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Cooney and Gianforte set for Saturday debate

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On Saturday, October 3rd, MTN News will host a debate between the two candidates vying to be the next governor of Montana: Republican U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte and Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney. The debate will air on all MTN stations including KRTV at 6 p.m. on Saturday; it will also be available to watch on-demand on all MTN streaming apps.

The debate will be moderated by a panel featuring MTN Chief Political Reporter Mike Dennison, Jay Kohn (KTVQ Billings), and Jill Valley (KPAX Missoula).

Gianforte, 59 years old, one of the wealthiest men in Montana, is currently serving his first term in Congress after beating Democrat Kathleen Williams in the 2018 U.S. House race. He has pitched himself as the “business guy” who will scrutinize government and make it more business-friendly. Gianforte co-founded RightNow Technologies, a software-development firm that began in Bozeman in the mid-1990s and grew to an international company. It was sold to Oracle Corp. in 2012 for $1.8 billion.

Cooney – a veteran of many elected offices – says he’s the steady hand who knows how to run the government and maintain vital services like public education, while guiding Montana to a bounce-back after a pandemic. Cooney was appointed by Governor Steve Bullock as lieutenant governor in early 2016, has been Montana’s secretary of state, and a state senator from Helena. Originally from Butte, Cooney also has worked as an aide to former U.S. Senator Max Baucus and an administrator in state government.

You can watch the debate on KRTV on-air; streaming on KRTV.com and the KRTV app; or with the our new streaming app for Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Android TV. Click here for details about how to install and watch the KRTV streaming app.

This is the second in a series of three MTN debates. On September 26, Kathleen Williams and Matt Rosendale met to debate who should hold Montana’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; click here to watch it. Coming up on October 10, Bullock and U.S. Senator Steve Daines will meet for a debate in the race for U.S. Senate.



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