Gianforte, Busse square off in one and only debate this election

During an hour-long debate Wednesday, Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Gianforte portrayed Montana as a state where his administration's policies have made the American Dream possible, while incumbent Democratic challenger Ryan Busse repeatedly hammered the governor for leaving the middle and lower classes behind.

The two men running for governor leaned hard into their talking points during the forum hosted by NonStop Local, an ABC-FOX news affiliate in western and central Montana. The live exchange that took place in a television studio without an audience will be the only direct back-and-forth between Busse and Gianforte in this election cycle. It almost didn't happen as Gianforte initially declined to participate in forums traditionally held every four years .

"I get up every day looking for ways to help Montanans prosper and we're succeeding. The American Dream is alive and well in Montana," Gianforte said in his closing statement.

Busse throughout the debate countered the governor's claims of economic victories and seized on times that Gianforte said things could still be improved.

"Governor, you've had a chance to do this, and here we are again, three-and-a-half, four years into your administration, talking about something you might do," Busse said in an exchange about child care.

As he's done throughout his campaign, Busse focused on the large rise in property taxes many Montanans saw in their tax bills last year. In part because of massive increases in appraised home values, property taxes went up an average of 21% statewide in 2023 .

"The rest of us were walloped with the highest property tax increase in the history of this state, and people across this state are hurting," Busse said.

"Now, you may not be hurting," he continued, addressing Gianforte. "You have four mansions. You fly around ... around in a private jet, but the rest of us are hurting. I know you're hurting at home, and I want you to know I'm running for governor to lower those property taxes."

Throughout the campaign, Busse has hit Gianforte over and over again on property taxes, criticizing the governor for not directing the 2023 Legislature to adopt taxable value neutral tax rates. Those are rates provided by the state Department of Revenue before every legislative session that would hold property taxes flat. As Busse frequently points out, past governors from both parties have signed bills into law enacting those rates.

Gianforte said he agreed that property taxes are too high but that permanent reform is needed. He then pivoted to place the blame for the increase on county governments.

"Let's be clear, the property taxes are driven by local spending. Inflation over the last 20 years has averaged little over 2% per year, and yet local spending, that's municipalities, the counties, has averaged 6% growth per year," Gianforte said. "If we're going to fix property taxes permanently, we've got to deal with local spending."

Counties around the state have pushed back on that claim, pointing out that their budgets are capped by state law.

Gianforte also said he's formed a task force to address property taxes that recommended a homestead exemption to be brought in the next legislative session. The idea would, broadly speaking, lower the property tax rates for primary residences owned by Montanans and long-term rentals and raise it for second homes and short-term rentals like Airbnbs. He said that, in comparison to Busse's plan, the exemption would target Montanans for tax relief and put more of the burden on people with vacation homes.

Busse countered by saying Gianforte could have addressed the issue earlier.

"You should not trust a governor who had a chance to lower property taxes. He's the governor of this state. He has a super majority (of Republicans in the Legislature)," Busse shot back.

Again and again across topics from housing affordability to the rise in homelessness, Busse said Gianforte has had his shot at addressing problems and failed.

"Every time the governor has had a chance to make this better, he has fallen down on the job. He should be held to account for this," Busse said.

Gianforte, however, painted a picture of a state prospering and saying that where the economy was failing was the fault of the federal government, not his administration.

"Families are struggling with high inflation. The Biden-Harris affordability crisis has hit everybody from the grocery store to the gas pumps, but I'm pleased to tell you, our administration has delivered on our promises," Gianforte said, citing record-high job creation and wage growth figures.

A question about the abortion ballot measure Montanans will decide this November drew perhaps the sharpest division between the candidates. Gianforte said he would vote against Constitutional Initiative 128 , which would add the explicit right to access a pre-viability abortion to the state Constitution.

"I'll be voting no on CI-128. I am ... pro-life, and I think life is precious and it should be protected," Gianforte said. He echoed a common attack against the measure from its opponents by calling it too "extreme" and that it didn't serve to build "consensus" around a divisive topic.

Busse said he'd support the measure and that legislation Gianforte has signed that would limit access to abortion in Montana would involve government in personal health care decisions.

"A governor should not be in the doctor's office with women telling them what they can and can't do. And Gov. Gianforte has time after time gotten in the doctor's office with women and told them what they can't do," Busse said.

Gianforte countered by saying his administration has worked to reduce the number of children in foster care and promoted adoption with a $7,500 tax credit and built up public and private partnerships to support families.

"I think that's great progress for life and for kids," Gianforte said.

The two men also sparred over how Gianforte has run the state health department.

Gianforte said his administration has worked intently on dealing with mental health issues through its formation of the Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment (HEART) fund to increase money for community-based mental health services, as well as the $300 million bill he signed last session to help rebuild the state hospital and bolster community-based treatment.

"This is what Montanans do: they take care of their neighbors, and we'll continue to work on it," Gianforte said.

But Busse shot back, going after the governor for his handling of the massive process of redetermining the status of everyone covered by Medicaid, which was required at the end of the federal public health emergency tied to the pandemic.

"He kicked 136,000 people off of their health care coverage. Working folks. I have people come up and tell me all the time that this has impacted them, and some of them now are out on the streets because they no longer have health care coverage," Busse said. A total of 76,867 adults and 35,798 children lost coverage, according to previous reporting from the Montana State News Bureau .

Asked about what the state could do to make child care more affordable, Gianforte said his administration has directed more than $100 million to expanding options and rolled back regulations to do things like allow 16-year-olds to care for children instead of the previous cutoff of 18. He also advocated for employers to open their own offerings for workers, citing several companies his administration has welcomed of Montana that have their own child-care options.

"We need to do more in child care. I think the responsibility, in part, falls on the private sector as well as government programs. ... We've made it a real emphasis, because I promised to create an environment for more good-paying jobs to recruit businesses into the state," Gianforte said.

Busse said Gianforte has harmed child care options in Montana with his administration's recent award of a major state contract to a New York-based company instead of local child care navigator nonprofits that helped families find care, low-income families secure scholarships and providers run their operations efficiently.

"We've pulled the rug out from under child care. It's not right what we're doing to the folks in this state. If we're serious about child care, if we're serious about the people of this state, then we should be serious about running a government that helps folks, not hurts them," Busse said.

Libertarian candidate Kaiser Leib was not invited. Absentee ballots have already reached Montana voters and people can vote early in-person at elections offices around the state. Election Day is Nov. 5.

Holly Michels is the head of the Montana State News Bureau. You can reach her at

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