Montana Republican's assault on reporter is already featured in digital ads from two groups

Greg Gianforte

Late on the eve of the special election for Montana’s House seat, progressive groups moved quickly to ensure that the state’s voters know that Republican nominee Greg Gianforte body-slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs rather than answer Jacobs’ questions about the Republican healthcare plan. When Jacobs asked Gianforte how the Congressional Budget Office score on Trumpcare would affect Gianforte’s views on the bill, Gianforte, in the words of a Fox News team that witnessed the event, “grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him” and “then began punching the man.” Montana voters who missed the news Wednesday night are likely to see digital ads about it on Thursday as the special election is in progress.

Dem super PAC @prioritiesUSA already running Facebook ads in MT promoting local news stories about alleged body slam, group tells me.

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) May 25, 2017

MoveOn also chipped in with a five-figure digital buy:

GOP candidate Greg Gianforte just body-slammed a reporter asking about his support of the GOP health care repeal bill. Vote Rob Quist 5/25 pic.twitter.com/DL1eB1wHuK

— MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) May 25, 2017

Gianforte waited until many votes had already been cast before engaging in public assault, so it’s not clear what if any impact this will have on the election, in which he’s heavily favored (Donald Trump won the state by 20 points). But good for Priorities USA and MoveOn for putting the incident in front of as many voters as possible.

The election is this today, May 25. Volunteer to help Rob Quist get out the vote!