporter Ben Jacobs was allegedly\u00a0assaulted<\/a> by Gianforte. Jacobs said the\u00a0entrepreneur had \u201cbody-slammed\u201d him in response to questions about the Congressional Budget Office\u00a0score of the GOP health care plan.<\/p>\n Fox News\u2019 Alicia Acuna also supported<\/a> Jacob\u2019s account saying Gianforte grabbed Jacobs \u201cby the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n An audio recording released by the\u00a0Guardian<\/em> showed<\/a> Jacobs asking Gianforte a question, before a loud crashing noise was heard, followed by Jacobs saying Gianforte had attacked him and broken his glasses.<\/p>\n Gianforte\u2019s campaign pushed back against Jacobs\u2019s claims, saying that the reporter entered the office without permission and \u201caggressively shoved\u201d a recorder in the candidate\u2019s face. An official campaign\u00a0statement said\u00a0Jacobs had been\u00a0asked to leave and to lower the recorder (neither of which was heard on the recording).<\/p>\n Gianforte was charged with misdemeanor assault and appeared to go dark Thursday, canceling interviews with both Fox News and NBC\u2019s Meet the Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n At least three newspapers, the Helena Independent Record<\/i>, the Missoulian<\/i>, and the Billings Gazette<\/i>, pulled their endorsements of Gianforte, while Democrats seized on the alleged assault, with both MoveOn.org and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launching ads that played audio of the incident.<\/p>\n Democrats were also hoping that Trump\u2019s time in the White House would motivate their base in the election, and would give them a win that would point toward a big victory\u00a0in the 2018 midterms, in the same way President Barack Obama motivated the Republican base in the 2010 midterms.<\/p>\n Despite all those factors\u00a0in Democrats\u2019 favor, it seemed that Gianforte\u2019s win was a comfortable one. When The Associated Press <\/i>called the race, Gianforte was leading Quist by approximately seven points.<\/p>\n In his victory speech, Gianforte appeared humbled by the recent controversy, and apologized to Jacobs for the incident that had at one point appeared to doom his campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cLast night I made a mistake and I took an action that I can\u2019t take back,\u201d he said. \u201cI should have not responded in the way that I did. And for that I am sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n In victory speech, Greg Gianforte says he's \u2018sorry.' "Last night I made a mistake." https:\/\/t.co\/53QVJshUEz<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wXfVpLpxhp<\/a><\/p>\n — ABC News (@ABC) May 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n