Republican Daines defeats Gillan for U.S. Congress

BILLINGS — Republican businessman Steve Daines defeated Democrat Kim Gillan on Tuesday in Montana’s U.S. House race to hold onto the state’s congressional seat for the GOP.  

Daines, a 50-year-old former technology executive from Bozeman, has never held political office, but he became an early front-runner in the race with a huge edge in campaign contributions. His victory keeps a Republican in Montana’s sole U.S. House seat for a ninth consecutive term.

Daines has said balancing the federal budget will require broad federal spending cuts. He also has pushed lower taxes as a means to stimulate the economy and create more revenue.

Departing incumbent Republican Denny Rehberg did not seek re-election to challenge Democrat Jon Tester for U.S. Senate.

Daines initially had his sights set on unseating Tester, declaring his candidacy for the Senate in 2010. He abruptly switched tracks in February when Rehberg announced his intention to run.

Gillan, a term-limited legislator, was outspent by a roughly 2-to-1 margin during the race.

Republicans including Daines portrayed Gillan as a tax-and-spend liberal, citing her legislative record. Gillan insisted Daines distorted her record, but was unable to sway the state’s Republican-leaning electorate to back her.

Gillan argued that her opponent would cut key social programs while leaving the government’s fiscal crisis unfixed. She vowed to protect social programs and federal laws she called crucial to women, seniors and college students.

Daines, 50, spent most of his career in the corporate sector, first at Proctor & Gamble Co. and later as vice present of sales at Bozeman-based RightNow Technologies. RightNow made customer service software used by many companies and government agencies. It was bought by Oracle Inc. shortly after Daines left to run for Congress.

During the campaign, Gillan portrayed Daines’ work at RightNow and its millions of dollars in public contracts as hypocritical given his pledge to shrink federal government. But those contracts were only a fraction of RightNow’s overall sales, and Daines maintained they helped improve efficiency.

Gillan works at Montana State University-Billings, directing its work force training efforts at the state Women’s Prison.