The House\u2019s vote to repeal Obamacare has extended to Montana\u2019s special congressional election, in which the Republican nominee had, at first, tried to distance himself from the measure.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 When Greg Gianforte, the Republican running for an open House seat in Montana, was asked on Thursday whether he would have supported the bill repealing the Affordable Care Act that passed the House that day, he declined to answer.
\u201cGreg needs to know all the facts, because it\u2019s important to know exactly what\u2019s in the bill before he votes on it, \u201d said a spokesman for Mr. Gianforte, who is running in a special election for the seat vacated by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
But on the same day, during a private conference call with Republican-leaning lobbyists in Washington, Mr. Gianforte offered a more supportive view of the health bill. Making the case for the \u201cnational significance\u201d of the Montana election on May 25, Mr. Gianforte said: \u201cThe votes in the House are going to determine whether we get tax reform done, sounds like we just passed a health care thing, which I\u2019 m thankful for, sounds like we\u2019 re starting to repeal and replace.\u201d
Mr. Gianforte\u2019s attempt to appeal to two different audiences \u2014 Montana voters skeptical about the House\u2019s repeal bill and Washington Republicans eager to undo President Barack Obama\u2019s signature domestic accomplishment \u2014 illustrates the complicated politics surrounding the health law. While Republicans expect their elected officials to fulfill their longstanding vows to tear up the Affordable Care Act, the broader electorate is uneasy about abandoning the law\u2019s protections and benefits it has come to depend on.
It also plays to the Democratic line of attack \u2014 that Mr. Gianforte is a New Jersey multimillionaire, more comfortable with the East Coast elite than in his adopted state. Mr. Gianforte has lived in Montana for nearly 25 years.
Even in Montana \u2014 a Republican-leaning state on the presidential level, but which still elects Democrats statewide \u2014 it appears no longer politically safe in the heat of a campaign to offer full-throated support for repealing Obamacare.
Asked to reconcile Mr. Gianforte\u2019s public and private statements, his campaign manager said the candidate was only \u201cthankful\u201d the process of repealing the law was underway.
\u201cHe would not have voted for the bill because he didn\u2019 t know what was in it, \u201d said Brock Lowrance, the aide, noting that the Congressional Budget Office has not yet offered a fiscal analysis of the measure.
While it has drawn far less interest than a special House election in Georgia, the Montana race is drawing the attention of both parties. Senator Steve Daines of Montana announced on the call that Vice President Mike Pence would campaign with Mr. Gianforte, setting up something of a proxy fight between the administration and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is set to stump later this month with the Democratic nominee, Rob Quist.
Republican groups, alarmed by the intensity of liberal voters during special elections this year, have been pouring millions into the state. National Democrats have been skeptical about the prospects of Mr. Quist, a folk singer-turned-novice candidate who has been battered by stories about his personal finances. But the House Democratic campaign arm has been nudged to put money into the race.
Mr. Quist has raised more than $2 million, in large part because of liberal online donors \u2014 a fact that Mr. Gianforte highlighted on the Thursday call.
\u201cThe Democrats have fired up this ActBlue organization, \u201d he said on an audio recording obtained by The New York Times, referring to the online Democratic fund-raising hub. \u201cWe\u2019 re seeing about $70,000 a day pouring into the state from liberals in San Francisco, New York and Hollywood.\u201d
Asking the lobbyists to give $5,000 each by Friday to \u201cscare off some other Democrat money, \u201d Mr. Gianforte acknowledged that Mr. Quist had far wider support.
\u201cWe\u2019 ve had over 5,000 individual people support the campaign financially so far, \u201d he said on the recording. \u201cThe challenge is my opponent has over 30,000 contributors.\u201d
Polling by both parties has indicated that Mr. Gianforte is leading in the race, but only narrowly, which the Republican acknowledged on the call.
\u201cWe\u2019 re in a single-digit race, \u201d he said, adding that the left would relish the symbolic importance of snatching a Republican-held House seat. \u201cThe Democrats would like nothing more than to put one up on the board and take this away from us to stop the Trump Train and block tax reform and block the regulations we\u2019 ll be able to peel back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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