Greg Gianforte is the Governor of Montana. He assumed office on January 4, 2021. His current term ends on January 1, 2029. Gianforte was born in San Diego, California, in 1961, and spent his childhood in Pennsylvania. Gianforte graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's in computer science. In 1995, Gianforte moved to Montana and founded RightNow Technologies. He ran the company until 2012, when he sold it to Oracle for $1.8 billion. Gianforte entered politics in 2016, when he ran for governor against incumbent Steve Bullock. Bullock defeated Gianforte 50% to 46%. In 2017, Gianforte ran in and won a special election for U.S. House to fill the vacancy that was created when President Donald Trump's U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke secretary of the interior during his first term. While in Congress, Gianforte said he was focused on reducing healthcare costs, expanding access to rural broadband, reducing regulations, and lowering taxes. With Bullock term-limited, Gianforte ran for governor again in 2020. Gianforte centered his campaign on expanding economic growth, describing his plan as a "top-to-bottom regulatory review, to keep regulations that protect public safety and the environment, but remove the excessive ones. And, lowering the tax burden across the board.” Trump endorsed Gianforte's bid for governor. Gianforte defeated Mike Cooney, becoming the first Republican to win the governor's office since Judy Martz in 2001 and giving Republicans trifecta control of the state government.
