Busse says he's the governor a changing Montana needs

On a Wednesday September evening in Whitefish, two men sat next to each other recording a live podcast in a crowded bar.

On the left was Ryan Busse, the 54-year-old former firearms executive and Democratic candidate for governor of Montana, in a baseball cap and jeans. On the right sat Brian Schweitzer, the two-term Democratic governor of Montana from 2004 to 2012.

While the men have similarities ― both in dress and ideology ― the political environments surrounding their bids for office are drastically different. Schweitzer represents a Montana that was mostly independent from national partisan influences and often voted "purple" in statewide elections.

Schweitzer won his first gubernatorial election by 4 percentage points. In 2012 Democrat Steve Bullock won the governor's race by just 1.7 percentage points.

Since 2020, however, most executive offices have gone red, including the attorney general, secretary of state and state auditor. In the 2020 election, current Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte triumphed with a 13-percent margin.

"About 10 years ago, we just started to notice this shift in who was getting elected, and the kind of candidates that were running," said Jessi Bennion, a professor of political science at Montana State University. "We can't say anymore that [Montana] is a purple state."

Without the ticket-splitting electorate that pushed Schweitzer into office, Busse is doing everything he can to appeal to more moderate Republican voters. He hasn't endorsed Kamala Harris, his party's candidate for president. His ads often feature pictures of him hunting and he regularly reminds voters that he was educated in a rural public school with a graduating class of 16.

"I tell those stories because I want conservative voters to know I'm not this 'boogeyman Democrat' you've been warned about on Fox News," he said. "I'm a gun owner. I'm a hunter. I speak plainly. I'm a farm kid. I grew up in a John Deere tractor."

Busse was raised on his family's ranch in conservative Kansas, where he shot his first gun at age 3. "I would just walk all over the ranch thinking I was a cowboy," Busse said.

He grew up hearing stories from his father about Montana, a romanticized state with rugged wilderness and endless fishing and hunting. The young Busse dreamed of the "freedom" of Montana's vast public lands.

Busse finally moved here in 1995, the same year as Gianforte, after he and a friend "engineered this crazy idea to talk this small, little gun company into letting us have a sales and marketing office in Kalispell," he said. He was 25 years old.

The little gun company was Kimber Manufacturing. With Busse's help in sales, the company became a corporate powerhouse. Over 25 years with the company, Busse sold more than three million firearms. He also grew increasingly disillusioned with the gun industry.

In 2020, Busse left Kimber and published a memoir, "Gunfight" in which he spoke out against the radicalization of gun culture. The book sparked outrage among the National Rifle Association, and Busse said it cost him much of his social circle.

By this time Busse had transformed from his politically conservative roots in Kansas. He now felt more aligned with the social and environmental values of the Democratic Party. Looking back now, Busse said he only wishes he would've left the industry sooner. But he had a mortgage and a family, and he was proud of the company. He still is.

"All I know is I couldn't continue pretending that what was happening was right or could be looked away from," Busse said. "And I couldn't take the hundreds of people who knew better and were looking away."

Busse said he decided to run for office when he became alarmed with Gianforte's decisions as governor. Despite having no political experience, he thinks he can win, and believes in "doing the most that you can when you have the opportunity to do it." A September poll from AARP finds Busse trailing Gianforte by 16 points.

Busse has crossed the state campaigning at more than 150 events. He sticks to Montana-centered issues, and condemned Gianforte for being distracted by things that don't affect the state.

"It's weird to me that Gianforte has so much time on his hands he can focus on all these national political issues," Busse said. "Need I remind you; you are the governor of this state?"

One of Busse's most frequent talking points is the rising property taxes under Gianforte's leadership. In January 2023, the Republican governor did not reduce the residential tax rate from 1.35 percent to the recommended 0.94 percent.

But according to Bennion, the political scientist, voters might not view Gianforte as the leading villain in the issue of property taxes.

"There's a whole lot of people that could be blamed," she said. "People could put the blame on the legislature ... I don't know if that's penetrating the conversation enough to really affect his race."

While Busse distances himself from some national Democratic issues - he's avoided speaking about the southern border, something that an AARP poll found is the second most important issue to Montanan voters - he remains adamant about a few, including the expansion of healthcare and abortion access. He is vocal in his support of public land access and public education.

More than anything, Busse said he's passionate about preserving the Montana he knew when he first moved here nearly 30 years ago.

"I think it's really cool that Montana tends to change people," he said. "And I really don't take very kindly to people, like [Gianforte], who want to change it."