Counting of ballots underway in Montana special election

Rob Quist greets a supporter. — (Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

With 64 percent of precincts reporting their results, Republican Greg Gianforte is ahead of Democrat Rob Quist in Thursday's special election in Montana for the House seat vacated by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Gianforte has 145,859 votes compared to Quist's 129,416, while Libertarian Mark Wicks has 17,222 votes. Gianforte, a millionaire businessman, was charged with assault Wednesday night after an altercation with The Guardian's Ben Jacobs, who said Gianforte "body slammed" him and broke his glasses. Gianforte's campaign released a statement claiming Jacobs "grabbed Greg's wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.