{"id":11652,"date":"2017-05-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/candidates-confront-gop-health-care-bill-in-montana-special-election\/"},"modified":"2017-05-16T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T20:00:00","slug":"candidates-confront-gop-health-care-bill-in-montana-special-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/candidates-confront-gop-health-care-bill-in-montana-special-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates Confront GOP Health Care Bill In Montana Special Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric Whitney<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n The three candidates, from left, Republican Greg Gianforte, Democrat Rob Quist and Libertarian Mark Wicks, who are vying to fill Montana’s only congressional seat.<\/p>\n

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Bobby Caina Calvan\/AP<\/p>\n

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Bobby Caina Calvan\/AP<\/p>\n

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Many Democrats are hoping the GOP health care bill<\/a> that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives is going to push political momentum their way, and result in big gains in the 2018 midterm elections. A special election next week in Montana may be an early test for this theory.<\/p>\n

President Trump won Montana by 20 points in the November 2016 election, and the May 25 special election<\/a> is being held to replace the state’s only congressman, Rep. Ryan Zinke, whom Trump nominated to be interior secretary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Montana resident Jim Lynch plans to vote for the Republican candidate, Greg Gianforte. Lynch is a member of the Glacier Country Pachyderm Club<\/a> and members get together once a month in Kalispell, Mont., to talk about advancing Republican values.<\/p>\n

Lynch says health care is a top issue for him. He hates the Affordable Care Act. He’s 63 and says he maintained good health insurance coverage throughout the Obama administration. But, he says, “There’s a lot of people in my shoes who aren’t that lucky. I do know, personally, that they’ve seen huge increases in health care costs, to the point that they don’t even have it anymore.”<\/p>\n